Reeven portfolio is made of five actual coolers:
- Two models with vertical against the motherboard tower focused for desktop systems and they are: Chrono Guard RC-0902 (the small model) and Kelveros RC-1202 (the big model) which I already tested last week.
- Two models with horizontal against the motherboard tower focused for desktop system and they are: Arcziel RC-0903 (the small model) and Arcziel RC-1203 which is the latest model and I will test it soon, too.
- One model with horizontal against the motherboard tower focused for HTPC systems: Vanxie RC-0801 which will be tested in the near future.
So far I’ve tested the big model with vertical radiator Kelveros RC-1202 (the big model) and this time I’ve decided to test the small model with horizontal radiator – Arcziel RC-0903.
Again the cooler arrived in a very small for the dimensions of the cooler carton box, all in black, with lots of details and technical information about the product placed everywhere on the package. I believe that if somebody check the box he can get information for every single detail related to the cooler. Well yes, except for personal thoughts from reviewers but after all – that’s what the internet’s for.
As I said, a small package but with lot of contents inside. After I opened the box I got this view:
First thing I noticed after opening the box was the detailed manual, the cooler and a small yellow box, for sure holding all the additional accessories, which I will check later. Let’s first focus on the cooler and let’s see what Reeven Arcziel RC-0903 actually is:
It’s a small type of CPU cooler made of:
- A radiator with dimensions, according Reeven, (W)95 x (D)121.5 x (H)86.5 mm and weight of 383 g without the fan. Seems the size of this model is not so big but offers 60 fins, all of them covering the 3 heat pipes.
- The radiator itself is cooled by a 92mm fan.
So, let’s first check the radiator:
The radiator is made of a copper base with 3 x Ø 6 mm copper heat pipes without direct contact with the CPU transferring the heat from the base to the fins which are in horizontal position with respect to the motherboard. The top one is just for better visual appearance, holding a laser cut logo of the Company.
As you can see, there is something interesting in the fins structure. All of them, except the top one have holes inside and I am guessing they are made for faster heat dispersion.
So, that’s just the radiator. Let’s check the other part of the cooler – the fan that is supposed to keep the radiator cool.
According to Reeven, the fan is a 92mm fan (PWM) with low noise working at a revolutions per minute range of 500 ~ 2500RPM powered and controlled by PWM with airflow range of 10.0 ~ 51.15CFM and noise level 7.8 ~ 32.3dBA. Seems that’s not so noisy but the only way to find this out is to test the cooler, which will happen a bit later. The most interesting part is that this model is not sold separately in the Reeven portfolio.
At the looks of it, the model is made of a plastic frame and plastic propeller with 7 blades, again in the black and yellow colour scheme.
Before I continue, I want to point something out. The cooler arrived with the fan mounted using their patented mounting clips, which are really tight. The first attempt, without reading the manual, resulted in me breaking one. At least the guys from Reeven predicted such foolish behaviour and added an extra kit of 4 new clips.
Silly me….
This is the result of avoiding the small useful paper added to the cooler:
And this is how the clips should be installed first on the fan, then all together on the radiator.
So never forget folks… Always check the manual. I am absolutely sure there is some useful information inside.
I’ve already checked the cooler and now it’s time to open the small yellow box and check what’s inside:
- Manual for mounting the cooler on Intel and AMD platforms
- Thermal paste
- Reeven advertising materials
- Two metal brackets for installing on Intel systems.
- Two metal brackets for installing on AMD systems
- Additional fan clips and 4 small screws to attach any of the metal brackets to the radiator
According to the technical details, the cooler can be mounted in vertical and horizontal position on Intel platforms and just horizontal position on the AMD motherboards.
- Intel Socket: LGA 1366 / 1156 / 1155 / 775
- AMD Socket: FM1 / AM3+ / AM3 / AM2+ / AM2 / 940 / 939 / 754
The only socket missing is 2011 and I am 100% sure that this model will have huge problem cooling 2011 processors. After all, the size of the cooler and the only 3 x Ø6mm just can’t handle those socket 2011 heat monsters.
