ARCTIC Alpine 11 GT Rev 2. - Super Silent Intel and AMD CPU Cooler for Mini PCs - Up to 75 Watts Cooling Capacity with 80 mm PWM Fan

I got this item to replace the Intel stock cooler on my i5 8400. My Intel Stock Cooler died within a couple days of buying the CPU and rather than dealing with returning the chip, I thought it would be best to invest in a decent-ish cooler. I came across the ARCTIC cooler from PCPART picker and found on amazon that it had a bunch of positive reviews. Upon getting the cooler it seemed to be well-built, and the fan spun easily when i messed with it. I liked that this particular cooler used the same mounting system as the Intel cooler, which kept me form haing to do anything drastic with the install. Installing seemed to go just fine, the clearances were good, and the cooler did not interfere with the PSU or RAM slots which is a common problem in mini-itx builds. after carefully cleaning the CPU from the old cooler and lining up this cooler with the cpu and mount-holes, I was able to get one side to click securely in place, but the other side would not click in. Jiggling the un-clicked side caused the unit to pop out of the mount holes. I removed the unit and rotated it 90 degrees, and was able to seat the unit. Jiggling the unit did not cause it to pop from the mount holes. Upon booting the system it was much loader than before indicating that the fan was already spun-up allowing the system to boot folly I was able to monitor the temps in the 45-50C range which was a bit higher than the Intel cooler (when it was working) I allowed some time for the thermal compound to bond to the CPU die and im still recording what I would consider higher than wanted temps. As of writing this, the temps are stable around 55C, which I only have 1 window of chrome open. Under load, the cpu will top out around 75-80C which is at the upper-threshold of what I would consider to be OK. The load I used was the Akrham Knight benchmark set to 4K with all settings maxed, which should stress all the components enough to produce a fair amount of heat. I am unsure of this unit and may end up sending it back, as it does not seem to yield similar results to those listed in the positive reviews.Edit: I added a star, as after another week, the cooler seems to be performing much better. Under heavy load, temps hang out in the mid50s-60s which is pretty decent, and that does seem to be pretty quiet. I would recommend this fan to someone who wants an inexpensive alternative to the stock cooler.

This was an easy install, but the install doesn't feel secure. You are supposed to screw the 4 push pins in a clockwise position and they lock. I pretty much had to turn my motherboard over to make sure it was connected. After I installed all of my components, it unfastened itself again. It's finally connected and does keep the CPU very cool, but I just am not sure when it will disconnect. I've always been interested in the Arctic name in capital letters and their white fans, but I lost interest after this experience. The fan works well, but the push pin system on this fan just doesn't make me feel secure. A mounting bracket solution with screws is a much better alternative.6 month update: the fan has done well keeping my CPU cooler, and hasn't come loose. I'm raising my updated review to 4 stars, but still would have preferred a mounting bracket solution.

The Good: It's impressively quiet--even more so than the stock Intel Haswell coolers. The mounting clips worked fine, it has 4 wire PWM with a nice speed range, and it seems well made. . If you're okay with the issues below, and noise is your primary concern, it would be a decent cooler for the price for a 65 watt TDP or lower CPU.Performance: Despite being larger and heavier than a stock copper cored 84 watt TDP i7-4770K cooler, the cooling is actually worse--temps were about 5C hotter. It will cool better than the non-copper 55 watt TDP i3 Haswell coolers. I would only consider this for 65 watt and under CPUs.The Bad: It has a significant downside. The bottom is solid and the cooling air is directed out two of the sides. A "down flow" cooler like the stock Intel coolers, and some from Thermaltake, MassCool, and others, direct air down to the motherboard and cool the power supply components near the CPU socket. These components can run quite hot and tend to "bake" the nearby capacitors greatly shortening their life (Google "motherboard capacitors"). The capacitors are often the first thing to fail on a motherboard. It's also less likely to help cool the northbridge/southbridge chips on the motherboard that also tend to run hot.

While cleaning out my case recently, I slipped and broke a fin off of my OEM Intel fan on my DX58SO(2) board. The processor temp immediately started spiking. I tried breaking off the opposite fin to rebalance the fan temporarily, but even then, no help.I ordered this one for three specific reasons:It is a 4 pin instead of 3, so my motherboard can control the speed of the fan.Second: Price. The reviews were pretty positive and the price was good for a 4 pin fan.Third: Pre-pasted. It never fails that I over thermal-paste every fan I install. This was helpful, and in an emergency replacement it was nice to not have to buy a tube of paste for a single fan processor install.I'm using this with my Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor with no temperature issues whatsoever. I've been quite pleased with every aspect of the price, performance and install experience. With a 3 year warranty it will probably last longer than my current rig.

