NiC C4 Untouchable CPU Cooler:
Incorporating the proprietary technology, all new Thermaltake NiC series ( lineup consists of the F3, F4, C4, and C5 ), the new CPU cooler series with non-interference cooling space for the ram and motherboard area, the advancement towards silence, performance and compatibility. Fully compatible with RAM of all kinds, ideally for power users to fill their RAM slots with high-end overclocked RAM.

New Standard Non-Interference Cooler
The new NiC Series coolers solve the problem that high performance RAM and CPU coolers cannot co-exist in the past. NiC series coolers achieve the best RAM clearance allowing user to install high end overclock RAM with coolers with ease.

Overclock Design support up to 200W
Heat is conducted from the CPU onto the cooler through the thick nickel coated copper base and then onto the aluminum fins with 4 Φ6mm U-shaped heat-pipes. This ensures the best possible heat dissipation performance conducting heat effectively.

Curved Aluminum Fins
Aluminum fins are specially designed in a curved shape to reduce back air resistance and at the same time maximize airflow through them. The 0.4mm thick aluminum fins also increase the overall thermal dissipation area.

Integrated Dual 120mm VR fans
Both VR fans are contacted to an adjustable fan speed knob where the fans speed can be manually adjusted from 1000 to 2000rpm. A convenient tool-less fan mounting bracket design makes installation easier.

Universal Socket Compatibility
All-in-one back-plate design, the universal socket offers support all latest Intel and AMD platform.

Specs
P/N CLP0607
Compatibility
Intel LGA
2011/1366/1155/1156/1150/1150/775
AMD
FM2/FM1/AM3+/AM3/AM2+/AM2
Heatsink Dimension 160H * 140W * 50L mm
Heatsink Material Aluminum Fins and cu base
Copper Heatpipes
Heatpipe Φ6mm x 4 pcs
Fan Dimension 120 x 120 x 25 mm(L xW x H)
Fan quantity 2 pcs
Fan Speed 1000-2000RPM
Rated Voltage 12V
Start Voltage 9V
Rated Current 0.32A
Power Input 3.84W
Air Flow 99.1 CFM
Air Pressure 2.99 MM-H2O
Noise 20 ~39.9 dBA
Life time/Fan Life time 40000 hr
Fan control VR
pin connect 3 pin
Cooling Power 220W
Weight 794 g

Overview and Setup:

When I first got this cooler and opened the box I was surprised of the packaging that Thermaltake had done with this cooler.
It was amazing to see how well it was packaged. Once opening the first thing I did was grab the paperwork and read the installation instructions. It amazed me on how simple the instructions were and it was nice to see separate instructions for Intel and AMD. Since I was installing this on a brand new G1.SNIPER A88X I grabbed the AMD instructions and took a quick glance on the install. Now taking this cooler out of the box I was impressed with how the cooler came all put together and all I needed to do was install the back plate and mount the cooler… So simple..

I mounted the AMD kit and installing the back plate and mounting the cooler was by far the simplest air cooler install I had ever done.
I applied some GELID Solutions GC-Extreme Thermal Compound and mounted the cooler. When attaching the hold down plate you must pop the fans and brackets off so you can screw down the hold down. Once mounted I attached the 3 pin fan header to the motherboard then reattached the push/pull fans. I’d have to say from un-box time to total install time couldn’t have been more than 2-3 minutes which is awesome.

Once in the bios of this G1.SNIPER A88X the fans defaulted to low speed. I loaded optimized defaults and booted into windows. At this time I had noticed that the fans ramped up to 100% and were kind of loud. I ran them 100% for about 25-30 minutes while I installed drivers and such from the drivers disk on this new G1.SNIPER A88X and then rebooted back into the bios. Once in the bios I set CPU_FAN to Silent Mode and rebooted and the fan once again was at 100%. It’s at that time I realized I would need to use the VR knob that comes with this cooler to manually control the fans. Had the fan header from the fans been a 4 pin then the motherboard would have controlled the fan speeds.

With the VR hooked up and running the fans about half way I was surprised at how well they were cooling and how quite they were.
To test efficiency between the NiC C4 and a Prolimatech Megahalems on a mild overclocked A10-6800K I removed the NiC C4 and installed the Prolimatech Megahalems and went straight to a certain overclock that I knew would be stable and I would be able to perform some benchmarks.

I went into the bios and was after a 4.9GHz overclock with about 1.41vcore.
I booted into Windows 7 and loaded Cinebench.
At full load with the Prolimatech Megahalems I had the motherboard shut down so I knew temperatures might be an issue.
So I removed the Prolimatech Megahalems and reapplied some Thermal Interface and started over.

Once back into Windows 7 and Cinebench loaded and running with the Prolimatech Megahalems I saw temps steady around 86-88C.
I removed and installed the NiC C4 and rebooted. While running Cinebench I noticed temperatures staying in the 61-67C range.
To make sure the test was as close as possible between the 2 coolers I used the fans from the NiC C4 on the Prolimatech Megahalems in push/pull. For temp monitoring the only software I used that displayed accurate temps was Easy Tune 6. Every other software I tried to use with a A88X motherboard and a Richland A10 displayed incorrect temps.

So, what I can honestly say is in the situation of my testing the NiC C4 outperformed the Prolimatech Megahalems and the Prolimatech Megahalems costs about $25.00 more. Thermaltake has done an awesome job with the design and functionality on this cooler. For it’s price point it’s simply amazing and a must buy if you’re going with a high end air cooling setup.

Pros:
– Packaging
– Design
– Fit & Finish
– Ease of Use
– Performance
– Price

Cons:
– Better choice for colors of fans offered.

Special thanks to Thermaltake for making this little review possible.