Cryorig A40 240mm Hybrid AIO CPU Cooler Review

Introduction The AIO market isn't exactly lacking in competition these days, with seemingly every major brand having some kind of water cooler as part of their range. While many brands use rebranded OEM products, which is fine to a degree, Cryorig are playing their own game with their uniquely designed A-series. We've got their new A40 in the eTeknix office today, and it stands out from the crowd thanks to its additional fan on the pump, giving you hybrid air cooling for your motherboard and CPU, a big difference from most AIO coolers which simply cool the CPU and offer no motherboard airflow as you would get with a traditional air cooler. "Heatpipe based air cooling units provide a great combination of system airflow and CPU cooling. It’s CPU cooling heat capacity however, is limited by the size of the heatsink, and quantity of heatpipes. This creates an upper limit for cooling capacity due to practical size. At CRYORIG, we create solutions for problems. Being experts of air cooling, we thought why not take the best of both worlds, sometimes it is as simple as sticking a fan to it! More airflow, better cooling! Our PWM controlled Airflow fan can modify fan RPM speed based on the heat and processing load of the system." - Cryorig Packing a robust 240mm radiator with 2 x QF120 120mm fans, as well as a smaller fan that can be clipped onto the pump, the A40 looks set to be a very competitive cooler, and we're looking forward to testing just how much it can offer at this price range. The new design is certainly interesting and is meant to offer airflow over the motherboard to keep other components cool. This is great, as a cooler motherboard can easily mean more stable overclocking, but it also looks pretty unique, and aesthetics are very important for a lot of system builders these days. Check out this simple demo video from Cryorig to see the difference it can make. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTCDo_WT6xY Packaging and Accessories The packaging is very nicely designed, with some stylish images of the cooler, as well as a lot of information on the features and support on offer. Around the back, all the technical details, socket support, dimensions and more. In the box, you'll find a universal backplate for both Intel and AMD sockets, extensive documentation and a warranty card, and AMD locking ring (Intel is pre-installed on the pump), mounting screws, and some very nicely finished thumbscrews for the pump. There are three fans included in the box, two 2200 RPM PWM fans for the radiator, and that tiny little fan for the pump. This one can run up to 3000 RPM (PWM) and can be mounted facing towards or away from the motherboard dependant on your systems requirements. A Closer Look Since this is an AIO unit, the radiator, hoses and the pump come pre-fitted and filled, meaning it's ready to plug-and-play on your system. There's a fan controller built into the unit too, so you only need one motherboard fan header to connect everything and a SATA connector to power the unit. The CPU block comes with thermal paste pre-installed, and a protective plastic cover to ensure it gets to you intact. There's a large copper contact plate which should provide your CPU of choice with excellent coverage. The Intel mounting bracket is pre-installed, but can be easily removed and replaced with the AMD bracket as required. The radiator is a slim type but still has a decent thickness to it and tightly packed fins to give it a good amount of surface area. This is a high-end cooler, despite being the base model from Cryorig, so we're expecting this radiator to be able to handle a decent amount of heat with ease. Installation The installation kit for the Cryorig A-series is one of the easiest to use on the market. First up, screw your radiator fans in place, and clip on the pump hybrid fan, both jobs take just a few minutes total. Pick your universal backplate (Intel or AMD) and put it on your motherboard. Use the four thumb screws to hold that in place and provide your pump with screw mounts. Use four more thumb screws to hold the pump onto the CPU, using a screwdriver to tighten them if you need to. Connect the SATA and PWM cables to your system and you're good to go. Test System and Methodology We always use the same test system and tests with CPU coolers that we compare against each other. The full specifications of our test system are as follows: Test system: ASUS P8Z77-V, LGA 1155 socket, Z77 chipset Intel Core i5 3570K with Gelid GC-Extreme under the IHS 16GB Kingston 1866Mhz DDR3 128GB Kingston HyperX SSD Antec High Current Gamer 620W Cooler Master Test Bench v1.0 We’d like to say a big thank you to ASUS, Antec, Kingston, Cooler Master and Intel for providing components that make this testing possible. Testing Methodology: We always use Gelid GC-Extreme thermal paste to make sure testing reveals the efficiency of the tested coolers not the efficiency of the bundled thermal