AMD Wraith Prism CPU Air Cooler Review @ [H]

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FrgMstr

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AMD Wraith Prism CPU Air Cooler Review

AMD has very much upped its game with the latest generation of Ryzen processors. The Ryzen 2700X comes complete with a snazzy looking cooler that has served us well on our test bench, but what happens when you put it inside a hot case with a hot video card and put the screws to it in terms of GHz and wattage on our 4GHz Ryzen testing rig?

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decent little stock cooler.
if you warm up the cpu first the hsf will release easier.
 
Stock coolers are designed to be easy to install, and the Wraith Prism is no different.
Click to expand...
I do hate the removal though. Always have the feeling that the plastic CPU bracket is about to break when flipping the lever.
 
So this is basically garbage... Glad to see AMD focused on what is important and made sure it has pretty RGB LEDs.
 
Not a bad stock cooler at all, but I was more impressed with the stock cooler on the Opteron 165, which allowed me to overclock the thing from 1.8 GHz to 2.4 GHz with barely any increase in temp (and two of my buddies got their 165s to 2.7 GHz using the same stock cooler). Then again, the 165 only has two cores, and runs at clock speeds way lower than a Ryzen 7 1700. I don't remember what my CPU temps were back then, this was like 12 years ago.
 
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Thanks for the review. I saw this pop up a few weeks ago and was hoping [H] would do a review.

Not normally that into LED stuff but some of the stuff I have came with it so I can understand some appeal for it. I have to admit these look pretty cool. As stock coolers go, this one does seem like one of the better ones.

I just wanted to clarify about this statement from the review:
"I first noticed the face speed selector on the side, which I am somewhat embarrassed to admit, so all our previous testing was done at "low." Not that this is a bad thing, but something that does need to be mentioned."
Was that speed selector for the fan or some function of the LED? I'm assuming the fan but wanted to know for sure.
 
Skylinestar said:
I do hate the removal though. Always have the feeling that the plastic CPU bracket is about to break when flipping the lever.
Click to expand...

I agree. With my intel stuff I'm glad they did away with the old pin styles but the amount of pressure when pushing that lever down leaves me praying the board or cpu doesn't split in half. That's what's kept me from trying other coolers once I install one. Fortunately my Hyper 212's have done the job so it's not a big deal. May not have the fastest clocks out there but 4.2Ghz on the 2600k and 4930k get the job done while 65c or less when gaming.
 
Nice review, I just put a work system together using this heat sink and the temps and noise are fine (but not much overclocking =( ).

One thing I was wondering is how does this Cooler compare to other Cheap heat-sinks like the Cooler Master Hyper 212 series using this test method ( heck I would like to know the real performance difference between the EVO, LED and the X)
 
lostin3d said:
Thanks for the review. I saw this pop up a few weeks ago and was hoping [H] would do a review.

Not normally that into LED stuff but some of the stuff I have came with it so I can understand some appeal for it. I have to admit these look pretty cool. As stock coolers go, this one does seem like one of the better ones.

I just wanted to clarify about this statement from the review:
"I first noticed the face speed selector on the side, which I am somewhat embarrassed to admit, so all our previous testing was done at "low." Not that this is a bad thing, but something that does need to be mentioned."
Was that speed selector for the fan or some function of the LED? I'm assuming the fan but wanted to know for sure.
Click to expand...
My typo. FAN SPEED SELECTOR.
 
What I find interesting about the hype for this cooler is that as far as I can tell, the actual heatsink/heat pipe portion of it is exactly the same as the stock cooler that came with my FX-8320 and FX-8350 processors. The only difference appears to be the fan itself (RGB, speed selectable, and a bit bigger)...
 
I'm still using the Prism, it's good enough for me but I agree it's noticeably loud. After seeing this review I'm thinking of that Reeven Ouranos. Price/performance is crazy on that.
 
mvmiller12 said:
What I find interesting about the hype for this cooler is that as far as I can tell, the actual heatsink/heat pipe portion of it is exactly the same as the stock cooler that came with my FX-8320 and FX-8350 processors. The only difference appears to be the fan itself (RGB, speed selectable, and a bit bigger)...
Click to expand...

It's not.

If you turn them over, you can see that they are totally different coolers.

For example, the Wraith Prism has the heat pipes directly in contact with the processor, which is not the case with the original Wraith cooler.
 
mvmiller12 said:
What I find interesting about the hype for this cooler is that as far as I can tell, the actual heatsink/heat pipe portion of it is exactly the same as the stock cooler that came with my FX-8320 and FX-8350 processors. The only difference appears to be the fan itself (RGB, speed selectable, and a bit bigger)...
Click to expand...

The base is not the same size at all.

The Phenom II heatsink was the smallest of course, then the 8320 and 8350 was a bit bigger, but not that much. Then came the original Wraith, Wraith Max after that, now this Wraith Prism.


Phenom II vs original Wraith:

https://www.pcper.com/reviews/Cases-and-Cooling/AMD-Wraith-CPU-Cooler-Review-Cool-and-Quiet

https://www.bit-tech.net/reviews/tech/cooling/amd-wraith-fx-8370-cooler-review/1/


Now for Prism vs Wraith Max:

https://forum.gamer.com.tw/C.php?bsn=60030&snA=493084

https://www.computerbase.de/2018-05/amd-wraith-prism-boxed-kuehler-test/


I haven't found a Wraith vs Wraith Max pic yet.
 
