Twelve CPU Air Cooler Roundup
Phanteks PH-TC14CS
The Phanteks PH-TC14CS is a 140 mm C-Type cooler. This means that instead of a vertical tower that sticks up off the CPU, the tower lays in a horizontal plane with the CPU and motherboard. The Phanteks PH-TC14CS is the only C-Type cooler in our round up.
Specifications
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Brand
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PHANTEKS
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Type
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Heatsinks and Fans
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Compatibilities
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Intel Socket: LGA 2011/115X/1366/775
AMD: FM1/FM2/AM3+/AM3/AM2+/AM2 (stock back-plate required) |
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Colors
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Black, Blue, White, Red
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Material
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．Copper (Base and heat-pipes), Nickel Plated
．Aluminium (Cooling fins and Top Cover) with P.A.T.S and C.P.S.C. |
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Fan Model
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PH-F140 Premium Fan with PWM Adapter
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Fan Size
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140 x 140 x 25mm
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Fan Compatibility
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140 x 140 x 25mm (2pcs), 120 x 120 x 25mm (2pcs)
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Bearing Type
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UFB (Updraft Floating Balance) Bearing
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Blade Geometry
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Nine Red Colored Blades with MVB(Maelström Vortex Booster) Design
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Speed (RPM)
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1300 ± 10%
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Max Air Flow
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88.6 CFM
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Max Air Pressure
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1.37mm H2O
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Acoustical Noise
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19.6 dB (A)
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Speed with PWM Adapter
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700 – 1200 RPM ± 10%
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Max Air Flow with PWM Adapter
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45.1 – 78.1 CFM
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Max Air Pressure with PWM Adapter
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0.45 – 1.21mm H2O
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Acoustical Noise with PWM Adapter
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13.4 – 19 dB (A)
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Input Power
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2.8 W
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Current (Ampere)
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0.24 A
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Rate Voltage
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12V
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MTBF
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>150,000 h
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Heatsink Dimensions without Fans
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143.8 x 140 x 112mm (LxWxH)
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Heatsink Dimensions with Single Fan
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160 x 151 x 112mm (LxWxH)
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Heatsink Dimensions with Dual Fan
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160 x 151 x 140.5mm (LxWxH)
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Heatsink Weight without Fans
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600g
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Heatsink Weight with Fans
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750/900g (Single/Dual)
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Package Dimensions
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167 x 214 x 190mm (LxWxH)
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Scope of Delivery
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．1x PH-TC14CS Heatsink
．2x PH-F140TS Premium Fans ．SoliSku Mounting Kits for Intel LGA 2011/1155/1156/1366/775 and AMD FM1/AM3+/AM3/AM2+/AM2 (stock back-plate required) ．1x PWM External Adapter(Pulse Width Modulation) ．1x Hex Wench ．1x Y-Fan Splitter ．1x PH-NDC Thermal Compound ．Phanteks PH-TC14CS User’s Manual (English/Spanish and German/French) |
| PH-F140 Fan Accessories | ．4x Rubber Bars ．8x Fan Clip Adapters ．4x Fan Wire Clip |
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Warranty
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5 Years.
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The packaging for the Phanteks PH-TC14CS gives a nice teaser of the cooler inside. The cooler comes in five different colors. The back of the box details the features and a little history of this cooler in 10 different languages.
The accessory kit that is included with the Phanteks PH-TC14CS includes all the parts and pieces needed to get the cooler mounted on the motherboard. This kit does include two fans as well as a PWM adapter that will allow the motherboard to control both fans.
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The Phanteks PH-TC14CS is a C-Type CPU cooler. Instead of having a vertical tower that stands straight up, the tower on this cooler is bent 90 degrees and runs parallel to the CPU socket. This cooler features five 8 mm heatpipes. The cooler comes in a choice of four colors: Black, Blue, White and Red.
The Phanteks PH-TC14CS fin spacing allows is wide. This should allow enough air to flow through the cooler for good cooling performance.
The base of the cooler is polished and is made of copper and is nickel plated.
The reflection of the 1 cm square grid in the base of the Phanteks PH-TC14CS shows the base is flat. Good contact with the heat spreader of the CPU is needed for proper cooling performance.
Two fans are included with the CPU cooler. They are 140x140x25 mm in size. The fans have three pin headers on them and using the included PWM adapter allows the motherboard to control the fan speeds. Not using the PWM adapter makes the fans run at their max speed of 1300 RPM.
The fan blade design is what Phanteks calls the Maelstrom Vortex Booster design. This is supposed to increase airflow while lowering the noise produced. These fans are rated at (with PWM adapter installed) 45.1-78.1 CFM with a noise level of 13.4-19 dBA.
Installation of the CPU cooler was straightforward and not too difficult. The first step was to install the bolts into the back plate at the correct location. In our case we are using a Socket 1150 board and the correct position is number two. On the back plate there are clear markings at to which hole is which and depending on the socket type, which hole to use for the bolts. One thing of interest here is that when the bolts are installed, there is enough resistance between the bolt and the rubber pad to keep the bolt from slipping out. It is not life changing mind you, but still a nice convenience feature.
After the back plate is assembled the next step is to insert the bolts through the motherboard and place the plastic spacers on each of the four bolts as shown above.
Here is where the installer needs to pay attention. The retention brackets can go on both ways since the socket is essentially a square. But if the brackets are installed in any other manner than shown above, the CPU cooler will block more than just one memory slot.
After placing the CPU cooler on the retention brackets, use the included allen wrench to tighten the CPU cooler down. This is another two point mounting system, twist the CPU cooler back and forth a little to ensure proper thermal paste spread. Note the orientation of the cooler. On our 1150 board fi the CPU cooler was installed in any other direction than this, up to 3 memory slots were blocked. Here, we only loose one. However, if you choose to run only the TOP fan, the reverse orientation does allow access to all the memory slots. I was able to install the shown Kingston Hyper X Beast memory modules in all four slots.
Installing the fans was the hardest part of the Phanteks PH-TC14CS installation. There are eight screw adapters that need to be installed in each of the four corners of each fan. The adapters have slots in them to attach the wire brackets. The easiest way (and this will be hard to explain) to install the wire brackets is to install them in the opposite vertical direction then carefully rotate them down into the final installation position. The leads on the fans are super long and adding to the over all length is the PWM adapter and the 3 pin splitter. I chose to wrap the leads around the fans to take up some of the slack. The fans were installed in a push/pull configuration where the bottom fan is pushing air through the cooler and the top fan is pulling air out.
The Phanteks PH-TC12DX is up next.
