Evercool Buffalo HPFI CPU Cooler

Overclocking PC's has almost become an art form. Previously, when we overclocked our PC's it was to add a bit of a performance boost and hopefully get some more bang for your buck. Now we find people overclocking the fastest computers on the market in order to achieve the highest possible speeds with the high-end components. Overclocking has definitely changed faces over the years.

Today we will take a look at the Evercool Buffalo HPFI CPU cooler. How much extra bang for your buck, both at stock speed and at overclocked speeds, can you get with these rather fancy heatsinks in a relatively modest hardware configuration? Read on to find out.

Design

The Buffalo HPFI is a one-piece heatsink/fan. No assembly required. It includes a tube of thermal grease in the box, and is powered by the classic three-wire CPU fan plug. The fan is attached to the heatsink with a set of stiff retainer wires, which allows for easy fan removal for cleaning. It's huge 10cm fan was whisper quiet with the side panel on the case. This cooler worked very well without the hassle involved with some of the more intense bolt-on CPU coolers. It uses the classic Intel motherboard connectors which were somewhat difficult to install with the board in the system. We recommend first installing this on a free-standing board, then installing the set into the system.

This heatsink uses heat pipe technology, but it isn't the newer Direct Touch heatpipes, rather option for a large flat copper heat transfer block. This design works fine, but doesn't work quite as well as the Direct Touch for obvious reasons. One of the best things about this heatsink is the quiet operating sound level. With the large fan set perpendicular to the CPU, it can run at slower fan speeds to provide the same level of cooling as a more classically designed heatsink can.

A small shroud to direct air out the rear fan vent on a generic ATX case would have been a great addition. Air flow is very important and anytime you can channel air through the case you will have less dead air pockets that let other components heat up too quickly.

Specifications

• Overall Dimension : 110 x 72 x 142.7 mm
• DC Fan Size : 100 x 100 x 25 mm
• Base Material : Heat Pipe
• Bearing Type : Ever Lubricate Bearing (Long Life bearing)
• Speed : 1800 ±10% RPM
• Noise Level : <23 dBA
• Rated Voltage : 12 V
• Weight : 500 g