I stand corrected, but you must admit that the differences are very subtle unless you see them side-by-side.
 
3.8C between my Noctua U12S and the Wraith Prism @ High fans? Not bad! Damned impressive for a stocker, actually.
 
Not bad, I'd prob run it and keep the 2700X stock since XRF2 is pretty good.
 
Skylinestar said:
I do hate the removal though. Always have the feeling that the plastic CPU bracket is about to break when flipping the lever.
Click to expand...

Yeah, those things are horrible.

The cooler that comes with the 2200G doesn't use the plastic brackets on the motherboard: you unscrew both of them, and the cooler has four screws that go right into the motherboard and back plate, like an Intel cooler. Much nicer.
 
mvmiller12 said:
I stand corrected, but you must admit that the differences are very subtle unless you see them side-by-side.
Click to expand...

I fully agree. If I didn't have some of these myself I wouldn't have known. The overall design and proportions are very similar on all so like you said unless you have them next to each other you don't know.



Also as a response to others mentioning issues with the lever and pressure, some of that I think is AMD's fault. Some of these stock coolers have a lever that flips right to left. Some flip left to right. If you get used to one way and don't notice that the design is different on a new cooler then it really catches you off guard. You might be trying to get it to initially catch the plastic bracket with the lever already in the closed position. I'm pretty sure I did this myself once or twice. The first I noticed this was on an FX-4100 cooler from a few years ago. Now I flip the lever back and forth on coolers a bit and watch it move before I even try to put it on the cpu. I think I have some of each style right now but I can never remember for sure so it's best to check.
 
I have had my new Ryzen 2700x running for about 5 days now and am getting a little annoyed with this cooler winding up and down, It's not really staying that cool - even at idle. Right now sitting in mid 40's and all I am doing is just typing into this forum. Think I'm going to pick a CoolerMaster AIO cooler. Should be quieter and cooler.
 
twzTechman said:
I have had my new Ryzen 2700x running for about 5 days now and am getting a little annoyed with this cooler winding up and down, It's not really staying that cool - even at idle. Right now sitting in mid 40's and all I am doing is just typing into this forum. Think I'm going to pick a CoolerMaster AIO cooler. Should be quieter and cooler.
Click to expand...
try adjusting your fan curve. but yes the aio will be better.
 
Nice review! But yeah if I drop the coin for the 2700x (I'm considering either the 2700 or the 2700x) then I'd probably look to sell this one and go AIO.
 
twzTechman said:
I have had my new Ryzen 2700x running for about 5 days now and am getting a little annoyed with this cooler winding up and down, It's not really staying that cool - even at idle. Right now sitting in mid 40's and all I am doing is just typing into this forum. Think I'm going to pick a CoolerMaster AIO cooler. Should be quieter and cooler.
Click to expand...

Similar here but since I enabled Precision boost or XFR ? (didn't read much but level 1...) it never goes down 4.1~4.2GHz at 1.4V so I understand it staying idle at 40~50C ... What are you setting ?
 
Im using Smart Fan in the Gigabyte bios to set the curve to my preferred settings and at idle Im around 28C. I ran the Far Cry 5 benchmark and was about 55-57C and low 60's for 3DMark. I did run Prime 95 and I was in the mid 70's after running for about 10 min, this was also run before I fine tuned Smart Fan to my liking so I may be able to hit lower. I played Battlefront 2 for several hours and all 8 cores (16 logical) were over 4GHZ and being utilized, temps were staying around 55-57C as in Far Cry 5. So yeah if you don't push your system to the bleeding edge which I don't, then this is a great cooler and looks even better.
 
MMitch said:
Similar here but since I enabled Precision boost or XFR ? (didn't read much but level 1...) it never goes down 4.1~4.2GHz at 1.4V so I understand it staying idle at 40~50C ... What are you setting ?
Click to expand...

I have been running on Precision boost level 2 and XFR2 is enabled.

pendragon1 said:
try adjusting your fan curve. but yes the aio will be better.
Click to expand...

Yes - I have been toying with different fan profiles. My Asus MB has easy tune software, and if I run the standard fan mode profile, it stays pretty quiet. Just not as cool as I would like.


I will say that overall this system is rock solid.

Here's some results with my last 3 builds in 3d Mark:
all with the same Video card - a GTX1080.

3/30/17 i7-4770K Time Spy - 6506, Fire Strike 15630
3/30/18 i7-8770k Time Spy - 7049, Fire Strike 17524
5/11/18 Ryzen2770X Time Spy - 7454, Fire Strike 17794
 
The article said:
"To explain the formula we are using for Cost per Degree, it will be the difference in cost between the True Spirit and our review unit, then the delta in cost from our True Spirit divided by our cost delta. So what this gives us in a dollar value per degree for the reviewed cooler over the True Spirit's performance."
Should that be divided by the temperature delta?
 
DrezKill said:
Not a bad stock cooler at all, but I was more impressed with the stock cooler on the Opteron 165, which allowed me to overclock the thing from 1.8 GHz to 2.4 GHz with barely any increase in temp (and two of my buddies got their 165s to 2.7 GHz using the same stock cooler). Then again, the 165 only has two cores, and runs at clock speeds way lower than a Ryzen 7 1700. I don't remember what my CPU temps were back then, this was like 12 years ago.
Click to expand...
The Opteron stock coolers were beasts for the time, two or four Heatpipes and similar to the wraith.
 
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