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Matthew B.

Matthew B.

Joined on 02/23/13

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 1
Most Favorable Review

Very Impressed Besides a Couple of Minor Things

Phanteks PH-TC12DX Dual 120mm PWM CPU Cooler, AM4 Compatible
Phanteks PH-TC12DX Dual 120mm PWM CPU Cooler, AM4 Compatible

Pros: Good performance, definitely an upgrade from my previous air cooler, and lower temps than I expected.

Cons: A few frustrations from cable management Product photos are a little misleading, but not maliciously so

Overall Review: I got the white version of this cooler to replace my Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo that sat on my 4790k for the last four or five years. With the 212, I was able to get an overclock of 4.4 GHz at 1.2 volts. At 100% load, my temps sat at around 72°, peaking around 75° after running for 10 minutes, and those numbers would rise about 3° after running for longer. With this cooler, all of those temps dropped by about 5-7°. I was really impressed and relieved by these numbers since benchmarks specifically comparing this cooler with the 212 were so hard to find. My purchase was decided due in part to aesthetics (I have a mostly-white build), so the fact that I now have more than just a few degrees of thermal headroom is a huge plus. I do have a couple of minor gripes about the product. Firstly, the top of the cooler looks like it could be white or could be silver in the product photos. It is definitely silver, just in case anyone was wondering. It definitely isn't a dealbreaker, it would just be best if it was clearer one way or the other in the photos. Secondly, cable management was a little tricky because of the included splitter. Rather than splitting toward the base of the cable, closer to where it plugs into the motherboard, it splits toward the other end, giving you only an inch to work with past the split. I think that on paper, this is the right call since you have fewer cables to try to worm behind all the nooks and crannies of your build. However, in practice, it just kind of leaves you with one cable with the perfect length and another that has some slack on it that's super difficult to fold in, since where you want to fold is right where the split occurs. At the end of the day, I got the cables in an acceptable position, though, and they look good in their own right with white braiding. However, if I could change one thing about this product, it would be that splitter. Overall, my problems are incredibly minor with how happy I am with the product as a whole. Installation was straightforward, my temps are down more than I expected them to be, and it looks good in the build. I would definitely recommend this product to anyone considering it.

11/12/2018