Thermalright Macho Rev.A (BW) CPU Cooler Review

Every now and then a product comes along which just turns the CPU cooler market upside down in terms of price to performance offerings. When I first reviewed the Scythe Mugen 3 a few months ago I didn’t realise how amazing it was until and I had tested several more CPU coolers to get relative results, the same applies for the Cooler Master Hyper 412 Slim.

Now you might be thinking what relevance does this have to the Thermalright Macho Rev.A (BW)? Well, now another product has just come along and done that all again, except this time we have a much more complete picture of the CPU cooler market with 16 coolers in our database. The Thermalright Macho is one of those exceptional products that just makes you rethink your entire definition of what is good value for money. At £39.23 the Thermalright Macho Rev.A (BW) offers up a tonne of performance, falling just shy of the £60 Dark Rock Pro 2 masterpiece from Be Quiet. Thermalright have also perfected the art of silence with the Thermalright Macho and silence specialists like Be Quiet and Noctua should be wary of the stiff competition Thermalright are providing here.

It is also worth nothing Thermalright have gone one step further than most with the design. The mammoth Thermalright Macho heatsink doesn’t block a single RAM slot thanks to its off-centred design, this means enthusiasts can get top-class cooling performance and still keep their high profile RAM kits like the G.Skill Trident X, Corsair Vengeance and Kingston HyperX Predator.

My only concern with the Thermalright Macho is very minor. Disappointingly, Thermalright didn’t include an additional set of fan clips so users can add another 140mm fan themselves. They go as far to offer a high quality magnetic screwdriver to help you with installation yet they don’t include a couple of extra cheap metal fan clips! Adding an extra 140mm fan to this behemoth of a heatsink would surely give an additional boost to performance that is likely to make this one of the most potent air coolers on the market.

Stupendously good value for money, perfect acoustics, great build quality and a smart design make the Thermalright Macho Rev.A (BW) one of the best CPU coolers we have ever tested. It excels as an extreme air CPU cooler, the market segment which we believe it to be situated in, and as a result we have no hesistation in awarding this product the eTeknix Editor’s choice award.