Nofan CR-95C IcePipe 95W Fanless CPU Cooler Review
Nofan CR-95C IcePipe 95W Fanless CPU Cooler
Published: 8th November 2011 | Source: Quiet PC | Price: £100 inc |
Introduction
Pretty apt name when you think about it "Nofan" produce passive and 100% silent CPU coolers, you are probably already think if its passive it has to be really hot though right? Well that's what we thought to be honest, but you really need to read on because this review might surprise you a bit!
Specifications
Totally fanless CPU cooler
Uses patented IcePipe technology
Can cool Intel & AMD CPUs with TDP of 95 watts or less
Maintenance free and dust free
Absolutely silent in operation
| Model | CR-95C |
| Dimensions | 180mm diameter x 148mm high |
| Weight | 730 g |
| Thermal resistance @ 25°C ambient | 0.51 °C/W |
| Dissipation area | 217,036 mm² |
| CPU socket compatibility | Socket LGA1155/6, 775, FM1, AM3+, AM3, AM2+, AM2. |
| Intel CPU compatibility | 2nd Gen Core i3, i5, i7, Core 2 Quad/Duo * |
| AMD CPU compatibility | A6, Phenom II, Athlon II, Phenom, Athlon X2 |
| CPU supported cores / clock speeds | Single, dual and quad / all speeds |
| Maximum CPU thermal output | 95 watts |
| Maximum RAM height | 40 mm |
| Supplied thermal grease | NF-SI100 |
| Acoustic noise level | 0.0 dBA |
| Warranty | 24 months |
Testing
We couldn't use our normal method of testing this cooler as its not supported, so we have decided to use a range of 1155 CPU's at stock settings in the Gigabyte P67-UD7 motherboard all housed in the Corsair 500R. We ran each CPU twice, once with the front and rear case fans on, and a second time completely passive. Systems were allowed to idle for 30minutes before running Prime95 for a further 30 minutes at this point we take our results.
Intel i3 2120, 2500K & 2600K
Gigabyte P67 UD7
Mushkin Silverline
HIS 6850
Corsair AX750W
Corsair 500R
Video Review
Conclusion
Right so a 100% passive heat sink, we honestly thought this would be a bit of a downer review, but I can confirm nice and early we completely love the CR-95! To do the cooler justice we did have to adjust our usual testing procedure and we broke out all of our 1155 CPU's to do this and give you all a good range of temperature to compare too.
The difference between an active case and passive seemed to be greatest with the i3 at around 20c warmer, but only 10c warmer with the 2600K. So you could run your rig 100% passive and therefore completely silent but we would advise making sure your motherboard can handle it. Heat sinks on the mosfet's would be an absolute necessity should you be needing to run the system at 100% for any length of time. If its just going to be used as a home server with very low CPU usage then then motherboard cooling should not really become an issue. We would also suggest that you use this in a case with some form of mesh or fans at the top of the case so that the heat can naturally convect out the top of the case, the better the roof ventilation the better the cooler will perform.
The cooler is very easy to install, it has a 2 stage mounting system but the greatest bit is you just have to slide your hand inside the massive cooler opening to install the final screws that hold the heat sink to the mount. We do feel it would have been better to have engineered the cooler and the mount slightly higher because you will be restricted to standard height ram, anything where the heat sink comes out from the ram PCB by more than about 2mm will heat the cooler and stop you from fitting it properly.
Things to point out really are that with it being fanless that means that its 100% silent and wont get clogged up with dust over time and for this reason the temperatures should not creep up due to there being no dust starting to insulate the heat sink. So although we had to alter our testing to fit within the supported hardware of the CR-95 it has performed well enough to shock us, the heat pouring out of the top of the test rig is a testament to its design to best aid the laws of thermal convection. The only bad bit about the CR-95 we can find is its price, at £100 including the dreaded VAT it does carry a sting in its tail, but we have a feeling if silence is your biggest requirement then the price will not matter.
So for the design we are happy to award it the OC3D Innovation award, considering it is 100% silent it would be rude if we didn't award it the OC3D Silence award as well. Kudos Nofan, Kudos.
We would like to thank Quiet PC for the sample on test today, you can discuss your thoughts on this review in our forums.
Most Recent Comments
it is not aimed for the overclocker, but for low-to-mid range systems.
it certainly won't be any good in an OC'd rig as it cannot dissipate big temps.
it is too large for a smaller media-server. and, if anyone made a HTPC with one of these - it would be defeating the purpose.
it is fugly... and comes with a hefty price-tag.
a Noctua NH-C14 without fans would be better !!!
