SilverStone AR05 Review. The Silverstone SST-AR05 Argon is a low profile and ultra-compact cooler with a stylish 92mm to complement it. SilverStone shouldn’t need an introduction really, you’ve most likely seen one or two of there epic cases, over the last few years. I’ll be honest I didn’t even know they produced products like the ARo5 until recently. The trend of all things compact will continue to boom this year, mini-itx boards, GPU’s and cases are on the rise. The real issue we tend to face with downsizing is compatibility, especially with coolers. Today we look at a product designed to tackle just that. Designed with a tiny footprint and clearance in mind, standing at just 37mm tall. It’s worth noting before we go any further, a limit of 65w is imposed due to the size of the heat sink. Pricing is just £22 or so here in the UK, on paper it looks to be a solid offering, is it?
SilverStone AR05 Features and Specifications
The Argon series coolers are designed to provide the best cooling solutions for your CPU. The Argon AR05, at only 37mm high including fan, features two 6mm thick copper heat pipes connect to the base using heat-pipe direct contact (HDC) technology. A highly efficient 92mm PWM fan tuned for optimal balance of airflow and noise is included to provide up to 65W of cooling power (or more in case with efficient airflow). For users requiring good performance in space limited applications, the high quality and affordable AR05 is a great choice.
￭ Designed for low profile system at only 37mm tall
￭ Two Ø6mm heat-pipes and aluminum fins for excellent heat conducting efficiency
￭ Heat-pipe direct contact (HDC) technology
￭ Includes compact 92mm PWM fan for excellent cooling and low noise
￭ For use with CPUs up to 65W or more*
￭ Intel Socket LGA1155/1156/1150 and AMD Socket AM2/AM3/FM1/FM2 compatible
Model No. SST-AR05 Material Copper heat pipes with aluminum fins Application Intel Socket LGA1155/1156/1150 AMD Socket AM2/AM3/FM1/FM2 Heat Pipe Type Ø6mm heat-pipe x 2 Cooling System 92mm x 92mm x 15mm fan Dimension w/fan 104mm (W) x 92mm (D) x 36.7mm (H) (with fan) Noise 20 ~ 28.3dBA Bearing Rifle Bearing Net Weight 138g (without fan) Voltage Rating (V) 12V Start Voltage (V) 7V Air Flow (CFM) 40.2CFM (Max.) Speed (R.P.M.) 1200 ~ 2500RPM PWM Life Expectance (hrs) 40,000 hours
Remark *To use on CPUs with TDP greater than 65W, a case with efficient airflow is required.
Courtesy of SilverStone for more information please visit the Product page
The main package is low-key with a mixture of blues. From the front side we’re given a clear view of the product, alongside model name and branding. A real emphasis is on its low size, of just 37mm. Around the rear side the key features are listed in a range of languages.
From the other sides we find several shots of the product at eye-catching angles, and the main product specifications.
The box flips open from the top, and we’re greeted with neatly packed internals. Lots of foam padding is present to keep the product in good order. The main heatsink on the left and the bundle is tucked into the right side.
The kit is very simple, not backplate is required for the ARO5. Arms for either Intel or AMD are included, along with the mounting bolts and tube of thermal paste.
The 92mm fan is already bolted to the main heatsink. Finished in a very unique white and blue, it don’t think I’ve seen the combo elsewhere. Those who colour co-ordinate their builds might be slightly off put, however white products are on the rise and I feel it would suit any system, aside from a red and black design. The product is almost wafer thing, ok slight exaggeration but still… Being so small we dont have much more to talk about, flipping to the underside we see the two copper heat pipes. As always don’t forget to remove the protective film before installing!
It’s worth paying attention the single side in which the heatpipes extrude, at its widest point measuring 107mm.
Installation Guide
Nice and simple install process on the AR05, select either the Intel or AMD arms, and bolt them down with the smallest screws.
Don’t make the mistake I did above though, you want to add the mounting bolts and nuts to the arms first!
The Intel Arms, have 3 slots so be sure to select the one that matches your motherboard socket.
Thermal paste is applied and the cooler lowered down.
The four mounting bolts require rubber pads to added before installing.
You’ll need to flip over the motherboard, and fasten the ARO05 from the underside, we rate installation difficulty between 1 and 10. With 10 being the most difficult, the AR05 would be a 2.
Clearance and observations
A problem many coolers face is clearance issues with both DIMM slots and the first PCI-E slot.
The AR05’s ultra-compact design, shows no cause for concern in any of these areas.
