Thermalright Archon SB-E X2 CPU Cooler Review

Thermalright’s Archon SB-E X2 CPU cooler costs £56 in the UK. This means that Thermalright are fighting it out at the £60 price point with high performance dual tower heatsinks like the Noctua NH-D14 and Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 2. It is also situated at the price point of entry level AIO water coolers – competing with the Corsair H55, Cooler Master Seidon 120M and Enermax ELC 120. Consequently, the Archon SB-E X2 a very potent product since it out-competes or matches nearly all these products.

Straight away we can see that the Thermalright Archon SB-E X2 is an extremely well designed air heatsink. The performance, as we have seen, is exemplary if not the best of the best for the air heatsink market (based on the products we have tested) and it rivals many AIO water cooling products too. The acoustics are just immense, with it being the joint-quietest cooler we have ever tested when using the default fan profile. RAM compatibility and installation are more or less spot on. You get an very strong mount and there is 100% RAM compatibility, although the first RAM slot is very close to the fan and they will end up touching. Finally I found the overall build quality and accessory package offered to be to an exceptionally high standard. The accessory package offered a fan splitter cable, Intel AND AMD backplates, thermal paste and anti-vibration pads. Whilst the build quality was solid and robust all over including nice sleeving of the fan cables.

A few concerns come with the aesthetics and the height. The aesthetics are left down to the consumers own interpretation but the fan aesthetics I can anticipate will not be to everyone’s liking. This is something Thermalright may want to consider working on, ALTHOUGH these colours are what differentiate them from the rest of the market so I can understand why they keep them. It is similar to why Noctua refuse to offer any other colour fans except the “legendary” beige and brown. The height of 170mm means you are sure to have issues if you don’t have support for a 140mm fan in the rear of your case, generally speaking most small mid tower cases only support 160mm CPU coolers you will need to be careful when purchasing this. However, Thermalright have made a trade-off between height and width, in increasing the height they have managed to offer 100% RAM compatibility but at the expensive of anyone with a midtower. That said, it seems likely to me that many enthusiasts  and people interested in this cooler will have large cases anyway.

Thermalright’s Archon SB-E X2 CPU cooler is enthusiast-class air cooling done faultlessly. If you are looking for the best air cooler on the market then this has got to be one of the top three contenders, if not the top contender, along with the Phanteks PH-TC14PE and Noctua NH-D14. What’s more impressive is it can offer that high level of performance and still manage to offer silence, top-notch build quality and an attractive price. Congratulations to Thermalright for this excellent product which we feel is deserving of the eTeknix Editor’s Choice award.