Overall
When AMD introduced the Wraith Cooler at CES the big promise wasn’t really improved cooling performance. They wanted to make big strides in the noise levels on their cooler. After testing with the older D3 cooler I can see why. They without a doubt made big improvements in the noise output. But what I found even more interesting was the overall cooling performance. They were able to keep the same CPU running cooler at less than 50% fan speed where the older cooler has to run nearly full speed. They say the Wraith Cooler has the same 125w cooling performance but I think its obvious the cooler has a little room left on it. The new fan shroud with the backlit AMD looks good as well. I am a little concerned with how big the cooler is, I ran into issues with it being tight up against the ram on our test bench and if you are planning on going with a small form factor build things could get a little tight.
So where does the Wraith Cooler fit in? Well what is exciting is they finally have a cooler that doesn’t really need to be replaced. That means OEMs and manufactures can just run the stock cooler without worrying about noise or heat issues later on. That said there is still room for the aftermarket coolers. If you go with a quality air cooler or water cooling, you are still going to hear less noise and you will run even cooler. Basically the Wraith Cooler is the best stock cooler on the market and it is especially going to be popular in basic builds and with OEMs. But if you were expecting It to come in and eliminate the need for aftermarket coolers it’s not really there just yet.
