Thermalright Silver Arrow ITX

TechPowerUP has published a review of the Thermalright Silver Arrow ITX CPU cooler today that is certainly worth checking out.

Thermalright is shaking things up with the Silver Arrow ITX. It features a tweaked design that offers better compatibility with Mini-ITX motherboards, especially the ASUS ROG line. With solid performance, exceptional style, and near-silent operation, the Silver Arrow ITX manages to hold its own against the competition.

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It actually looks like a kick-ass cooler, and performs pretty well in many areas. I will be considering it in my next build.

I love how they drone on about how it is designed for better Mini-ITX motherboard compatibility (specifically the ASUS ROG Mini-ITX board) then test it on one specific full ATX motherboard and discount points when it blocks the first PCIe slot. That first PCIe slot is everything on a Mini-ITX board, and I doubt Thermalright would have branded this an ITX cooler if it blocked that slot on a majority of Mini-ITX boards.

The CPU socket can move several mm in other directions. It isn't a fixed position when it comes to the design of the board. Even if they had tried it on another brand of motherboard or simply tried it on an Mini-ITX board then they could have proven the cooler is still too big. I strongly suspect the MSI ATX board they used has the CPU socket more closely placed to the 1st PCIe slot to begin with, hence the reason why MSI chose the first slot to be a more disposable 1x slot.

All they would have had to do is test it on 1 high end Mini-itx board, regardless of brand, and this review might have been a bit more beneficial.

Looks like a nice cooler within 3% overall of the Noctua NH-D15 but it is really close in price.
Not a great value.

itx my ass! look at the size of that fucking thing!

Silver Arrow ITX was made for the ASUS ROG Mini-ITX board and has 2 less heatpipes for better clearance under fins and obviously only has one fan. It comes with the new black & red TY-149 fan (to match ROG colors) which is similar to other TY-140 series fans but has a little more pitch in the blades and a 300-1300rpm range rather than 650-1300rpm. Thermalright also has a new TY-147 A fan out. Same as original TY-147 (and TY-140) but is 300-1300rpm rather than 650-1300rpm.