INTRODUCTION

   No matter what type of PC user you are with all the different CPU cooling solutions currently in the market chance are there's one made exactly to cover your needs. Naturally some users like overclockers, professionals and enthusiasts may get most of the attention since due to the more demanding use (higher temperatures) manufacturers always dish out more models aimed at them (those include AIO liquid CPU coolers, custom water cooling kits and large single and dual tower air coolers) but that's not really something new that only occurs in the PC market. Still there are always some models that cater to the needs of less demanding users such as compact tower and low-profile (top-down) CPU coolers and one of them is the Brontes by REEVEN.

   REEVEN is a newly established international manufacturer of PC related products. REEVEN’s product lines include the best quality of advanced CPU coolers, Cooling Fans, PC Cases and many other items. The target of our products will be a wide range of audience under our philosophy “Professional Quality Gears”, for products that will withstand the highest demand.

   The REEVEN Brontes is actually the smaller brother of the Steropes low-profile CPU cooler which we tested a while back (review here) so that alone means it's aimed towards consumers who are looking to get their hands on something just a tad better than the stock cooler model both in terms of performance and noise levels. With a height of 59mm the Brontes may not be much shorter compared to its brother the 60mm tall Steropes but thanks to an rather compact 100mm high-speed PWM fan placed on an equally large heatsink it actually ends up being roughly 37% smaller and 44% lighter (325g/470g). The list of differences doesn't end there however since the Brontes also features a total of four 6mm nickel plated heatpipes one less compared to the Steropes model. Overall everything points to a more "compact" version of the Steropes so let’s see just what the Brontes is capable of.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 A large picture of the Brontes is placed at the top of the box along with the mainboard compatibility list and the company logo.

Some words about the Brontes thickness are printed at the front of the box.

4 drawings of the Brontes are used on the right side of the box to showcase its measurements.

The specifications table is placed on the left in 7 different languages.

REEVEN has also placed some words of caution at the rear of the box for when handling the Brontes.

For such a lightweight CPU cooler packing is quite good.

Just like with the Steropes the Brontes gets shipped along with a small pouch with thermal conductive material, installation manual, 8 screws, 4 rubber washers and six brackets for installation on Intel LGA 775/1150/1151/1155/1156/1366 and AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+/FM1/FM2/FM2+/AM1 compatible mainboards.

THE BRONTES

 The Brontes is one of the smallest CPU coolers to ever reach our lab with measurements of 105mm in width, 114mm in depth and 59mm in height.

REEVEN has once again placed their logo on the first aluminum fin.

A 13 blade 100mm PWM fan is placed at the top of the heatsink.

This PWM fan can spin up to 2200RPM to produce up to 30.39CFM of airflow with 1.47mm H2O of air pressure and 31.67dBA of noise.

The main heatsink body is made by a total of 46 aluminum fins.

There's also a second heatsink placed ontop of the base with two pieces of metal which end up at the front end of the main heatsink (these are in place so the heatsink will not bend towards the base).

Four 6mm nickel plated all-copper heatpipes leave the rear of the base and pass through all 46 aluminum fins.

The all-copper nickel plated base is polished (not exactly a mirror-like finish however).

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

   After wrapping up all our tests with the Brontes low-profile CPU cooler by REEVEN I can’t say that the numbers we recorded were unexpected by us. Naturally the performance levels of two models from the same manufacturer that share the same design will have everything to do with the size of the heatsink and fan used. Well since the heatsink body used with the Steropes is quite larger than the one used with the Brontes and also since it uses a 120mm fan instead of a 100mm one we had no illusions as to which model would come up on top. Of course as you can see in our charts the 120mm low-profile fan used with the Steropes is quite louder at load (over 7dBA) so the Brontes might actually be better suited for normal HTPC use (normal as in no overclocking).

   As expected the REEVEN Brontes is also less expensive than the Steropes and currently retails for around USD30 inside the USA (although availability is far from good) and for 25.99Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de). Of course there’s a good amount of competition even in that price range so in the end again it all comes down to what your needs are, how much you’re willing to pay and whether or not you can find this specific model somewhere near you. Overall the Brontes low-profile CPU cooler by REEVEN may not offer something we haven’t seen in the past but due to its size and relatively low noise levels it’s well suited for HTPC use so if you happen to be looking for one such solution we suggest checking it out.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Low-Profile (59mm In Height)
- Socket Compatibility
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Current Availability