Corsair A500 Dual Fan CPU Cooler Review

Peter Donnell / 5 years ago

A Closer Look

The A500 comes with a protective cap on the CPU block ensuring you don’t damage the pre-applied thermal paste.

Corsair prints the thermal paste onto the mounting plate. As you can see there are little squares and a very thin layer of paste on there. Corsair says that this ensures a perfectly even distribution when you mount the cooler. Of course, if you need to re-apply, there’s a tube in the box to do so.

The mounting plate is a good thickness and features four massive heatpipes running right through it for even heat dissipation.

Those heatpipes run through both sides of that rather sizeable heatsink in a U shape. The heatpipes are left with their shiny finish, however, the heatsink its self has a slick black paint job.

Corsair provides their own ML120 fans for the cooler. We already know these to be superb fans, and they look pretty decent too. I’ve noticed there’s no RGB on this cooler, and honestly, I think that’s the right call for their latest air cooler. It looks and feels more serious and mature. However, I wouldn’t be shocked if we see an RGB model before the year is through.

The heatsink does look pretty robust though and it certainly feels it too. The whole unit is pretty stiff and quite heavy. Of course, it’s not exactly a small cooler, so that’s to be expected. Either way, it fills me with confidence that it’ll handle higher TDP CPUs easily enough.

The absolute best-looking part, however, has to be this top panel. A stunning two-tone between the matte blacks of the fan shrouds and that gun-metal grey finish aluminium. Honestly, it’s one of the best looking things you can put in your PC right now, I love it.

When it comes to removing or adjust the height of the fans, you simply pull on them. The mounting rails are already fitted to the fan, so you literally just slide it on.