Phanteks PH-TC14PE Dual Tower CPU Cooler Review - New kid on the block

[Aruffell]

As fierce as the cooling market already is, we enthusiasts always notice room for improvement on our quest to find the elusive perfect cooler. Extra competition usually represents nothing but joy for the consumer’s wallet as multiple manufacturers compete to offer the best bang for your hard earned buck. Cue the market entry for an assassin sent by Phanteks with its targets being the current air cooling kings, from the likes of Noctua and Thermalright and its objective of becoming the most dominant air cooler on the market, bar none!

You can query any enthusiast on what they believe to be the best CPU cooler currently available for consumer purchase. The pair of dual tower brutes clinching the top two results in terms of popularity would probably be the mighty Noctua NH-D14 and Thermalright Silver Arrow. For a long time now, these two monsters have been widely regarding as the best there is where air cooling is concerned but can Phanteks with their dual tower PH-TC14PE CPU cooler change this ageing trend?

The PH-TC14PE features a unique design in so many ways. It is one of the few coolers that has been designed to pack the conduction might of 5 double ended 8mm copper heatpipes departing the copper base for a dual tower aluminium fin array. That is some extreme conduction and heat extraction muscle for a single CPU cooler. The unique features don’t stop there though. Phanteks have their own patented designs for helping them to avoid unintentional nose-dives in cooling performance. P.A.T.S (Physical Anti-oxidant Thermal Shield) which has been successfully proven in the aviation industry and C.P.S.C (Cold Plasma Spraying Coating) technology are just some of the potentially useful and truly unique features designed to improve the cooling performance and thermal conductivity of the PH-TC14PE. Where other manufacturers fall short and overlook such an important aspect of any CPU cooler, the fan, Phanteks haven’t. They have made sure to include two of their high quality PH-F140TS Maelström Vortex Booster 140mm fans ensuring the potential heat extracting prowess isn’t disappointingly wasted by a lack of airflow.

With a red, blue, orange and standard (frosty white in colour) designed cooler being sold by Phanteks, the aesthetics are basically faultless. This is useless without the obligatory performance accompanying those tremendous looks, so let’s waste no more time and explore the performance of this colossal CPU cooler.

We tested this in a real-word situation inside an NZXT Phantom and also took a look at all four colours of this heatsink.

Read the full review here!

[BeepBeep2]

Noctua rip-off? O_o

...or not

[Aruffell]

Out performs the NH-D14 so make your own judgement from that

[eXa]

Silver arrow have 4 heatpipes, this have 5 and D-14 have 6

[3NZ0]

Another review: http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages...er_review.html

Results here: http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages...review,13.html


I have to say, it looks the part. Packaging has a strong resemblance to noctua products. I think I'll pick one of these up and go passive for my htpc.

[eXa]

For passive i think Thermalright HR-02 is a better choice (and even cheaper)

[EniGmA1987]

If that base was lapped down to half the stock thickness it seems like it would do even better

[zalbard]

I'd like to see a review done by one of the bigger sites.
So far it seems like NH-D14 clone.

[Aruffell]

I'd like to see a review done by one of the bigger sites.
So far it seems like NH-D14 clone.

Bigger site such as?

We worked very closely with Phanteks on this review, hence having all four colours and testing in a real-world set of conditions inside a chassis whereas most sites will do cooler testing straight onto a test bench which doesn't simulate any real-world testing at all.

[eXa]

So this cooler with TY-140 fans should be pretty optimal

Thermalright’s TR TY-140s are still superior fans since they perform slightly better at lower acoustic levels than Noctua’s NF-P14s which in turn lead the PH-F140TS by a mere 0.25C delta

[iddqd]

So this cooler with TY-140 fans should be pretty optimal

Are those considered to be the best 140mm fans on the market right now? Too bad it won't fit my rad; with the stupid 120mm mounting...

[eXa]

I think so.

[lkiller123]

The choice of different colors is a very nice touch.

[Aruffell]

The choice of different colors is a very nice touch.

I prefer the blue out of all of them, but it won't match my ROG board, so would have to be red.

[SubZero.it]

Looks nice...but waiting for a "proper" review

[Helios1234]

Phanteks PH-TC14PE (Premium Edition) twin tower thermal radiator design uses the latest aerospace technology. By using P.A.T.S* to increase cooling performance and C.P.S.C Technology** to enhance thermal conductivity, heat will easily dissipate, creating an opportunity for greater overclocking. Combined with Dual Phanteks PH-F140 Premium 140mm Fans, easy-to-install SoliSku mounting kit and PH-NDC thermal compound, Phanteks PH-TC14PE with unique colour is setting the new standard of today’s CPU cooling.

A couple of reviews:
Vortez
Madshrimps

[BlackFox]

Been waiting for some proper reviews of this thx for posting what an absolute beast of a cooler that is. It still costs a fair whack though tbh, Silver Arrow appears to be the best value for money option comparing NH-D14, Silver Arrow and now this!

[eXa]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d-on-the-block

[BlackFox]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d-on-the-block

yeah these are the 'proper reviews' that one from eteknix is sub-standard. Did see all the results : http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages..._review,1.html !!

[Dave_Sz]

The point was that there is already a thread dedicated to the cooler, not where it was reviewed.

[Dave_Sz]

Bigger site such as?

We worked very closely with Phanteks on this review,

So the company who made the cooler was part of the review process?
I don't think that's what you wanted to say as surely it would make me take the review very lightly.

Either way, this looks like a design rip off. I know what cheap chinese knock offs are doing to the aftermarket car industry and I hope the same won't happen here.

[Aruffell]

So the company who made the cooler was part of the review process?
I don't think that's what you wanted to say as surely it would make me take the review very lightly.

Either way, this looks like a design rip off. I know what cheap chinese knock offs are doing to the aftermarket car industry and I hope the same won't happen here.

They were part of the communication. We never let a company influence us and how we review and most importantly grade a product.

We spoke to them about the conditions they tested the cooler under and most importantly about the claims that the cooler has when being brought to market. We then put this to the test to see if it really could live up to what their sales and marketing team hyped on about, as most of the time it's marketing crap, but this really did live up to it and our results show that when looking at the passive tests etc...

We work closely with all the companies that we deal with to make sure that the information supplied is accurate and correct, but we don't let anyone dictate or change our opinion.

[halfwaythere]

I'd have to say one hell of a job. The pinkish one is awesome.

To those saying its a noctua ripoff: who the fck cares as long as it performs and looks ten times better.

[Leeghoofd]

+1 halfwaythere...

If they clone it and get better performance and looks, it's a win win for the end user... most high end coolers have a dozen look alikes...

I'd like to see a review done by one of the bigger sites.
So far it seems like NH-D14 clone.

I hope you aren't talking about hardwareheaven. If so, I'll prolly guess it will get a gold, must have and 95% rating...

[Dave_Sz]

I'd have to say one hell of a job. The pinkish one is awesome.

To those saying its a noctua ripoff: who the fck cares as long as it performs and looks ten times better.

Lets see. People will buy the knock off, taking away business from the original manufacturer. The original manufacturer will therefore have less money for new designs and possibly go under. Then the knock off manufacturers will have no one to copy.
This is of course all hypothetical, not like it has ever happened or anything.

They were part of the communication. We never let a company influence us and how we review and most importantly grade a product.

Cool. :tup: