Prolimatech Genesis CPU Cooler Review

Attaching the backplate was simple and effective. Prolimatech’s method uses 4 rubber washers (named ‘O-rings’) which keep each of the 4 mounting nuts in position while you hold the backplate in place. This negates the need for a third or even fourth hand.

Once the double-ended studs had been screwed into position the 2 aluminium mounting strips could be secured into their location.

Once the cooler was positioned correctly the aluminium cross-bar and spring-loaded screws secured it in place.

Installing the heatsink was very simple and resulted in a sturdy mount. Make sure that you install your RAM before fastening the heatsink as you will not be able to install it with the cooler in position.

Prolimatech continue to use their ‘trademark’ fan installation method which I am not a fan of. As we discovered in our review of the Panther, not all fans are compatible with the fan clips; Scythe’s 1850 RPM Gentle Typhoon fans are just one set that aren’t compatible. Once positioned in the specific grooves on the edge of the fin arrays, the fan clips are very annoying when you try and secure the fan. They bend, flex and pop out of position with ease making them a fairly unreliable method. When the fans are finally secured, they don’t feel as if they are held in position very well. The method should suffice if you very rarely move your system but we hope that Prolimatech design a new fan installation method in the very near future.

As advertised, RAM clearance is surprisingly accommodating. Using our Corsair XMS3 memory with heatsinks that extend slightly above the memory’s PCB, we had plenty of room to spare above the modules. We measured PCB to fin array distance as around 55mm which means that installing tall RAM such as Corsair’s Vengeance is going to be tricky, if not impossible. Corsair Dominator RAM can fit with the extended heat fins removed.

With the pair of 140mm Prolimatech Blue Vortex 14 fans attached, the Genesis is able to dominate the interior of our sizeable NZXT Phantom chassis. The motherboard’s right edge is surpassed by a few millimetres, so make sure that you have clearance to the right side of your motherboard. Given its unique design and large dimensions, the Genesis causes very few clearance or installation issues. The only problem that we encountered was connecting our 8-pin CPU power cable with the cooler installed but this was more the motherboard’s fault than the cooler’s.