[nextpage title=”Introduction”]
The Phanteks PH-TC90LS is a low-profile CPU cooler that is 1.77 inches (45 mm) tall and uses a 92 mm PWM fan. Let’s test it!
According to Phanteks, the PH-TC90LS has three 6 mm heatpipes embedded into the base. However, those heatpipes are not visible, and the manufacturer doesn’t inform buyers as to how those heatpipes are exactly positioned.
The PH-TC90LS comes in a small cardboard box, in white and black shades, as seen in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Package
Figure 2 shows the contents of the box: heatsink, fan, a tube of thermal compound, manuals, and installation hardware.
Figure 2: Accessories
Figure 3 displays the PH-TC90LS heatsink.
Figure 3: The PH-TC90LS heatsink
This cooler is discussed in detail in the following pages.
[nextpage title=”The Phanteks PH-TC90LS”]
Figure 4 illustrates the front of the heatsink. The fins are painted white. Phanteks calls this painting P.A.T.S. (Physical Antioxidant Thermal Shield) technology, claiming it deflects the heat coming from other hot parts of the computer.
Figure 4: Front view
Figure 5 reveals the side of the cooler. Notice that there are no visible heatpipes.
Figure 5: Side view
In Figure 6, you can see the top of the cooler.
Figure 6: Top view
[nextpage title=”The Phanteks PH-TC90LS (Cont’d)”]
Figure 7 illustrates the well-polished base of the cooler, made of nickel-plated copper. There are two perforations: one compatible with sockets LGA1155/LGA1156 and the other for use with socket LGA2011.
Figure 7: Base
Figure 8 shows the PWM compatible 92 mm PWM fan used by the PH-TC90LS. It is only 0.6 inch (15 mm) tall.
Figure 8: Fan
Figure 9 reveals the heatsink with the fan installed.
Figure 9: Fan installed
[nextpage title=”Installation”]
The installation of the Phanteks PH-TC90LS on an LGA1155 CPU is quite simple. Just place the backplate (shown in Figure 10) at the solder side of the motherboard, put the cooler over the CPU and attach it, using four spring-loaded screws.
Figure 10: Backplate
Figure 11: Cooler installed
[nextpage title=”How We Tested”]
We tested the cooler with a Core i5-2500K CPU (quad-core, 3.3 GHz), which is a socket LGA1155 processor with a 95 W TDP (Thermal Design Power). In order to get higher thermal dissipation, we overclocked it to 4.0 GHz (100 MHz base clock and x40 multiplier), with 1.3 V core voltage (Vcore). This CPU was able to reach 4.8 GHz with its default core voltage, but at this setting, the processor enters thermal throttling when using mainstream coolers, reducing the clock and thus the thermal dissipation. This could interfere with the temperature readings, so we chose to maintain a moderate overclocking.
We measured noise and temperature with the CPU under full load. In order to get 100% CPU usage in all cores, we ran Prime 95 25.11 with the “In-place Large FFTs” option. (In this version, the software uses all available threads.)
We compared the tested cooler to other coolers we already tested, and to the stock cooler that comes with the Core i5-2500K CPU. Note that the results cannot be compared to measures taken on a different hardware configuration, so we retested some “old” coolers with this new methodology. This means you can find different values in older reviews than the values you will read on the next page. Every cooler was tested with the thermal compound that comes with it.
Room temperature measurements were taken with a digital thermometer. The core temperature was read with the SpeedFan program (available from the CPU thermal sensors), using an arithmetic average of the core temperature readings.
During the tests, the panels of the computer case were closed. The front and rear case fans were spinning at minimum speed in order to simulate the “normal” cooler use on a well-ventilated case. We assume that is the common setup used by a cooling enthusiast or overclocker.
The sound pressure level (SPL) was measured with a digital noise meter, with its sensor placed near the top opening of the case. This measurement is only for comparison purposes, because a precise SPL measurement needs to be made inside an acoustically insulated room with no other noise sources, which is not the case here.
