XIGMATEK Gaia SD1283 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler LGA1150 Haswell Compatible

Pros: Does what it says and does it well

Cons: Nearly didn't fit in the case, and look at all that dust!

Other Thoughts: I installed this and found it didn't fit in the case without taking out a fan. No issue, rearrange the fans, done.

After two years (it took that long!), had to blow it out with spray air. Never quite got all the dust, but oh well.

Does a wonderful job of keeping things well cooled and working like a well built car.

Pros: Can't tell any pros when you can't install the item

Cons: Item came missing 3/4 of all the mounting hardware, so I couldn't mount the cooler. Now I have a customers that is still down even longer, and I have to eat the shipping costs back. Very disappointed Xigmatek.

Pros: Pretty quiet! Barely have had it running for 20 minutes and it had brought the CPU down from 38 to about 29. Hope it'll keep such nice temps while gaming.

Cons: IT. IS. MASSIVE. I have an Azza Full Tower. The tower is pretty big, so I was sure this heatsink would fit, no problem. It did fit, however, at the expense of the large side fan. I had to remove it to allow the case to close.

Other Thoughts: The instructions were...meh. Could be a little clearer, but once I figured out what was given to me in the package, I could figure out which diagram to follow.

Pros: Cools just as good as the EVO and 212+ for only 20 bucks(no rebate to deal with either)

Installs pretty easy once you know what you are doing, depending on your case you may not have to take the motherboard out.

Cons: Only thing i see being a potential con as others have said is the instructions suck, which they do, but it gives you the just of everything.

Other Thoughts: Be careful when taking off your stock heatsink, atleast for AMD users. When i went to take off the stock heatsink it poped off the motherboard with the CPU still attached to it! If it feels like it doesn't want to come off, i would run graphically intense game or run prime95 for a few hours, until its nice and toasty hot, then try and wiggle it off.

Bent the pins and ruined the CPU, so im out $200 unless amd warranty covers that, which im highly doubting haha,

Pros: Way better than stock cooler. had 40% temp drop

Cons: None, unless you don't like size, its big

Pros: This cooler is very nice, I have the smaller Loki in 2 cases already both run wonderfuly keeping the amd cpus reading around 20c idle phenom II 965s I bought this along with a case that could hold it for my wifes new build which has the FX-6350 in it also from AMD core temp reads it at 11c idle, I am very pleased.

Cons: The only thing I didn't care for were the mounting instructions, they are not very good, though once you figure out what they want mounting really isn't that hard

Other Thoughts: I've had one of the Loki's for about 2 years one for about a year and now this larger Gaia cooler. I am thus far extremely pleased with Xigmatek and will continue to buy their products in the future.

Pros: Newegg's service and price.

Cons: This cooler would not pull heat from the CPU. My i7 950 powered Asus Sabertooth X58 motherboard shut it down. The cooler has full contact, flat, fan runs at RPM. Artic Silver applied.

Other Thoughts: I own 2 other of these coolers and they work flawless. A i7 920 and i5 2500K. Bought a while back. I have 5 of the smaller Zigmatek Loki coolers with no problems either. Slipped one of these back on the system, 26-28C. Silverstone will take void up. Goodbye Zigmatek!

Pros: Works for the price its a good buy for sure but fan was DOA . Lucky I ordered a 2nd for a push pull setup but now I gotta buy another fan...Great heatsink though.

Cons: Fans come DOA

Other Thoughts: First thing I got from newegg that didnt work :(

Pros: 20 dollars, but you can get a hyper 212 Plus, for $20 as well. But this one doesn't require rebate. Anti vibration method of mounting fans... but you have to mess with the fins.

Cons: Xigmatek Gaia has only 3 pipes touching, whereas Hyper 212 Plus has 4. Cooler performances are similar according to reviews.

The construction and design of Xigmatek Gaia is bad. Hyper 212 Plus is much simpler, intuitive, less prone to mistakes. The instructions were so terrible too. Apparently there are 3 versions of mounting hardware. Which one will you get? Well, if you like your computer components to be like boxes of chocolate, buy this. lol. They all work, but the instructions are confusing, and poorly written. And it's also ridiculous that a product would have 3 versions of mounting hardware. You get some redundant pieces. assembly is just an overall unpleasant experience... and this is coming from someone who thinks people complain too much about hardware assembly and one who doesn't mind doing dozens of rebates.

Other Thoughts: Buy Hyper 212 Plus for $20 and do the rebate. The design is simpler and sturdier, and its performance is slightly better.

Pros: Installed this heatsink/fan on a new Asrock mobo with an Intel i5 processor. I was slightly concerned it wouldn't fit in my case but everything fits right, even clearing the left-most memory stick. So far so good, CPU temps aren't as low as I was hoping for though.

I disagree about all the reviews about the install instructions. This is only the 2nd time I've ever personally mounted a CPU and heatsink on a mobo. In the past, I got a friend with more experience to help me with that stick since it always made me nervous. The installation instructions worked just fine for me, you just have to use your brain a little, it's not rocket science.

Cons: As mentioned...this thing is huge...it's fairly heavy too. So be careful when handling your motherboard after you've mounted this thing. If you have to move your motherboard, best to place one hand below the motherboard directly under the heatsink (bracket), otherwise you'll notice a little bend in the board due to the weight.

The way the fan is mounted to the heatsink is...just lazy "engineering". What they also don't tell you, you'll probably need needle nose pliers to pull the rubber mounting nubs through the holes in the fan - that, or patience and strong fingers.

Other Thoughts: I guess we'll see if the fan dies, if it does...man it's going to be a pain in the posterior to replace.