INTRODUCTION

   This is it people, summer is once again finally upon us and although the weather is getting hotter and hotter each day that goes by as usual people seem to be ok with that and focus mainly on going to the beach to get the usual skin tan while watching whatever it is they like to watch most. Unfortunately the summer period is also the worse period of the year for everything related with technology from cars, machines in general and electronics including our precious computer systems. Because of that Thermalright just released their latest and perhaps most powerful CPU Cooler to date, the Silver Arrow Extreme which we've been testing for the past week (we are also the first ones worldwide to thoroughly test it).

   Thermalright is an elite design house that manufactures cooling products for computer components for the best quality and performance your money can buy. In 2002, AMD released its first generation Thunderbird CPU and since then we have been there every step of the way to counter high voltage and high heat with innovative design and highly acclaimed cooling solutions not only for AMD but for Intel as well. One of early well known solutions was the SK-6. With many positive and rave reviews under its belt Thermalright bolted to the top as the heat sink manufacturer mostly preferred by Overclockers and enthusiasts around the World. To this day, innovation never left our vocabulary as we keep coming up with leading edge designs staying ahead of the competition.

   The Silver Arrow Extreme is actually not a brand new design since it shares the same main heatsink body used with the Silver Arrow SB-E edition released just a couple of months ago. However this version is not called Extreme for no reason and so it's a lot more powerful thanks to the two brand new TR-TY143 140mm PWM fans used in push & pull configuration which also happen to be pretty much the fastest 140mm fans I’ve ever used with a maximum rotational speed of 2500RPM. How does that translate in terms of raw performance well that's also something we were quite curious about and we were not disappointed, far from it actually.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Just like with most products by Thermalright the latest Silver Arrow Extreme is shipped inside a plain cardboard box with their logo at the front.

The product name and socket compatibility list are present on both sides.

Thermalright ships the Silver Arrow Extreme inside two formed pieces of Styrofoam.

Aside the Silver Arrow Extreme heatsink you will also get two of the latest TR-TY143 140mm PWM fans, installation manual, small tube with CFIII thermal paste, 6 fan mounting clips, dual 4pin to Molex power adapter, 8 anti-vibration rubber pads (two rubber stripes), a small key and all the necessary mounting hardware for Intel LGA2011/1366/1155/1156/775 and AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+/FM1 mainboards.

THE SILVER ARROW EXTREME

The quite huge Silver Arrow Extreme heatsink has been around for a few months coupled with the normal SB-E LGA2011 model. It measures 155mm in length, 105mm in width and 165mm in height while weighing a total of 803g.

As you can see from the above picture six heatpipes pass through the main heatsink body made by a total of 51 aluminum fins while the other two heatpipes pass through the secondary parts made by a total of 47 and 40 aluminum fins each.

Just like the rest of the Silver Arrow family the Extreme is also a dual tower (sandwich) type.

What I’ve always liked with sandwich type coolers like the Silver Arrow Extreme is that you can add up to three fans in push and pull configuration (Thermalright even supplies the extra clips required) for the best possible performance.

The special arrow design of the fins allows cool air to pass through easier/faster for rapid heat dissipation.

Although this is not important still this is the first time i actually see a Thermalright sticker on one of their CPU Coolers.

The eight 6mm nickel plated copper heatpipes should provide faster heat transfer from the base up to the two heatsinks.

As always the nickel plated base comes with a mirror like finish and is even from side to side.

The red/orange 140mm PWM TR-TY143 fans are not only the latest ones manufactured by Thermalright but also their fastest to date since they can achieve speeds of up to 2500RPM and produce maximum airflow levels of up to 130.04CFM at 45dBA of
noise.

Thermalright provides a total of 8 rubber anti-vibration pads which you need to place onto the four corners of the two heatsinks prior to mounting the fans. Still since they provide an extra set of mounting clips for a 3rd fan i was surprised that they didn't also provide 12 anti-vibration pads instead of 8.

The mounting clips for the fans are not the best out there so at first you may have a hard time mounting the fans but once you get the hang of it all is well.