Hardware Configuration
- Processor: Core i5-2500K
- Motherboard: ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z
- Memory: 6 GB OCZ (DDR3-1600/PC3-12800), configured at 1,600 MHz and 8-8-8-18 timings
- Hard disk: Seagate Barracuda XT 2 TB
- Video card: Point of View GeForce GTX 460 1 GB
- V
ideo resolution: 1920×1080 - Video monitor: Samsung SyncMaster P2470HN
- Power supply: Seventeam ST-550P-AM
- Case: Cooler Master HAF 922
Operating System Configuration
- Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit SP1
Software Used
Error Margin
We adopted a 2°C error margin, meaning temperature differences below 2°C are considered irrelevant.
[nextpage title=”Our Tests”]
The table below presents the results of our measurements. We repeated the same test on all coolers listed below. Each measurement was taken with the CPU at full load. In the models with a fan supporting PWM, the motherboard controlled the fan speed according to core load and temperature. On coolers with an integrated fan controller, the fan was set at the full speed.
| Cooler | Room Temp. | Noise | Speed | Core Temp. | Temp. Diff. |
| Cooler Master Hyper TX3 | 18 °C | 50 dBA | 2850 rpm | 69 °C | 51 °C |
| Corsair A70 | 23 °C | 51 dBA | 2000 rpm | 66 °C | 43 °C |
| Corsair H100 | 26 °C | 62 dBA | 2000 rpm | 64 °C | 38 °C |
| EVGA Superclock | 26 °C | 57 dBA | 2550 rpm | 67 °C | 41 °C |
| NZXT HAVIK 140 | 20 °C | 46 dBA | 1250 rpm | 65 °C | 45 °C |
| Thermalright True Spirit 120 | 26 °C | 42 dBA | 1500 rpm | 82 °C | 56 °C |
| Zalman CNPS12X | 26 °C | 43 dBA | 1200 rpm | 71 °C | 45 °C |
| Zalman CNPS9900 Max | 20 °C | 51 dBA | 1700 rpm | 62 °C | 42 °C |
| Titan Fenrir Siberia Edition | 22 °C | 50 dBA | 2400 rpm | 65 °C | 43 °C |
| SilenX EFZ-120HA5 | 18 °C | 44 dBA | 1500 rpm | 70 °C | 52 °C |
| Noctua NH-L12 | 20 °C | 44 dBA | 1450 rpm | 70 °C | 50 °C |
| Zalman CNPS8900 Extreme | 21 °C | 53 dBA | 2550 rpm | 71 °C | 50 °C |
| Gamer Storm Assassin | 15 °C | 48 dBA | 1450 rpm | 58 °C | 43 °C |
| Deepcool Gammaxx 400 | 15 °C | 44 dBA | 1500 rpm | 60 °C | 45 °C |
| Cooler Master TPC 812 | 23 °C | 51 dBA | 2350 rpm | 66 °C | 43 °C |
| Deepcool Gammaxx 300 | 18 °C | 43 dBA | 1650 rpm | 74 °C | 56 °C |
| Intel stock cooler | 18 °C | 41 dBA | 2000 rpm | 97 °C | 79 °C |
| Xigmatek Praeton | 19 °C | 52 dBA | 2900 rpm | 83 °C | 64 °C |
| Noctua NH-U12P SE2 | 18 °C | 42 dBA | 1300 rpm | 69 °C | 51 °C |
| Deepcool Frostwin | 24 °C | 46 dBA | 1650 rpm | 78 °C | 54 °C |
| Thermaltake Frio Advanced | 13 °C | 56 dBA | 2000 rpm | 62 °C | 49 °C |
| Xigmatek Dark Knight Night Hawk Edition | 9 °C | 48 dBA | 2100 rpm | 44 °C | |
| Thermaltake Frio Extreme | 21 °C | 53 dBA | 1750 rpm | 59 °C | 38 °C |
| Noctua NH-U9B SE2 | 12 °C | 44 dBA | 1700 rpm | 64 °C | 52 °C |
| Thermaltake WATER2.0 Pro | 15 °C | 54 dBA | 2000 rpm | 52 °C | 37 °C |
| Deepcool Fiend Shark | 18 °C | 45 dBA | 1500 rpm | 74 °C | 56 °C |
| Arctic Freezer i30 | 13 °C | 42 dBA | 1350 rpm | 63 °C | 50 °C |
