Another thing I would like to point out here is that the room I have my PC in is right above my kitchen. It also has all of the hot water pipes running underneath it. This of course greatly increases the heat in this room, especially if the hot water is heating up or the cooker has been on. That's why when it comes to temperature testing I always take the PC downstairs (which is where the temps above were gathered). Trying to maintain a constant ambient temperature in this room is almost impossible :. Anyway, what I noticed was that the Akasa cooler handled the extra ambient heat very well. Embarassing as it is, I've seen CPU temperatures up to 58c in this room, but the Akasa cooler, even in this heat hasn't recorded anything higher than 56. This is great for me personally, and I would guess that I'm not alone with my situation of having a PC in a hot room. Overall a very impressive performance in both sound and cooling ability from the Silver Mountain 2Q.
Final Words
This review for me has been quiet surprising in that I didn't personally think that anything this cheap would perform overall nearly as well as my Swiftech MC462. Whilst there is a difference in the temperatures between the two, it is only a 2 degree difference. When you think that the Swiftech costs a hell of a lot more for just the heatsink alone, this makes the Silver Mountain 2Q a very attractive package indeed. You don't need to buy a separate fan or any kind of thermal compound as everything you need is all there with it reducing your overall costs. It's also very quiet with my Enermax 92mm PSU fan being just slightly louder at full speed. There is a higher sounding pitch to this fan than an 80mm fan but the overall sound is about the same. The silver plating is very good, both in function and aesthetics, with a high quality and mirror like look to it. Being silver plated does mean that under close scrutiny there are a few imperfections to it but you would have to look under a magnifying glass to see them. The fan comes with a grill to protect your fingers which is something that some manufacturers don't include, and this also adds to the overall appearance.
I like this cooler, I like it a lot. It's cheap, but its performance is right up there with the bigger and more expensive coolers that aim to be quiet. Big thanks to for the review sample.
AKASA UK:
AKASA Int.:
Pro's
Good performance
Silver plating looks great
Very quiet
Tidy appearance
Decent TIM included
Fan grill included
Con's
Very slight imperfections in the silver plating under a magnifying glass
Bottom Line
This is a great performing cooler, which is quiet and ready to go out of the box. It's also not expensive. I have no hesitation in giving it the Viperlair Recommended Award.
