Prolimatech Black Genesis CPU Cooler Review

Prolimatech’s Black Genesis costs £53.99 in the UK and €59.99 in Europe while the normal (silver) Genesis costs £59.99 in the UK and €59.99 in Europe. Straight away I need to point out to replicate our results you’d need a pair of 140mm fans which is about another £20-40  depending on the 140mm/120mm fans you choose. The fans we were provided with were the Prolimatech Vortex 14 Aluminium series 140mm fans and these cost about £20/€22 each so our total “on-the-road” cost would of been about £95. Most people would typical opt for cheaper fans but even so you are looking at around the £75 marker.

To me that’s way too much money and I would rarely ever consider sinking that much into an air cooler unless it returned me results like water cooling did or at least close to that with little to no noise. Now while the Black Genesis does do very well, there are air coolers that do just as well for a lower cost such as the Noctua NH-U14S and the Prolimatech (Black) Megahalems – both using a single 140mm fan. This brings me to the question: “What does the Prolimatech (Black) Genesis offer me that other conventional air CPU coolers do not?”  Well apart from the exceedingly high price point the only other thing it offers is cooling for the RAM area and part of the CPU socket area, something you don’t really need if you have a decent case.

The downward blowing fan doesn’t even cover the Northbridge or the MOSFETs so I have no idea why Prolimatech decided to add that to their packaging and product description. The Northbridge is now, in most Intel and AMD platforms, integrated into the chipset (or CPU) and the fan cannot blow onto the chipset as that is much further down the motherboard (and often obstructed by the graphics card PCB) while the MOSFETs for the CPU area sit below the vertical heatsink near the rear I/O and do not receive much, if any, airflow from either of the 140mm fans on the Genesis. To the budget conscious consumer buying a dedicated RAM area fan module, a few extra case fans and a better performing cheaper CPU cooler like the Prolimatech Black Megahalems makes much more sense and gives the same effect for less cost. To me the Prolimatech Black Genesis is a bit of a lost cause, other than looking really awesome its design does little other than add unnecessary cost and create inefficient heat movement that makes its performance mediocre for its size footprint. Sure if you are looking for an awesome looking and intriguingly designed CPU cooler then this is it, but for the price I can’t help but feel it is form over function.

Pros

• Looks great, especially black coating
• Strong mount
• Good accessory pack and bundle
• Capable performer with two 140mm fans
• High build quality and finish

Cons

• Way too expensive
• Lack of performance for its size footprint
• Poor RAM clearance
• Doesn’t cool Northbridge or MOSFET area like its description says

eTeknix says: The Prolimatech (Black) Genesis is an innovative product, but innovation doesn’t always work. The Prolimatech Genesis is an example of an innovation that hasn’t been tried before because it is impractical. Simply put for the extra cost and size the (Black) Genesis adds very little to the current high performance air CPU cooler market other than being an expensive option to keep your already cool RAM that little bit cooler. It does have good performance and it looks pretty awesome but for its price it just doesn’t offer anywhere near enough performance.

Thank you to Overclockers UK and CaseKing for providing us with this review sample.