SilverStone Argon Series AR01 CPU Cooler Review

Currently in the UK the SilverStone AR01 is priced at £25 which translates into about €32 and $40 by my crude conversion estimates.  At this price we can clearly see that the SilverStone AR01 is an excellent budget CPU cooler offering an impressive level of performance that puts some dual fan CPU coolers to shame, like the Sapphire Vapor-X and Spire TME III. In addition to this we have a lot more impressive acoustic performance than some similarly priced options because SilverStone have offered a high quality, PWM controlled and fully sleeved 120mm fan plus extra mounting hardware to add a second 120mm fan should you want to do so. Being such a small CPU cooler RAM compatibility is 100% on LGA 1155 systems meaning it should be fully compatible with most other sockets on the market too. The other advantage of it being such a small CPU cooler is that it doesn’t put much strain on the motherboard like bigger heatsinks do. As we have come to expect from SilverStone the mounting kit offers an unparalleled level of mounting pressure explaining why such a budget unit can offer so much performance.

I do have a few complaints about the cooler but nothing that I think should dissuade anyone from buying this. My first one is that they only offer this in blue, which isn’t exactly a neutral or universal colour. A black option would go down much better in my opinion, however for most budget users the CPU cooler won’t even be seen anyway. Secondly, I found the mounting slightly tricky because the backplate didn’t have socket labels on the holes. Again this is minor because you can figure it out from the manual, it just isn’t as easy as it should be. SilverStone could easily fix this by labeling the backplate. More details of this can be found on page 2 of this review. It’s also worth noting that the fins can bend quite easily, but this is due to the lightweight nature of the product and is no real tarnish on SilverStone’s craftsmanship. As I said, none of these things should really deter anyone from wanting to buy the SilverStone AR01, it is very good at what it does.

Pros

• Excellent cooling performance
• Quiet acoustics
• High performance fan with braided cable and PWM controls
• Strong mounting kit
• Intuitive and Anti-Vibration fan mounts
• 100% RAM compatibility
• Lightweight design, won’t strain motherboard
• Affordable price

Cons

• Blue colour may not be to everyone’s taste
• No mounting hole labelling on backplate – can be confusing
• Fins can bend easily

In my opinion the SilverStone AR01 is an excellent example of a budget CPU cooler that packs way more punch than you’d expect. If you’re looking to buy the best CPU cooler at the £25/€30/$40 price point then you’d be foolish to not consider the SilverStone AR01 as one of the top contenders. The balance between performance, noise, quality, functionality and price is spot-on.

We’d like to thank SilverStone for providing this review sample.