Introduction and First Impressions

A compact cooler designed to replace Intel’s stock solution.

The CRYORIG C7 is a compact air cooler for Intel and processors, designed to fit anywhere a stock solution will. Standing just 47 mm tall, and featuring a footprint close in size to an Intel stock cooler, CRYORIG claims this ultra-compact design will still outperform the stock solution.

An attractive design, the C7 is further sweetened by a $29.99 retail, which places it in a favorable position in the compact CPU cooler market. Designs like these are rarely useful for enthusiasts, but there it certainly a need for good aftermarket options when overclocking isn't a consideration. There was a time when the stock Intel cooler was sufficient for many basic builds, and for some that may still be the case. But if you've spent a little more to get higher performance, a better heatsink can certainly help; and if you're an enthusiast, the stock cooler was never adequate anyway (even before Intel stopped shipping it in K series CPUs).

In this review we'll find out if this small cooler can deliver on its performance promise, and see just how much noise it might make in the process.

First, we'll look at specifications for the C7 cooler:


Heatsink Specification

  • Dimension (with fan): L97 mm x W97 mm x H47 mm
  • Weight (with fan): 357 g
  • Weight (without fan): 295 g
  • Heat pipes: 6mm heatpipe x 4 units
  • Fin: T = 0.4 mm ; Gap = 1.2 mm
  • Fin Pcs: 57 pcs
  • Copper Base: C1100 Pure copper nickel plated
  • RAM Height Limit: Limitless
  • TDP: 100 W

Fan Specification

  • Dimension: L92 mm x W92 mm x H15 mm
  • Weight: 62 g
  • Rated Speed: 600 ~ 2500 RPM ±10 %
  • Noise Level: 30 dBA
  • Air Flow: 40.5 CFM
  • Air Pressure: 2.8 mmH2O
  • Ampere: 0.2 A

Compatibility

  • Intel LGA 1150, 1151, 1155, 1156
  • AMD Socket FM1, FM2/FM2+, AM2/AM2+, AM3/AM3+

Thanks to CRYORIG for supplying the C7 cooler for our review.

First Impressions

The C7 arrives in very nice packaging, and inside everything is well protected.

The installation package includes the reversible plastic backplate and hardware, a driver, and thermal paste. 

The cooler comes with the fan pre-installed, and is really compact! Unless you're building a thin mini-ITX system, this is probably compact enough for most mini-ITX builds.

The compact C7 cooler uses a 92 mm fan

The C7 uses a pair of nickel-plated, copper heat pipes to move heat away from the CPU more efficiently. This design choice alone will probably explain the performance gains against a stock cooler, if that ends up being the case.

The cooler arrives pre-configured for Intel CPUs. The process to switch to AMD socket compatibility is outlined in the instructions:

"Remove the Mounting Screws and Screw Pillars. Turn the Mounting Bar as seen on the diagram. Screw the Mounting Screws to the position on the diagram. Screw the Screw Pillar in the furthest hole."

The base of the heatsink is milled to a nicely flat surface, and should mate well using our standard compound. (Though a tube of thermal material is included, Noctua NT-H1 thermal compound is used for all cooler testing to ensure consistency of comparative data.)

Next we'll check out the installation process.

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