Xigmatek Dark Knight S1283 CPU Cooler

Overclocking our desktop PCs has nearly become an art form. Previously, when we overclocked our desktops it was to add a bit of a performance boost and hopefully get some more bang for your buck. Now we find many users overclocking the fastest computers on the market in order to achieve the highest possible CPU, FSB and RAM speeds with the high-end components. Overclocking has definitely changed faces over the years.

Today we will take a look at the Xigamatek Dark Knight S1283 CPU cooler. How much extra bang for your buck does the Dark Knight S1283 offer? Read on to find out how this CPU cooler performs at both stock speeds and overclocked speeds.

Design and Installation

The Dark Knight is a two piece heatsink/fan with some assembly required. While needing a screw driver to install a heatsink may not be normal, it was not really a bad thing overall. The kit include a metal backplate with an adhesive face for attaching to the bottom of the motherboard. This plate then has four spring mounted screws that attach through the motherboard to the backplate. While I enjoyed the idea of tensioning down the power supply with metal-to-metal connection (no plastic pieces here), it bothered me to think about accidentally stripping out one screw. Be sure to carefully tighten your screws on this heatsink.

This kit included a small container of thermal grease as well. It utilizes the four-wire newer style processor fan connector. One interesting feature was the fan mounting system. The fan mounts to the fins on the heatsink via four rubber pieces that firmly fit into notches in the fins. This means no metal connection to the fan and really dropped the ambient noise level of the fan. You can hear it spin, but there's no vibration noise with the rubber attachment.

Specifications

• Overall Dimension : 120(W) x 50(D) x 159(H) mm
• DC Fan Size : 120(W) x 120(H) x 25(D) mm
• Base Material : H.D.T. (Heat-pipes Direct Touch)
• Bearing Type : Long Life Bearing
• Air Flow: 89.45 CFM (Max.)
• Air Pressure: 4.1 mmH2O (Max.)
• Speed : 1000~2200 R.P.M.
• Noise Level : not reported
• Rated Voltage : 12 V
• Weight : 660g (w/fan)

The heatsink itself is a heatpipe construction with Direct Touch heatpipes. I was skeptical at first of this, but the polished heatpipes directly touching the processor die with nothing but a thin layer of thermal grease actually did make a difference in the overall temperature levels when compared to other coolers. The only issue with this design is that the height will restrict your case usage. Cases smaller than 8” wide will have the end caps of the heatpipes in the way of attaching their side panel.

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 in case you have less dead air pockets that let other components heat up too quickly.

Features

• H.D.T. (Heat-pipe direct touch) technology
• Back plate and Spring screw to prevent M/B bended
• 3pcs 8mm high performance U type heat-pipes
• Overall black nickel heatsink
• 4pcs white LED / transparent black fan
• Anti-vibration rubbers prevent Fan vibration and also absorb vibration noise
• Light weight
• 120mm highly efficient PWM fan
• Compatibility: All Intel® Socket LGA 775 CPU (Core™2 Extreme / Core™2 Quad / Core™2 Duo / Pentium® Extreme Edition / Pentium® D / Celeron® D); All AMD Socket AM2 / 754 / 939 / 940 CPUs (Athlon™ 64 / FX / X2 / Opteron™ / Sempron™)