We have taken a look at a few products from Gelid Solutions in the past, I was very impressed with the low noise levels of their first heatsink Silent CPU Cooler. Their last heatsink was designed to perform well, but not to compete with some of the larger high-end coolers that enthusiasts normally go after. No because of that Gelid Solutions has released the Tranquillo, a larger heatsink aimed at high performance but still following Gelid's Silent product line. Today we have the chance to put it to the test and see how it performs compared to some of best heatsinks on the market.

Product Name: Gelid Solutions Tranquillo

Review Sample Provided by: Gelid Solutions

Review by: Wes

Pictures by: Wes

Specifications

Packaging

Gelid Solutions packed the Tranquillo in an easy to carry white and grey box. They highlighted a few of the key features on the front in their signature green color to give the packaging a little color. The back has an air flow diagram, diagrams of each installation kit, and a full application guide; everything you need to know. Inside the heatsink and fan where packed in a plastic clamshell to keep it safe.

Installation

Installing the Tranquillo was a little different from the Silent CPU cooler; this time around, a backplate was required. After picking out the correct backplate and brackets for our setup (in this case I tested the heatsink on our i7 test rig and also installed it later on our upcoming i5 rig), I was able to get started. The brackets mount to the heatsink with a small screw on each side. With a small amount of the included GC-2 Thermal Compound on my CPU (we used our normal Noctua thermal paste for our testing for consistency), I was ready to mount everything together. The heatsink is mounted with four thumbscrews that can be also used with a flat head screwdriver. Due to the flat head design It was a little difficult to tighten the screws down until I got them started, but I did get them nice and tight. the final step was installing the fan with the included wire clips. Being a familiar design it didn't take long for me to get everything put together and ready for testing.

Performance

To put the Tranquillo to the test I had to run our standard heatsink tests on both our i5 test rig and our i7 test rig. All of our test numbers are off the i7's testing. In the future, we will use the i5 results as we have more heatsinks to compare against. Using Realtemp 2.5 I watched the temperatures while letting the rig idle for an hour to get a base idle temperature. Then while running Prime 95 I heated the Tranquillo up for an hour, more than enough time to get temperatures to peak. Below are the results of my testing.

As you can see, the Tranquillo performed in line with the Noctua NH-U12P which is a pretty impressive feat. All the while, the Tranquillo sticks to its silent roots with nearly no sound at all.

Overall

If this is how well Gelid Solutions can cool your CPU when trying to keep everything quiet, imagine what they can do with a little noise! I'm excited to see what they will do in the future but the Tranquillo will be more than enough to keep me satisfied for now. The most impressive part is that all of that performance comes with an entry-level price tag.

Author Bio

Author: garfi3ldWebsite: http://lanoc.org

Editor-in-chief

You might call him obsessed or just a hardcore geek. Wes's obsession with gaming hardware and gadgets isn't anything new, he could be found taking things apart even as a child. When not poking around in PC's he can be found playing League of Legends, Awesomenauts, or Civilization 5 or watching a wide variety of TV shows and Movies. A car guy at heart, the same things that draw him into tweaking cars apply when building good looking fast computers. If you are interested in writing for Wes here at LanOC you can reach out to him directly using our contact form.