14 DAY TRIAL // It appears that new cooling modules are in no shortage these days, as even Swiftech decided to provide something of the sort, even though its real specialty is that of high-end liquid cooling solutions.
As always, central processing units from both Intel and AMD could do with better cooling, especially chips with overclocking potential.
Granted, all CPUs come, by default, with a cooler just good enough to handle the heat generation at base settings, but users still often look for ones with lower noise generation and/or overall better heat dispersion.
Granted, when it comes to true top-grade monsters, liquid cooling systems are the way to go, especially when pushing the processor well beyond its normal operation mode.
Swiftech is a company that even made a name for itself in this area, though its newest product is an air cooler, like the recent modules form Zalman and be quiet!
Dubbed Polaris 120, it uses five direct-touch 8mm heatpipes to pull heat out of the CPU and send it over to the aluminum fin array.
Two wind tunnels are, thus, formed, for optimum heat dissipation, while a single hydraumatic bearing fan, with a diameter of 120mm, handles the rest.
Speaking of the fan, it has a rotary speed of 750 to 2,500 RPM (rotations per minute) and a sound output of 13.2 to 41.5 dBA.
All in all, the newcomer measures 135 (W) x 91 (D) x 152 (H) mm, has a weight of 849 grams and supports Intel LGA 775, 1155, 1156 and 1366 chips, plus 754, 939, 940, AM2(+) and AM3 processors form Advanced Micro Devices. The price will be of $59.95 when sales finally start next week.
What remains is to see how it fares on today's market and if Swiftech eventually manages to build as high a reputation as it has in the liquid cooling industry.