PROS:Silent.Slightly better than stock cooler.Price.Price.Price.CONS:Slightly taller than stock cooler.Up to 75W processors only.NOTE on i7 owners:I'm sorry to burst your bubble but this cannot cool any "K" intel processors because they are all 95W. I've got an i7 6700K and when encoding files they jump to 90 degrees. Ended up using this for my Pentium G4400 on my Asrock DeskMini 110 and getting a bigger case (Kolink Satellite) to fit an spare CoolerMaster 212 Evo with which it doesn't jump anywhere near 50 degrees.I did penalise the product with 3 stars before, then I realised is not Artics fault as they clearly put up to 75W but other buyers' comments who mislead me to believe it could handle an overclockeable Skylake processor so I restored it to 5 as it worth the price.Disclaimer: I'm a full paying customer.

My dear old PC was plodding along unable to cope with modern life just like me so I decided on a wee upgrade. I bought a dual core processor from that famous auction site for a bargain £5.00 and then waited for the Artic Super Silent Cooler. Whilst waiting for the Cooler I tested the processor with the Speccy program and so far have been pleased with the performance improvement. However, when the Cooler arrived and was installed it was a real disappointment.There were 2 main problems with it. Firstly, the old cooler registered 52 °C with 4 years’ service and an inch of dust. The Artic Alpine is currently registering at 42 °C. This may be an improvement but I did expect better with the claims made by the seller. Secondly, the Artic Alpine is NOT "Super Silent". I noticed other reviewers have already commented on this matter but I found this cooler was no more silent than the one it replaced. The sound it makes is constant hum more audible than my fridge freezer. If I was not afraid of damaging the board I would have returned it and put the old one back.

I had a new, Asrock G31M-S Intel G31 (Socket 775) DDR2 PCI-Express, Motherboard fitted with dual core processor; the stock Intel LGA 775 cooler fitted (no speed control). It was very noisy - like having a coffee grinder under your desk!. I searched for ages for a quiet replacement at reasonable cost; after many hours looking I chose the Arctic Cooling Alpine II GT with PWM. I was not diappointed. It is cheap by most standards, minimalist in construction and has reduced CPU temperatures even at a controlled 700rpm. The fitting is ok provided you study how the Intel mounting works; it never feels very solid but does work if you are careful. Insturctions are diagramatic only so its best to remove your old fan and heatsink first and play with the old fittings before diving in. The orientation of the fan is important so study the old one in place before removing it; if you can't see the difference then get an expert to fit it. It is not neessary to remove the motherboard to fit the fan. Speed control will vary with your motherboard; just make sure it supports the 4 wire connection. My ASRock MB came with a software tool to set target speeds and temperatures although most BIOS sysyems will let you set variable spped/temperatures. Very pleased

This CPU cooler does the job of making sure that my CPU remains at a cooler temperature around 50 degrees so far. The only problem I have with this is that this is not as silent as you think it would be. For example if you were to load up your CPU to 100% the fan speed goes upto around 2300rpm which in my experience it is loud but understandable at the same time. Although in the end it does its job properly comes with pre-applied thermal paste so I can't complian. If you are planning to overclock do not buy this just as a warning.Benefits overall:+Small and compact does not take up much room in the PC case which is good.+Keeps CPU at a constant 50 degrees.+Comes with pre-applied metallic paste so it ready to install straight away on top of your CPU chip.+Push-pins are easy to install not as hard people think that it is.+Excellent value for money.Drawbacks:-Not very clear instructiuons on how to install the CPU cooler had to watch a YouTube video to install this properly.

I know that heat sinks have notoriously been known for irritating and cumbersome installation mechanisms. This cooler beats any of them hands down. With it's flimsy plastic push pin installation, all I can say is that it's a definite fail. I used to run a Zalman Flower and was therefore used to sub 35C temps, and wasn't expecting this one to be as good, but after the first attempt at installation the temp soared to 80-90C at idle and my system shut down after a couple of minutes. Next attempt gave me temps of 70C+ and the third 60C+. I realised the problem was it's poorly designed push pin installation, so I ended up ripping the push pins out and used some fortunately perfect sized bolts. My temps are now around 35C idle and 50C at full flight. A perfectly reasonable temp for such a small and quiet heat sink. Sort out the installation design and this would be a blinding bit of kit.