Noiseblocker is a German company specializing in silent computer cooling solutions. We have tested some of their products in the past, which we found to be of high quality albeit somewhat expensive. Since Noiseblocker is a rather new company, their product line-up is still small. Noiseblocker mainly focuses on designing and building some of the best quality computer fans around, but also produce other cooling related products, such as CPU coolers and accessories. Today we will take a look at the second revision of their CPU coolers, the CoolScraper 120 V2.
Manufacturer specifications:
Available for socket 478/775/AM2/754/939/940
All CPU frequencies (active)
Up to 3.8GHz maximum (passive with optimal case airflow)
Passive : 0dBA
Active : 11-19dBA
Upgrade mounting kits available
360o rotatable
Designed in Germany
6 year warranty
Packaging and bundle
The packaging of the CoolScraper 120 V2 is a large, simple and very effective box and everything inside is well packed. Inside you will only find the cooler and the mounting kit which you ordered the cooler with. The mounting kit should consist of several screws/threads, one retention plate and a backplate and installation instructions, but different installation kits may differ. Above you can see the socket 775 kit which we received for this review.
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The CoolScraper 120 V2 is quite similar to the first revision of the cooler. It is still using a single Noiseblocker SX1 120mm fan and is monstrously big. The main design remains the same. The base of the cooler is pure copper, which is directly connected to a single thick heatpipe, vertically placed and expanding all the way to the top of the cooler. The large heatpipe transfers the heat away from the CPU and to the aluminum fins of the cooler very fast. The many and large aluminum fins provide a very large heat dissipation area, which helps the silent 120mm fan to easily take care of enormous amounts of heat.
The base of the cooler is large enough and circular. It reaches about 3-4cm down from the main cooler body which eliminates any compatibility problems with capacitors or other motherboard equipment placed near the CPU socket during installation. The base of the cooler is very smooth but not worked down to a perfect mirror finish.
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The installation of the CoolScraper 120 V2 is straightforward, but requires the removal of the motherboard. First, you have to attach the retention bracket to the base of the cooler with the 4 provided screws. Afterwards, you place the backplate on the rear of your motherboard and the mounting screws through the motherboard cooler holes. Then after placing a thin film of thermal grease on your CPU, you place the cooler on it and secure it with the provided golden threads. No excess pressure is needed, only as much as you can twist the threads with your fingers should be enough. Make sure that the fan is positioned so it blows air towards the rear or top of the case for best efficiency
System configuration :
• CPU: Core 2 Duo E6300 (Overclocked: 475MHz FSB, 1.45Vcore, 3.33GHz)
• Motherboard: Asus P5B
• RAM: A-Data Vitesta DDR-2 800
• HDD: Samsung 160JJ SATA2
• VGA: Nvidia 7950GT
• PSU: Ultra X-Connect VS 700W
For testing, we decided to test the cooler by using Arctic Silver thermal compound rather than the included silicone grease. We placed a layer on the CPU and left the system working in order for the thermal paste to stabilize for about 24 hours. The Noiseblocker SX1 fan spins at 1200RPM and creates less than 19dBA of noise, which makes the cooler entirely silent but also mostly dependant on its sheer size rather than good airflow. CPU load was achieved by running Prime95 torture test (blend) and Super Pi simultaneously for 30 minutes. The idle temperature measurements were noted after the system was resting at the windows desktop for 30 minutes. Ambient temperature is maintained (as accurately as possible) at 25 degrees Celsius at the time of the test. SpeedStep is disabled.
| |
Idle Temperature
(Celsius) |
Load Temperature
(Celsius) |
| Noiseblocker CoolScraper
120 V2 |
Stock Speed (1.86GHz) |
40 |
47 |
| Overclocked Speed (3.33GHz, 1.45V) |
58 |
68 |
| OCZ Tempest |
Stock Speed (1.86GHz) |
42 |
47 |
| Overclocked Speed (3.33GHz, 1.45V) |
54 |
70 |
| ThermalRight SI-128
+ Revoltec 1200RPM fan |
Stock Speed (1.86GHz) |
37 |
45 |
| Overclocked Speed (3.33GHz, 1.45V) |
48 |
59 |
| Stock E6300 cooler |
Stock Speed (1.86GHz) |
44 |
56 |
| Overclocked Speed (3.33GHz, 1.45V) |
N/A |
N/A |
From the above results, we can see that the CoolScraper 120 V2 is doing a better job than the stock E6300 cooler. It is entirely silent and can beat the OCZ Tempest slightly, but the ThermalRight SI-128 is clearly a superior solution. The CoolScraper 120 V2 is silent however even when overclocked and those who like an extremely low noise system will find it the superior solution.
Final words and conclusion
What we did like:
The most positive point of the Noiseblocker CoolScraper 120 V2 is the complete silence in operation. It also performs well, is relatively easy to install and always remains entirely silent, even at maximum performance.
What we did not like:
The cooler is somewhat hindered by the size, it would be fine for most common tower cases but it is impossible to fit in the majority of HTPC cases, which are usually the systems when silent operation is critical. We would also like to see a smoother finish on the base of the heatsink, but this is a minor point and should not hinder performance more than 1 degree celcius.
Who would we recommend it to:
The Noiseblocker CoolScraper 120 V2 is a good cooler and the extremely low noise levels will appeal to many enthusiast users. It is a good quality cooler, simple and efficient abeit with a relatively high cost. We would recommend this cooler to anyone who seeks to lower noise levels in their PC without compromising on performance, however an enthusiast who is looking to over clock as far as possible should look elsewhere.
Considering all of the above, we believe that the Noiseblocker CoolScraper 120 V2 is worthy of our Shortlist Award.