*TECHICIZE TEST SYSTEM*
Proudly Powered by our Dimastech Mini V1.0 Test Bench
Processor:
Intel® i5 4670K
Cooling: Several Memory: Kingston HyperX Beast 2400Mhz 8GB Motherboard: MSI Z97 GAMING 7 Video Card: MSI Radeon 270X Gaming PSU: CoolerMaster v750 Hard Drives:
SSD – Kingston HyperX 3k 240GB
M.2 -Kingston M.2
OS: Windows 8.1 64-Bit
We would like to thank or sponsors for their support with our test system, Kingston,Dismatech,Cooler Master,Noctua and MSI
*Methodology*
CPU coolers and the test method is an area that causes much confusion and debate. We should point out that many sites test in different ways, the majority share the same core idea that a simple math equation should be used. So that a consistent value can be recorded and re-used against more products
This simple equation of [recorded result] [minus] [ambient room temperature] = Delta
This test method simply means no matter how warm or cool the testing room is, the data is comparable. There will always be a degree of error in such testing. There are so many variables such airflow, testing location and such. So we perform all our testing on the same hardware and in the same location.
Our procedure is to fit the cooler and allow a 24 hour period before any testing, allowing the thermal paste to settle. The system is booted and allowed to sit idle for 15 minutes. We take our first recording. Then using a selection of software forcing the CPU to run at 100% load. We then take our load temperatures.
This process is repeated 3 times and the results are converted to an average.
We provide delta temperature [Load temperatures minus ambient room temperature].
This allows us to provide consistent results no matter the room temperature.
Many factors can skew results and to ensure accuracy we repeat all of the above three further times. Including refitting the cooler, this compensates for factors such as burn in time, amount of thermal paste and such.
* Our test CPU is ran at default clocks and voltage for stock testing. For overclocking it’s not the best around and requires 1.375 volts to operate at 4.6 GHz. All results shown are at these settings unless otherwise stated*
SOFTWARE USED
CPU-Z
OCCT
HWMonitor
*Results Stock*
The following test is not really fair, but we don’t have any other option than to use our i5 4670k. The CPU has a TDP of 84w, and the cooler only supports a maximum 65w. So in theory the test should fail. However looking back at the specs Silverstone loosely state it may be able of more, depending on case setup and airflow. With that said, let’s see…
Considering it should have failed, this is actually pretty impressive, these are deltas so taking into consideration the 22c room temp during the test. The AR05 was actually peaking at 88c. Higher than what you want on a regular basis but still a demonstration of ability!
In terms of noise, I’m equally impressed with a max reading of just 33db, you may be questioning who would choose a product like this? over say, the Intel stock cooler, which has equally impressive ram clearance and easy mount…it sure it does, but I can assure the difference between the two, when you focus on noise alone, is worlds apart.
Also the ARO5 is smaller, as in height… so it’s more fitting for compact mini-itx cases. While the AR05 won’t take any awards in performance tests, it did cope way above its limit. The product would be suited to a more logical CPU and would deliver much better numbers.
*Results Overclocked*
As always I remind you that we work with a Haswell CPU, notoriously hot and a real challenge once overclocked.
It’s marked on the chart as 100C, which is of course a fail, the thermal limits ended our torture test very quickly. Normally we would look deeper and explore why a product excels or fails this test, their is no need today. It was never designed to handle that much heat and no marks will be lost.
Our first look at a SilverStone cooler and I can say with confidence, that I’m very impressed. If you scrolled down the last page and looked at the numbers alone, I can see why that might be confusing. We could not on the day of testing, use a certified and more viable CPU, the odds were stacked against the AR05 before we even started the testing.
A far from ideal situation that actually showed the AR05, is more able than specifications claim. If you own a higher end i5/i7 then no, this is not the right product for you. I’m not suggesting you should couple the two and reap the rewards of silence. It’s just worth noting the ARo5 can do that little bit more than you would think. When you factor in the almost none existant footprint, it deserves credit.
The design is as simple, as it can be. The mounting method was a refreshing change for us, 99.9% of coolers we work with, have a backplate and their own mounting system. The bolt through system here is 100% trouble-free, and works well. Looking at clearance I don’t think you’re likely to run into any at all, but the two extruding heatpipes do render one side of the product larger than the other three.
Looking at the base of the cooler, room exists for additional heatpipes. Any extra pipes would have been a benefit to the thermal ability, but let’s look at pricing and its crystal clear why only two are found. For £22 or so, this is an absolute bargain! Cross compatible, with no additional or over engineered mounting kits, a stylish and near silent fan for this price? If you’r working in a space limited case, with a budget of 20 pounds or so, their is really nothing else to consider!
Well Worthy of our Value Award
[taq_review]
We would like to thank SilverStone for sending the sample out for review.
SilverStone AR05 Review SilverStone AR05 Review. The Silverstone SST-AR05 Argon is a low profile and ultra-compact cooler with a stylish 92mm to complement it.