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Home » SilverStone HE01 CPU Cooler Review

SilverStone HE01 CPU Cooler Review

[nextpage title=”Introduction”]

Let’s test the SilverStone HE01 CPU cooler, which has two tower heatsinks, six heatpipes, and one 140 mm fan. Check it out!

The HE01 comes in a brown cardboard box, as shown in Figure 1.

SilverStone HE01Figure 1: Package

Figure 2 shows the contents of the box: the cooler heatsink, fan, a small syringe of thermal compound, manual, and installation hardware. The cooler comes with only one fan, but there are wire holders for up to three 140 mm fans.

SilverStone HE01Figure 2: Accessories

Figure 3 displays the heatsink of the SilverStone HE01.

SilverStone HE01Figure 3: The SilverStone HE01 heatsink

This cooler is discussed in detail in the following pages.

[nextpage title=”The SilverStone HE01″]

Figure 4 illustrates the front of the cooler. The six heatpipes are distributed side-by-side in the heatsink.

SilverStone HE01Figure 4: Front view

Figure 5 reveals the side of the cooler, which makes clear that there are two independent heatsinks. The heatsinks aren’t identical, however.

SilverStone HE01Figure 5: Side view

Figure 6 shows the rear side of the heatsink.

SilverStone HE01Figure 6: Rear side

In Figure 7, you can see the top of the cooler. Here you can see the shape of the fins on each tower as well as the tips of the heatpipes.

SilverStone HE01Figure 7: Top view

[nextpage title=”The SilverStone HE01 (Cont’d)”]

The bottom of the cooler is visible in Figure 8. You can also see that the six 6 mm heatpipes pass through the base of the cooler with no gap between them.

SilverStone HE01Figure 8: Bottom view

Figure 9 illustrates the base of the cooler. It is a nickel-plated copper plate with no mirror-like finishing.

SilverStone HE01Figure 9: Base

Figure 10 shows the 140 mm PWM fan that comes with the cooler. There are three remarkable details about this fan. First, it is 1.5 inches (38 mm) thick, while almost all 120 mm and 140 mm fans found on CPU coolers are 1.0 inches (25 mm) thick. Second, it has a dongle where you can connect a second fan without using a motherboard connector. The third detail is the presence of a small switch, where you can select between quiet (Q) or performance (P) mode, where the maximum speed is 1,200 rpm or 2,000 rpm, respectively. We did our performance tests on both settings.

SilverStone HE01Figure 10: Fan

Figure 11 reveals the HE01 with the fan installed.

SilverStone HE01Figure 11: Fan installed

[nextpage title=”Installation”]

Figure 12 shows the backplate with the installation screws for installing the HE01 on Intel sockets 775, 1155, 1156, and 1366 CPUs. AMD and socket LGA2011 systems use the stock backplate.

SilverStone HE01Figure 12: Backplate

Figure 13 shows the pair of holders for sockets 775, 1155, 1156, and 1366 installed on our motherboard.

SilverStone HE01Figure 13: Holders installed

The next step is to put the cooler in place and hold it there using the two screws on the transversal bar over the base of the cooler.

SilverStone HE01Figure 14: Heatsink installed

The last step is to install the fan. As you can see in Figure 15, the big deal about this cooler is that it doesn’t go over the memory sockets, so you can use memory modules with any kind of heatsink. This is a great plus for such a big cooler, since most of its competitors interfere with tall memory modules.

SilverStone HE01Figure 15: Installation finished

[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
  • Video 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

  • Prime95
  • SpeedFan

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&nbs
p;°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 53 °C 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

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.

 SilverStone HE01

In the graph below, you can see how many decibels of noise each cooler makes.

SilverStone HE01

[nextpage title=”Main Specifications”]

The main specifications for the SilverStone HE01 CPU cooler include:

  • Application: Sockets 775, 1155, 1156, 1366, 2011, AM2(+), AM3(+), and FM1 processors
  • Dimensions: 5.5 x 6.7 x 6.3 inches (140 x 119 x 160 mm) (W x L x H)
  • Maximum TDP: 300 W
  • Fins: Aluminum
  • Base: Nickel-plated copper
  • Heat-pipes: Six 6 mm nickel-plated copper heatpipes
  • Fan: 140 mm
  • Nominal fan speed: 2000 rpm
  • Fan air flow: 171 cfm
  • Power consumption: Not informed
  • Nominal noise level: 41 dBA
  • Weight: 2.04 lbs (926 g)
  • More information: https://www.silverstonetek.com
  • Average price in the U.S.*: USD 75.00

* Researched at Newegg.com on the day we published this review.

[nextpage title=”Conclusions”]

The SilverStone HE01 CPU cooler is not a common “big cooler,” having a great performance and some pluses over its competitors.

First, its heatsink design, added to the fact that it comes with only one fan, free
s the “airspace” over the memory sockets, which makes it compatible with virtually any memory module.

It is also versatile with its switchable fan. You can use it on the quiet mode, with great cooling performance and low noise, or you can sacrifice the silence to squeeze a couple of degrees. You can also use it with one, two, or three fans, which is a lot of flexibility.

Being a well-made, easy-to-install, flexible, and powerful CPU cooler, the SilverStone HE01 receives the Hardware Secrets Golden Award.

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