With both fans installed the Silver Arrow Extreme now measures 170mm in length, 130mm in width and 170mm in height while weighing a total of 1141g.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

     I always take things quite seriously when it comes to work so just like with the previous LGA1366 database we will not be testing each CPU Cooler on its own and with different ambient temperature levels so we can actually have yet another valid CPU Cooler database. Testing a CPU Cooler automatically means that you need to know where it stands against the immediate competition and to accomplish that we have spent both money and time through the years, something that i plan to continue to do so in order to get the most accurate results for the end users who read these lines. Every CPU cooler in this database will be tested with its bundled 140mm/120mm/92mm/80mm fans while working at 100% of their speeds for all the temperature tests. CPU Coolers that do not come bundled with a fan/s are measured using a Noctua fan (size dependent on the model) to test for the temperature tests but due to the lack of a stock fan we will not be measuring their dBA levels. For the dBA test every cooler in the database was measured both while on idle mode or with the fan controller in the minimum setting and while on extreme load or with the fan controller all the way to the highest possible setting. PWM fans do that or their own without our intervention. Every single test takes place in a temperature controlled room of 23 degrees Celsius Ambient Temp with the help of two AC units placed diagonally inside the room. The Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste is used with every CPU Cooler in our latest LGA2011 database (although initially this was not the plan we had to change things to get the most accurate results). Finally it's very important to point out that just because a CPU Cooler is better than another when tested with our test rig CPU, the Intel Core i7-3930k that does not necessarily mean that the same performance differences will apply 100% for other CPU models and in other situations (such as different ambient temps and system configurations).

     To successfully record the load temperatures we use the latest OCCT application for around 6-10 minutes to push the processor to its limits and after that is done and the temperatures are recorded we wait for about 10-20 minutes for the CPU to cool down and record the idle temperatures. This is done to allow time for the thermal conductive material to achieve the optimal performance level. Same procedure is then repeated with the Passmark BurnIn Test as a failsafe just in case the OCCT results are wrong. This procedure takes a lot more time than the usual peltier/thermometer tests but this way not only can we deliver real world results to our readers based on real CPUs but we can also triple check the results using a variety of programs. Last but not least the temperatures were recorded using both the latest versions of AIDA64 and RealTemp while the noise level tests are performed using a high precision ExTech HD600 Decibel Meter placed about 10-15cm above the CPU Cooler. Still although the same testing procedure applies to all units do take into consideration that unlike the official numbers which are measured in special noise isolated labs with just the fans here we also have both the rest of the cooler and the rest of the system (although all system fans are turned off when recording noise levels).

TEST RESULTS

CONCLUSION

   The original Silver Arrow released by Thermalright over a year ago was able to go up against the best CPU Air Cooler at the time the original NH-D14 by Noctua but was only able to match its performance levels. Well it's quite obvious that Thermalright didn't want the same thing to happen twice so this time over the latest Silver Arrow Extreme managed to outperform the Noctua NH-D14 LGA2011 by almost 4 degrees Celsius which considering the high end nature of these solutions is not a small performance gap. Unfortunately for Thermalright to achieve that performance increase they had to use the two more powerful and thus louder fans in their arsenal and that's the only serious drawback i can find with the Silver Arrow Extreme. However enthusiasts and overclockers who are the main target group of the Silver Arrow Extreme will almost certainly have the ability to reduce their speed to achieve lower noise levels while at the same time when and if the extra muscle is needed they can simply crank up both fans.

   Since the Silver Arrow Extreme by Thermalright was just released naturally it's pretty much unavailable regardless of where you look. Still according to Thermalright the recommended price tag is placed at USD89/79Euros which is quite reasonable compared both to the price tag of the normal Silver Arrow SB-E version and the Noctua NH-D14 LGA2011. Granted the Silver Arrow Extreme is one of the loudest CPU Coolers out there currently but for most enthusiasts and overclockers (namely its target audience) noise levels always come second to performance and performance is its strong point. Bottom line you can't really go wrong with the Silver Arrow Extreme if you want the highest performance CPU Air Cooler currently in the market and you care not about noise which is also why it walks away with our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Best CPU Air Cooler Currently
- Build Quality
- 8 Nickel Plated Heatpipes
- Dual TR-TY143 140mm PWM 2500RPM Fans
- Ability to Add An 3rd Fan 

CONS

- Size
- Noise Levels
- Price (For Some)