The advent of affordable closed liquid cooling solutions has made many system builders switch from traditional air cooling to sealed loops. However, air cooling is generally cheaper, more reliable and significantly quieter compared to the Asetek competition. Clearly, many consumers dismiss them on the basis of aesthetics, but their price to performance ratio is difficult to beat! Thermalright has just announced their latest air cooling product which adopts a very unusual, if fairly comical name. The Macho Direct is the company’s first Heatpipe Direct Touch cooler and should provide great performance on a budget. 
The cooler also utilizes a unique aluminium fin design to reduce air resistance and maximize airflow. Additionally, the small gaps counteract the accumulation of air between the cooling fins to help with cooling performance. On another note, the concave formed heat pipes cool the CPU very effectively especially when you consider the product’s design. In terms of dimensions, the Macho Direct is 4 mm lower than the Macho Rev. B. This makes it possible to mount the Macho Direct in tighter cases where space is limited. At the same time, the weight of the Macho Direct with a fan mounted is reduced by 820g.
A TY 140 Black PWM-fan is included with the cooler. The fan is equipped with a low-wearing “Enhanced Hyper-Flow Bearing”. Thanks to the very low starting speed of just 300 rpm and the maximum speed of only 1,300 rpm, the black fan runs very silently at 15 – 21 dB(a) and is almost inaudible while running. The Macho Direct will be sold exclusively by the Mindfactory AG in Germany with an MSRP is 36.99 Euro, incl. 19% VAT.