| Spire TME III | 8 °C | 46 dBA | 1700 rpm | 70 °C | 62 °C |
| Thermaltake WATER2.0 Performer | 11 °C | 54 dBA | 2000 rpm | 49 °C | 38 °C |
| Arctic Alpine 11 PLUS | 11 °C | 45 dBA | 2000 rpm | 82 °C | 71 °C |
| be quiet! Dark Rock 2 | 10 °C | 41 dBA | 1300 rpm | 58 °C | 48 °C |
| Phanteks PH-TC14CS | 16 °C | 47 dBA | 1300 rpm | 58 °C | 42 °C |
| Phanteks PH-TC14PE | 16 °C | 48 dBA | 1300 rpm | 57 °C | 41 °C |
| SilverStone HE01 (Q) | 19 °C | 44 dBA | 1150 rpm | 63 °C | 44 °C |
| SilverStone HE01 (P) | 20 °C | 57 dBA | 2050 rpm | 62 °C | 42 °C |
| Thermaltake WATER2.0 Extreme (S) | 17 °C | 44 dBA | 1250 rpm | 52 °C | 35 °C |
| Thermaltake WATER2.0 Extreme (E) | 17 °C | 53 dBA | 1900 rpm | 50 °C | 33 °C |
| Deepcool Neptwin | 11 °C | 46 dBA | 1500 rpm | 56 °C | 45 °C |
| SilverStone HE02 | 19 °C | 49 dBA | 2000 rpm | 64 °C | 45 °C |
| Zalman CNPS9900DF | 23 °C | 45 dBA | 1400 rpm | 68 °C | 45 °C |
| Deepcool ICE BLADE PRO V2.0 | 22 °C | 43 dBA | 1500 rpm | 67 °C | 45 °C |
| Phanteks PH-TC90LS | 24 °C | 47 dBA | 2600 rpm | 95 °C | 71 °C |
In the graph below, you can see how many degrees Celsius hotter the CPU core is than the air outside the case. The lower this difference, the better is the performance of the cooler.
In the graph below, you can see how many decibels of noise each cooler makes.
[nextpage title=”Main Specifications”]
The main specifications for the Phanteks PH-TC90LS CPU cooler include:
- Application: Sockets LGA1155, LGA1156, and LGA2011
- Dimensions: 3.7 x 3.7 x 1.77 inches (95 x 95 x 45 mm) (W x L x H)
- Fins: Aluminum
- Base: Nickel-plated copper
- Heat-pipes: Three 6-mm copper heatpipes (embedded)
- Fan: 92 mm
- Nominal fan speed: 2,500 rpm
- Fan air flow: 28.67 cfm
- Power consumption: 3.0 W
- Nominal noise level: 26 dBA
- Weight: 9.6 Oz (273 g)
- More information: https://www.phanteks.com
- MSRP in the U.S.: USD 30.00
[nextpage title=”Conclusions”]
The Phanteks PH-TC90LS is a very well-made low-profile cooler, with the same construction quality we are accustomed to seeing in other coolers from this manufacturer.
However, there is no point in comparing the cooling performance of such a low-profile cooler to those of high-end tower coolers. Therefore, y
ou must pay attention to our data and compare the portrayed cooler to the Intel stock cooler and other low-profile models.
The PH-TC90LS has the same height (1.77 inches or 45 mm) as Intel’s stock cooler and of the Xigmatek Praeton. The performance of the PH-TC90LS was better than the stock cooler (unfortunately, it was a little noisier, too), but it didn’t reach the cooling performance of the Prateon (which was the noisiest of the three).
So, if you are building a PC (or an HTPC) in an SFF case with about 1.77 inches (45 mm) clearance, with a low-TDP socket LGA1155 or LGA2011 processor, the Phanteks PH-TC90LS is a choice you can consider.
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