1. Introduction
Alpenföhn is a company which manufacturers cooling components for IT systems, which started its activity in 2008. The Alpenföhn line includes CPU coolers, fans and accesorries which include: thermal compound, storage cooling systems and fan mounting systems.
The Alpenföhn brand was created by the company EKL AG, founded in 1995, it is a company specialized in manufacturing industrial cooling solutions.
Official product link:
http://www.alpenfoehn.de/en/cpu-cooler/atlas
2. Packaging and accessories
The cooler is packaged in a multicolored cardboard box with a black background and yellow & orange accents. On the front side of the packaging there are printed the name of the cooler and a brief description of it, the background is made out of a general image of the cooler.
The sides of the packaging presents the product and its dimensions using a diagram.
The back side of the packaging presents specifications of the cooler.
Accessories
The product comes with the following accessories:
– 1x Manual
– 1x Backplate
– 1x Intel mounting system
– 1x AMD mounting system
– 1x Plastic spacer
– 4x Fan clips
– 1x Thermal compound
– 2x 7V 4-Pin Molex adapter
– 1x Molex Adapter
– 8x Rubber washers
3. Specifications
Model: Atlas
Colors Available: Silver
Supported sockets:
Intel: LGA 775 / 1155 / 1150 / 1151/ 1156 /1366 / 2011(-3)
AMD: AM3(+), AM3, AM2(+), AM2, FM1, FM2
Heatsink:
Materials: Aluminum (Fins) Copper (Heatpipes & Base)
Dimensions (H x W xL): 125 x 105 x 140 mm
Heatpipes: 5 x 6 Heatpipes
Weight: 650 g
Fan(s):
Model: 92mm WingBoost2
Dimensions: 92 x 25 mm
Fan Speed: 400 – 1800 rpm
Fan Airflow: 63,63 m³/h
Fan Noise: 8 – 24,3 dB(A)
Rated Voltage: 12 VDC
Input Power: 0,96 W
Input Current: 0,08 A
Voltage Range: 4,2 – 13,2 VDC
MTTF: 250.000 h
Features:
Aerodynamically optimized design: The unique stamping process to form the fins helps leading the pre-heated air of the first fan alongside the second tower. This prevents the second fan from using warm air for cooling. The mirrored shape of the 2 towers influences the airflow characteristics and increases the airflow speed to dissipate the heat from the CPU even more effective.
Heatpipe/Coldplate with Diamant Cut: The five U-shape Heatpipes have a large contact area to the full copper baseplate to optimize the heat-transfer from the CPU.
The special shape of the new designed “Diamante-Cut” convex colplate ensures a performance advance, even on Haswell based systems.
92mm WingBoost2 Premium Fan:
S-Shape geometry: With the improved S-Shape geometry we could reach a higher static pressure compared to conventional designs.
HD-bearing: The new developed HD Bearing (Hydraulic Bearing) reduces friction noises to a minimum and thus enables to a quiet operation.
Plus Function: The new WingBoost 2 is equipped with a “plus-function”. That means that a Y split cable has been attached to the PWM connector for a second fan. Thanks to this split cable it is possible to control additional PWM fan with the same PWM connector on the motherboard instead of using a cable adapter or a 3pin connection.
4. Visual inspection
The Atlas model has an minimalistic & angular design, with small sizes: 125mm in height, width 105mm and length 140mm. Thanks to its compact size, the cooler is targeted at compact systems such as Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX or SFF.
The cooler uses a dual-tower design, the two towers off-center to increase the RAM compatibility.
The cooler is accompanied by two 92mm fans, model WingBoost2.
The heatsink uses 34 black aluminum fins per “tower”, these are leaned for better performance and a pleasant look. Also the fins are bent in the middle in order to better direct the air generated from the fans.
The cooler uses 5 heat pipes each with a diameter of 6mm, these are arranged in a U shape to facilitate heat dissipation, these make contact with the base of the cooler but not direct contact with the CPU itself.
Like the heatpipes, the base of the cooler is made out of nickel-plated copper. The base is brushed to a mirror finish.
The top part of the cooler maintains angular design of the cooler.
The two fans 92mm fans of the cooler are WingBoost 2 model, these have a maximum speed of 1800RPM and PWM function.
The cable of the fan is covered entirely with black sleeving. For power the fans use a 4-Pin Molex connector, also both fans use a splitter to power another fan.
5. Testing
The following system was used to test the cooler:
– Processor: Intel i5 4690K @ 3.9 GHz and overclocked to 4.5 GHz
– Motherboard: MSI Z97 Gaming 9 ACK
– RAM: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB DDR3 @ 2133MHz
– GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 970 Armor 2X 4G
– SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB
– HDD: Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB
– PSU: Antec Edge 550W Gold
– Display: AOC i2769VM
– Case: Phanteks Enthoo Luxe White
– Thermal compound: Arctic Cooling MX-4
The Software used for testing the cooler:
– AIDA64 Extreme Version: 5.70.3800 (3/21/2016)
– Intel Burn Test v2.54
– Prime95 28.5
The cooler was tested with the CPU at the default turbo frequency of 3.9 GHz and overclocked to 4.5 GHz with a core voltage of 1.187 V.
Also the included fans have been used at their maximum speed.
The room temperature was approximately 26°C (78°F), with 2°C margin of error.
The idle test consists of the CPU sitting idle at the desktop for 30 minutes, the temperature was measured at the end of the test.
The settings of the software used are the following:
Intel Burn Test v2.54 – Stress level: Maximum
Prime95 28.5 – small FFT
AIDA64 Extreme Version – Temperature monitoring.
Each test was conducted for 40 minutes.
The test results are as follows:
Idle
Full Load
The noise level was measured at three different distances from the fans (10cm, 20cm, 30cm.) the noise was measured with a margin of error of ± 5 db.
6. Final thoughts
Measuring only 125mm in height, the Atlas model has a good performance even when it is compared to bigger cooling systems. The build quality is very good starting from the heatsink to the fans and the accessory bundle, everything has a good finish without sharp edges or uneven textures.
The mounting process is relatively easy if the user follows the manual.
The included two 92mm fans are silent even at their maximum speed of 1800RPM and the splitter integrated in the connector of each fan is a welcomed feature in the case of a mITX system where the power connectors for fans are scarce.
The only inconvenient is the RAM slots being covered by the front fan of the cooler, a thing which requires the use of memory with regular heat-sinks if not low-profile.
The main feature of this cooler is its size and the performance obtained with only two 92mm fans, the cooler behaved admirably both when the Processor was at its default frequency and during overclocking.
In conclusion, the ATLAS model is a cooler with good performance being ideal for a mITX system. The build quality is excellent and the unique design make this cooler a good choice for anyone who wants a small sized system.