To keep the tradition, before I move on to the test results, I would like to describe the system used for the test:
CPU: AMD Athlon X4 620 at standard frequency of 2612 MHz and overclocked first at 3003 MHz(1,47V) and after that overclocked at 3640 MHz (at 1.5V) per core for the tests.
Motherboard: GigaByte 790X-UD3P
Video card: Sapphire 5830 Extreme 1GB DDR5 256bit
Memory: 2 x 2GB Apacer 800 MHz
Hard drive: Kingston SSD SV100S264G
Case: Cooler Master HAF 932
Power supply: Cooler Master Silent Pro 600
Cooler: Reeven Arcziel RC-0903
Thermal paste: Gelid GC-Extreme
Fans mounted on both coolers: Standard Reeven Arcziel RC-0903 92mm PWM fan
The tests were conducted in a closed system with:
- 230mm fan on the front panel putting fresh air in and spinning at about 700 rpm
- 230mm fan on the side panel putting fresh air in and spinning at about 700 rpm
- 230mm fan on the top panel taking hot air out and spinning at about 700 rpm.
- Room temperature of about 29 degrees.
Testing procedure:
I will install Reeven Arcziel RC-0903 and do tests at default frequency 2612 mHz at idle and stress, then at overclocked frequency 3003MHz at idle and stress and lastly at overclocked frequency of 3640 mHz again at idle and stress using just the standard fan from the package.
So let’s get dirty:
I was really surprised of the mounting system of this cooler. For a really, really long time I hadn’t used such type of AMD mounting. It was a pain to find the Gigabyte original CPU mounting bracket but I believed in myself and did it.
As you can see on the picture above. The cooler can be installed really easily and it is covering only 2 of the DIMM slots. Well yes, it’s not possible to use 4 memories with tall heatspreaders but you can use 4 memories with short or without heatspreaders. Are they going to heat? Maybe… but the airstream coming from the cooler will help cooling them, since it is blowing towards the motherboard.
This is how the test system looks with everything installed. So cute…
After I installed the cooler, I did some tests and these are the results:
The results from the tests at default frequency 2611MHz are:
Idle:
Stress:
The results from the tests at overclocked frequency 3003 MHz are:
Idle:
Stress:
The results from the tests at overclocked frequency 3640 MHz are:
Idle:
Stress:
All of the test results have been summed up in the following charts:
And the fan speed during the tests:
I guess it’s about time to express my opinion about Reeven Arcziel RC-0903 :
- Reeven Arcziel RC-0903 – I’ve just finished testing one of the smaller models of Reeven portfolio – Reeven Arcziel RC-0903 and I can say it did a nice job. First, we must not forget that those tests are made at ambient temperature at 29 degrees Celsius and still we saw nice temperatures at idle and stress tests at default frequency or a bit overclocked. Unfortunately, it couldn’t handle to keep the CPU cool at overclocked frequency 3640 under stress test. Anyway I believe this cooler will handle cooling average CPU models from both Intel and AMD while playing the modern 3D shooters, watching movies, checking facebook, twitter, web pages and playing flash games or even average overclock, but I cannot approve it for high or extreme overclock. The cooler is just too small with only 3 heatpipes and using it for cooling extreme overclocked processor may result in serious system damage.
- About the noise – according to Reeven the model uses a 92mm fan (PWM) with low noise range 7.8 ~ 32.3dBA. Well, I didn’t hear it loud like for example Aerocool Shark 120mm series but still it is possible to hear this fan rotating. After all, we talk about 2700 revolutions per minute and there is no silent fan at this speed. I can rate it 4 from the scale 1-10.
- Vision – It’s a good looking small model with horizontal fins with aluminium and copper shine completed by the 92mm fan in the black and yellow colour scheme.
Again, as disadvantage I can point the lack of option to install a second fan unless it is 30-50mm, and the lack of direct heatpipes contact with the processor.
According to my review, I’ve decided that Reeven Arcziel RC-0903 deserves the following reward:
I thank Reeven for the samples!