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Originally Posted by dugdiamond
IMHO: they have got it all wrong... it is not aimed for the overclocker, but for low-to-mid range systems. it certainly won't be any good in an OC'd rig as it cannot dissipate big temps. it is too large for a smaller media-server. and, if anyone made a HTPC with one of these - it would be defeating the purpose. it is fugly... and comes with a hefty price-tag. a Noctua NH-C14 without fans would be better !!! |
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Originally Posted by tinytomlogan
The review had no overclocking in it............ |
i am just saying that if someone was using a cpu at stock (with turbo) it would be okay-ish. it still doesn't make me think that it is not fugly tho - lol (!!!marmite!!!)
BUT just imagine the potential IF they went the other way and put a near-silent vortex-type fan in the centre of it. then i would change my mind
1) Will this mammoth thing fit on an ITX board without hindering a GPU? Thinking of HTPC.
2) What is the inside dimension of it? Wondering how well it would do WITH a fan.
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Originally Posted by Earthmonger
Two questions Tom: 1) Will this mammoth thing fit on an ITX board without hindering a GPU? Thinking of HTPC. 2) What is the inside dimension of it? Wondering how well it would do WITH a fan. |
I like the idea of passive coolers, and this is a good start, but it needs to have better performance and it needs to be cheaper. If they released one that performed better than an air cooler then I would pay £100 but not for the performance it offers now.
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Originally Posted by sheroo
I think this image sums it up for your first question... |
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Originally Posted by sheroo
I think this image sums it up for your first question... |
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Originally Posted by tinytomlogan
Thats the CR100 - the CR95 is smaller than that dude |
if so would it make much difference?
i like the looks btw, nice to see something thats not a rip off of the true or ifx14 these days.
its price is the killer tho imo :|
ifx14 was sold with no fans dude and i tested it passive on my wolfdale@4ghz and it was as good as stock cooling xD
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Originally Posted by marsey99
its price is the killer tho imo :| |
But that's just me being anal
Anyway, i was aswell surprised by how good the cooler performs. But i would not run any of the systems tested completely without case fans, and then i must question the sense of having a passive cpu cooler, while i could get a cpu cooler with a low rpm fan for about half the price that i would not be able to hear out of the whole system and not having space/compatibility issues.
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Originally Posted by Timbaloo
Am i the first one to find the Nofen typo in the picture? But that's just me being anal Anyway, i was aswell surprised by how good the cooler performs. But i would not run any of the systems tested completely without case fans, and then i must question the sense of having a passive cpu cooler, while i could get a cpu cooler with a low rpm fan for about half the price that i would not be able to hear out of the whole system and not having space/compatibility issues. |
i wonder if this would be any good for socket 939 ...or if its even compatable...
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Originally Posted by CocaCola
It would probably be great for a larger sized HTPC where you don't need to OC and are using the fans in the case for cooling and for silent operation. |
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Originally Posted by sheroo
I agree, but if you look at the price of a decent quiet air cooler then.... Plus if you are adding case fans and a psu with a fan it kinda defeats the object. Don't think I'd be comfortable running a completely fanless standard air cooling setup unless it was very low powered - but then those systems tend to come with fanless heatsinks anyway. Its a great idea, but I'm struggling to think of where I would use one? |
I realize that this is a nice piece of hardware, but this isn't the first time we've seen quality passive performance from a good heatsink.
And fuck yeah it's overpriced, but where the hell else you gonna go if you want your pc to STFU
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Originally Posted by silenthill
[/size][size="3"]This has made me think of building a whole passive new pc, it will be great to have a office pc with a db of 0. |
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Originally Posted by sheroo
What case would you put it in? |
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Originally Posted by silenthill
[/size][size="3"]I be using the Inwin Dragon Rider, lots of ventilation because I won't be using any case fans also looking for a passive GPU, so any suggestion ? |
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Originally Posted by sheroo
If you must go passive there is the Gigabyte Silent Cell 6770 but for about the same money you can get a 6790 which is meant to perform much better. You really do pay a premium for the fancy cooler on the Gigabyte card. |
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Originally Posted by sheroo
If you have a side window, your PC will look like a washing machine. |
just fill the rest of the pc with watercooling (gpu, ram, chipsets etc) and it will complete the look
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Originally Posted by JPEG
hey guys, i think the graph is a little messed up. It says the average is higher than both the Delta AND the Idle. I think the Delta temp needs to be switched with average. Just throwin that out there for ya
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But it makes no sense to compare Delta to either Average or Ambient anyway, because the latter are actual temperatures while Delta is a relative difference. If for some reason TTL wanted to use kelvin (or gods forbid, rankine) scale, the first entry might have looked like:
Delta: 57.25, Avg: 351.40, Ambient: 294.15
And still it's the Delta that's directly indicative of the cooling ability of the heatsink.
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With the search for silent PC components making a lot of noise of late we take a look at the Nofan passive CPU cooler. Yes PASSIVE!
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