Phanteks PH-TC14PE Dual Tower CPU Cooler Review

Final ThoughtsAs far as cooling potential goes, the Phanteks PH-TC14PE has it in abundance. Throughout testing it traded blows with the biggest and the best CPU coolers and for the most part, ended up leading the way. Considering the competition consisted of heatsinks from brands who have firmly established their place in the list of competitive and well respected cooling companies it is a testament to the engineers at Phanteks who targeted the air cooling performance crown from the start with their first ever consumer CPU cooler. Phanteks’ patented P.A.T.S and C.P.S.C technologies clearly delivered on their marketing hype. The performance results may be somewhat trailing in comparison to the Hydro series All-In-One liquid coolers from Corsair, but considering that those competitors use dual fans which spin at over double the RPM of the Phanteks fans and can sound like a jet engine is inside your computer, the performance compromise may well be very worthwhile. That is something which only you can decide.

Let’s move on to aesthetics. Do they even need explaining? Weighing in at just under a kilogram for the heatsink alone and sporting a dual tower design which extends the cooler to over 15cm wide when fans are attached, it could have been so easy for Phanteks to ignore the aesthetic appeal and just accept defeat with an ugly cooler. Thankfully, this isn’t the strategy they took. As we all know, the style and looks of each component in a modern computer is becoming more popular than ever. Enthusiasts demand the best there is to offer in terms of appearance and are willing to go to extreme lengths to achieve that. Phanteks realised this and designed some of the most attractive CPU coolers you are ever likely to witness. They all feature vibrant, bright and elegant designs which don’t stop in locations where they think we might not notice. To see companies going to these kinds of lengths so that every consumer can be satisfied with the appearance, not just performance of their product is remarkable.

Installation was simple for the cooler itself. Simply attach the backplate, secure the mounting strips, apply thermal paste and attach the cooler. Quick and easy just like it always should be but a lot of the time isn’t. The instruction manual was accurate, easy to follow and to my surprise lacked the spelling mistakes and grammatical errors which we have become accustomed to. Fan installation wasn’t quite as straightforward as the cooler itself, a little practise and some muscle made the procedure much easier and less time consuming. The installation was very secure thanks to the SoliSku mounting kit.

Compatibility of the PH-TC14PE is excellent provided you use a case large enough to house it and ensure it has the motherboard clearance demanded by such a large heatsink. All modern Intel and AMD CPU sockets are supported. RAM interference is kept to a minimum by the fan mounting method which allows users to mount the fan as high on the heatsink as they desire. If you have extremely tall RAM modules, it is possible to manoeuvre the fan so enough clearance is provided, but this may impact the cooling performance due to air not being directed in the desired locations. The ability to use other fans with the TC14PE heatsink comes down to the design of such fans. Our Scythe AP-15 fans needed a few zip-tie modifications but the fan wire clips attached them to the heatsink without hassle.

Acoustic performance is pleasantly good considering the cooling dexterity on display. The dual 1200RPM fans offer what we would consider to be a good compromise between cooling potential and quiet operation. Of course, if you are more of an extreme overclocker, you can always attach your own high powered fans allowing even more of the heatsink’s potential to be unlocked, or vice versa, if you prefer low noise, you can use the supplied quiet sound adapters to throttle fan speed to 900RPM.

With an expected launch day retail price of £69.99 for the standard frosty white colour edition and £72.99 for the coloured editions, this cooler is by no means cheap. A 5 year warranty makes the sum a little easier and more reassuring. Then again, these are only launch prices so expect special offers and price reductions as retailers compete for your hard earned money. Even at the price point of around £70 which has been dominated by the Noctua NH-D14 for so long, we can see the Phanteks PH-TC14PE being an incredibly popular contender in the high end cooling market and rightly so.

So as the assassin leaves its perch to take centre stage, knocking off the Noctua and Thermalright kings who have held the air cooling crown for so long we are left with just one thing to say; the king is dead, long live the king!