At stock we saw performance well behind the Big Shuriken 2 which is my eyes this products main competitor as it also has six 6mm heat pipes and a thinner 120mm fan that should put the Big Shuriken 2 at a disadvantage but it walks away a clear winner.
The Samuel 17 was very quiet though there are quieter options such as the Slim Hero, Big Shuriken 2 and NH-L12.
Overclocking furthered my disappointment. The Prolimatech Samuel 17 barely matches the much cheaper (almost half the cost) Gelid Slim Hero. Furthermore the Scythe Big Shuriken 2 costs about the same when you factor in the cost of a fan and you can see the Big Shuriken 2 just runs away with it.
Acoustics were pretty quiet, but again the story is the same – there are quieter options.
In terms of height we tested with a normal fan and you can see it is taller than both the Big Shuriken and Slim Hero, yet the extra height doesn’t bring extra performance. With a slimmer fan we would see similar height levels but probably a drop off in performance. Unfortunately I don’t see the height being a redeeming feature for the Prolimatech Samuel 17.
the empty section on this cooler is not a waste of space , it is for the higher RAM , it gives clearance for the RAAAM