Corsair A500 Dual Fan CPU Cooler Review

When you think of PC cooling, many of you will immediately think of both Corsair and an AIO cooler. You would be right to do so, they’re one of the biggest brands out there, and their AIO coolers are regarded as many of the best. Plus, their prices are pretty competitive, we know the performance is great, and they look good. So, what is Corsair doing making an air cooler? Well, this isn’t the first time. They did it a few years back with some budget air coolers, and well, they were a bit crap. Corsair is a much more premium brand these days, and the new A500 looks set to match their portfolio.

Corsair A500 Dual Fan

This cooler is certainly well equipped, and it comes with two of their premium ML120 fans. What’s really cool, is that they’re mounted on tool-free quick-release rails with variable mounting height. If that’s not enough, you get a massive heatsink with four direct-contact copper heat pipes, pre-applied XTM50 paste and more included in the box. There are all the usual fittings too, including AM4, AM3, GM2, LGA115x, and LGA20xx.

Testing

The A500 isn’t going on our usual test bench this week. However, I thought it would be fitting to put a new premium cooler against the current flagship air cooler, the Noctua NH-D15S. Not only that, but we’ll be rolling out the more demanding Intel Core i9-9900K too, so that should light a fire under both of them.

Product Trailer

Features

• Quad Direct-Contact Copper Heat Pipe Design: Cools your CPU up to 250W TDP, unlocking higher performance by dropping CPU temperatures
• Intuitive Slide-and-Lock Fan Mount System: Variable mounting height for wide DRAM compatibility and easy installation
• Two CORSAIR ML120 Fans: Magnetic levitation bearing fans with PWM control allows you to adjust between 400 RPM for ultra-quiet operation or 2,400 RPM for extreme cooling performance
• CORSAIR HoldFast Retention System: Easy to install and ensures consistent thermal performance. Secure and reliable fit on almost all modern AMD & Intel CPUs; Supports: AM4, AM3, FM2, LGA115x, LGA20xx
• Pre-Applied Thermal Material: CORSAIR XTM50 High-Performance Thermal Paste applied in an optimised pattern for even spreading

Specifications

For in-depth specifications, please visit the official Corsair A500 product page here.

What’s in the Box?

The A500 comes nicely packed with lots of protection around all the major components.

The first thing we find is this massive screwdriver, which happily comes included with the cooler, neat!

There’s a small component box.

In that box, you’ll find mounting kits for all major AMD and Intel sockets. There’s also a fan splitter cable, a few cable ties, and some additional XTM50 thermal paste.