There are some pretty high end processor coolers out there that can cost a fortune – take the NZXT Kraken Z73 All-In-One for instance at an eye-watering £260 plus at the time of writing, but can you get away with less? We decided to put this theory to the test, to find out if a virtually no name jobbie from China, is adequate enough for your gaming machine. And to start it off, we found the perfect cooler on eBay, a Cool Moon UFO X which is being sold by a large number of sellers for a handsome £7 including delivery.
So, here’s the deal. In our experiment, we used three air coolers: an Intel stock cooler that came with our processor, the Cool Moon UFO X and finally, a Cryorig C1. We ran Prime95 for 10 minutes on each test on what it calls a ‘blend of all its tests’. Or in other words, the test that Prime95 chose for us when we first opened up the software.
The stock cooler was up first, sitting on top of a modest i5-6500 with no overclocking, but still powerful enough for plenty of budget gaming, It hit 96-degrees Celcius during this test. Not too bad, the cooler kept it under 100 and that can be seen as impressive. So then we were wondering. Is the Cool Moon going to beat this, or is the Cool Moon going to perform just as good, and look better in our case?
Well, to our surprise. the Cool Moon UFO X took a turn and kept the maximum temperature of the CPU some 20-degrees below the stock cooler, finishing our test at 77-degrees. Now that, I must say is an impressive temperature reading because remember, we only paid £7 for it. There are better coolers out there, of course, but for £7? That price alone is EXTREMELY hard to beat.
Now I must say, the Cool Moon UFO X looks pretty too, and if you have a modern tempered full frame glass panel on the side of your chosen case, then it will look all the better.
Installing it, on the other hand, is a right pain first time. No back plate – instead the housing ring it sits in is held in place by removable pins. Then it goes all old-style AMD with a thin flat steel plate running one side to the other requiring both ends to be hooked over that ring. Getting it off is even worse. Tidy that up Cool Moon and you will be on to a major winner, surely.
But. if you are one of those who build a PC, stick it all together and show no interest in continually taking it apart then the Cool Moon is more than adequate.
On to some specs from that box. Overall dimension is 100x100x75mm, so fitting it into a tight space should not be too much of a worry. The fan is 100x100x75mm hitting 2000rpm, give or take 10 per cent spinning on a hydramatic bearing moving 38cfm. It weighs just 130g, comes with three and four pin plugs, and is pretty quiet at 23 dBA. Life span is put at 50,000 hours – that’s just under six years running 24/7 before you have to spend another £7.
Oh, and fitting. In the Intel 775, 11xx and 1366. In the other camp, it takes care of AM2/3/3+/4 and FM1/2.
So to push our research further, we then stuck on a Cryorig C1, an air cooler costing around £60 at the time of writing. And what a pain that was, but we are not here to discuss ease of installation. Now, the cooler is huge, with a single large fan on top. We were expecting temperatures to be much better than stock, and beating the Cool Moon and the result was, after the same 10 minute torture test, a maximum of 56C. So yes, it’s much better than the Cool Moon cooler, but that was really to be expected, as you’re paying more of a premium to achieve cooler temps.
So this brings us neatly back to the Cool Moon, which kept our processor at a warm 77-degrees during testing. And to tell you the truth, we loved it. And yes, although it can be beaten by many other coolers out there, it is definitely competent to keep the processor cool enough for most gaming. Sure, I wouldn’t recommed it if you’re going to be diving into your overclocking settings, but if you’re a gamer who’s after a bit of flashy RGB to spice up your case, and want something that’ a better performer than Intel’s janky stock coolers, then £7 on an aftermarket cooler from a rando seller on eBay, is definitely a win from me/ Oh, and did we mention it’s only £7?
