INTRODUCTION

   It's now official, things have changed so much (always compared to the past) that manufacturers want to send us more mITX and mATX PC Cases than normal ones and since we all know how much some of you have been waiting for this we're not about to say no to them (although we may not be able to review every single mITX/mATX case out there due to time limitations). That being said until those cases start rolling in we're going to continue bringing all of you reviews of the latest mITX/mATX low-profile CPU Coolers to hit the market by all the leading players like we promised a while ago. Now I’m pretty certain that DeepCool needs no introductions (especially now that our global giveaway is over) and since their Gabriel mITX Low-Profile CPU Cooler happens to quite popular amongst mITX builders lately (Dominion anyone?) we decided to take a closer look and see why that is.

   Deepcool was founded with the mission of providing the best performance & humanized thermal solutions for worldwide customers. Deepcool design and manufacture a comprehensive range of high quality products, covering desktop cooling solutions, laptop cooling solutions, server cooling solutions, embedded cooling solutions, and other thermal components. Our goal is to maintain customer satisfaction by serving our customer’s ever-changing thermal needs and providing the quickest and most comprehensive service available. As our slogan goes, we wish you all “Enjoy your cool life”!

   With so many manufacturers entering the CPU Cooling arena it's not hard for someone to realize that developing a CPU Cooler is not really hard and although i too support that opinion (I’ve said many times in the past that it's not nuclear science) i have to admit that there's much more work involved when it comes to low-profile models (always compared to normal sized ones) since the manufacturer needs to take into account severe space limitations. That's also why low-profile CPU Coolers can't really compete with full size models but we've reached a point where cooling efficiency has improved quite a bit even compared to just 3 years ago. Getting back to the Gabriel its two most important features given to it by DeepCool are without doubt the high-RPM 120mm PWM top down fan (almost normal size model) and the 4 nickel plated 6mm heatpipes two features we don't really see much with such solutions. Size-wise the Gabriel is slightly larger compared to what we've seen lately by Thermolab/Cooltek, Thermalright and Noctua which might be the reason as to why we've been hearing about this model for quite some time now. In the end numbers have their own way of revealing the truth so let's see what DeepCool has brought to the table with the Gabriel Low-Profile CPU Cooler.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The Gabriel arrived inside a small black box that has half of the company logo placed at the top right next to a full and much smaller one.

Printed at the rear are the specifications table and the CPU compatibility list.

Once you open the box you will see the product features along with a quick explanation for each.

DeepCool packs the heatsink of the Gabriel CPU Cooler along with an 120mm PWM fan, two metal fan mounts, tube with thermal conductive material, installation instructions and all the necessary bits and pieces needed to mount the unit onto Intel LGA1150/1155/1156 and AMD 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+/FM1/FM2 compatible mainboards.

THE GABRIEL

The heatsink of the Gabriel measures 120mm in length, 118mm in width and just 40mm in height while it weighs 284g.

The top piece of the heatsink features a total of 47 aluminum fins but only 32 of those extend all the way to the bottom.

Four 6mm nickel plated all-copper heatpipes leave the base of the Gabriel and pass through all 47 fins.

Although not tied to the performance of the Gabriel i always like it when manufacturers spend extra resources to further improve the appearance of their products and the DeepCool logo at the front of the lower section of the heatsink is exactly that.

The nickel plated copper base of the cooler may be flat but it doesn't feature the nice mirror like finish we happen to like.

With a total of 11 blades and a top speed of 1800RPM (+-10%) the 120mm PWM hydro-bearing fan bundled with the Gabriel can produce up to 61.93CFM of airflow with just 32.4dBA of noise.

After mounting the fan using the two wire mounts the Gabriel increases just 2mm in width (120mm), 20mm in height (60mm) and 98g in weight (382g).

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   As we have stated in the past the Intel I7-3770k system is not placed in our lab and so it's obviously not our primary choice when testing CPU Coolers. Still since HTPC oriented models shouldn’t be used with our overclocked Core I7-3930k we have decided to take this path whenever one such model lands at our doorstep. As always our first concern is ambient temperatures so once again we keep the room temperature to around 21-23 degrees (not really hard but unfortunately not 100% accurate as in our lab) and as always to successfully record the load temperatures we use the latest OCCT application (for around 6-10 minutes) to push the processor to its limits so we can record its temperatures. After that is done 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 was then repeated with the Passmark BurnIn Test as a failsafe just in case the OCCT results were off. As many of you have pointed out time and again this procedure takes a lot more time than the usual peltier/thermometer tests but this way not only can we deliver real world results based on real CPUs but we can also triple check the results using a variety of programs. Last but not least the temperatures are 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.

TEST RESULTS

CONCLUSION

   Up until today i really thought that Thermalright, Thermolab and Noctua were the only three manufacturers to introduce good low-profile CPU Coolers in the market but it seems DeepCool is the one currently leading the pack. It really goes without saying that i expect the other manufacturers to follow the same path and introduce slightly larger solutions than what they currently have in the market to try and take back the mITX cooling performance crown from DeepCool but until that happens i doubt there's anything out there that can compare with the Gabriel at least not at around the same size. Of course its cooling efficiency comes at the price of extra noise levels since the 120mm PWM fan is far from inaudible at load but judging by the target audience of the Gabriel i doubt most people will have a problem with that (regardless however it's something that we can't really ignore).

   DeepCool products will be available in the USA in a couple of weeks tops from Newegg but for now the Gabriel Low-Profile CPU Cooler is only available inside the EU for a price tag of 50Euros (Amazon.co.uk) and although it may sound a bit high to some let's not forget that other similar solutions like the AXP200 by Thermalright cost roughly the same or even more. Overall i think that DeepCool has introduced one of the best low-profile CPU Coolers in the market to date and that's no small feat especially with the fierce competition in the CPU Cooling industry led by manufacturers which have been around for much longer. True that may change quite fast but for now the Gabriel is on top of our low-profile CPU Cooling charts and that's why it gets our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Size
- 120mm PWM Cooling Fan
- Top Cooling Performance (Best Low-Profile Model In Our Charts)
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Noise Levels (Compared To the Competition)