paste. Prime 95 is run for 10 minutes and then the average maximum temperatures as recorded by CPUID HWMonitor are noted The average temperature across the four cores is taken on our quad-core processor Fans are mostly left to operate at default PWM profile speeds and with maximum fan speed for reference.If PWM functions are not supported then fixed fan speeds are used and sometimes a low noise adapter if appropriate/provided. If fixed fan speeds or low noise adapters are used it will be clearly pointed out either on the graphs or in the write-up. All default result entries on graphs are for PWM performance unless otherwise specified. A variety of fan speed results are done for a particular product review and then removed from the graphs in future reviews of other products to avoid clutter. If you would like to see more fan speed results for a particular product please check its individual review. For water cooling tests, all pumps have been operated at 12 volts directly from the power supply Delta temperatures are always used (Observed temperature minus ambient temperature) and we keep the ambient at 22 (+/- 1) degrees for all testing. Delta temperatures should correct for any marginal ambient differences between 21-23 degrees. Acoustic measurements are taken 10cm horizontally away from the CPU cooler with the VGA fan disabled, the hard drive in idle and power supply isolated. These are taken at desktop idle and Prime95 load. The cooling performance tests are run at stock 3.4GHz (with Intel Turbo up to 3.8GHz) and overclocked 4.5GHz (1.35v) settings. Voltages are fixed to prevent inaccuracy between comparisons. All other coolers in the graphs have been tested under identical settings so are fully comparable. Each test is repeated 3 times with 3 remounts for consistency of results There is approximately a 1-degree celsius margin of error in our temperature recording software CPUID HW Monitor There is approximately a 1.5dBA margin of error with our Benetech GM1351 decibel meter Software Used CPUID HWMonitor Prime 95 In all these graphs we may have a few "reference" results of particular products that do not fit into that category for comparative purposes. Performance Stock clocks proved of little concern for the A40, although that's hardly surprising. At just +24c above ambient at full load, you'll be more than happy running this cooler all day long. Even better, the results are on par with that of the more expensive A40 Ultimate, although not quite as cool as the A80. Overclocking was easy on this cooler too, with just +37c above ambient, falling in just 3c warmer than the A40 Ultimate and A80. Despite running a smaller fan on the pump for hybrid cooling, the A40 was no louder than any other AIO we've ever tested, clocking in at a respectable and consistent 40dBa at stock clocks. Overclocking did kick the fans up a little more, but even then it only maxed out at 42dBa which is perfectly respectible and far from being classed as noisy. Final Thoughts Price The Cryorig A40 is a little tricky to track down at most UK retailers, at least for now. We found it at eBuyer for a very reasonable £69.99 with free shipping, and that's a deal that you simply cannot ignore given that many rival products with similar performance can be much closer to £100. Overview What's not to love about this cooler? It's by far one of the most unique and interesting looking AIO coolers on the market today. I'm no sucker for gimmicks, but I'm really loving that hybrid fan design on the pump. It creates a focal point in the system that is sure to have people taking a closer look at your build, with the added benefit that a little extra airflow around the motherboard is never a bad thing. Of course, if you don't want that, just leave the 70mm fan in the box and it'll still run just fine. The quality of the pump and radiator speak for themselves, with the A40 delivering reliable performance across the board. It handled our overclocked CPU just fine and still managed to hold up a good fight against the thicker radiator design of the slightly more expensive A40 Ultimate, and was within a reasonable shouting distance of the larger 280mm radiator of the Cryorig A80, so it really shows that Cryorig know how to scale their performance and retail prices fairly across the range. Build quality is excellent, and the mounting system is as good as they get in terms of ease of use, design, aesthetics and build quality. I would like to see some thermal paste included in the box rather than pre-applied, but at this price range, it's hardly a deal breaker. Pros Great build quality Competitive performance Good price for an AIO Stylish design Hybrid cooling fan Easy to install Cons None Neutral Not in stock at a lot of popular retailers "Cryorig have one of the most robust AIO cooling ranges on the market. If you're looking for a stylish, well made, easy to use and fairly priced cooling solution for your system, the A-series from Cryorig is certainly the way to go."