# Phanteks PH-TC12DX



## crazyeyesreaper (May 15, 2013)

Phanteks seeks to beat the heat with the PH-TC12DX. Comprised of two fin stacks, each made up of 49 anodized aluminum cooling fins, and paired with a nickel-plated copper base and heatpipes, This U-type cooler might just have what it takes.

*Show full review*


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## Delta6326 (May 15, 2013)

Fantastic review! I really like these Phanteks coolers.
I'm very happy to see these cooler reviews, keep up the great work!


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## pjl321 (May 15, 2013)

I'm looking at the long list of coolers in the performance comparison table but I would really like to know how well the likes of the $100 air coolers do against the real water coolers. I know they are probably quite alot more once you add everything up but interested to see if its worth the extra?

Water coolers seem to have gone really quite lately (no pun intended!), is that because these closed looped coolers like the H100 and the air coolers like PH-TC14PE are so good that it doesn't make sense anymore?

Did phase change coolers just die aswell?


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## terrastrife (May 15, 2013)

pjl321 said:


> I'm looking at the long list of coolers in the performance comparison table but I would really like to know how well the likes of the $100 air coolers do against the real water coolers. I know they are probably quite alot more once you add everything up but interested to see if its worth the extra?
> 
> Water coolers seem to have gone really quite lately (no pun intended!), is that because these closed looped coolers like the H100 and the air coolers like PH-TC14PE are so good that it doesn't make sense anymore?
> 
> Did phase change coolers just die aswell?



Sealed watercooling units are killing off high end air towers. Custom loops are still as popular as ever.
As for phase change, they have always had high maintenance costs so were niche just like LN2 or dice. I do know a couple of people with phase, however they're going to go high end water (with a couple of triple rads or more) instead due to the simplicity for every day use with the reduced heat output of '24/7' level overclocks.


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## pjl321 (May 15, 2013)

So how would a custom loop compare to PH-TC14PE or H100 both in price and performance?


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## Delta6326 (May 16, 2013)

pjl321 said:


> So how would a custom loop compare to PH-TC14PE or H100 both in price and performance?



I would say if CPU only probably 5-10c or lower.
But then you have to figure how much rad would you go with 240, 360, 480?

EDIT:
A Koolance 380i get's 38c, but thats on a 560rad...
CPU – Intel i7-3930K (Unlapped) @ 4.7GHz 1.45Vcore


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## pjl321 (May 16, 2013)

That's great thanks for that, shame they don't have the high end air coolers on the same test setup. I think measuring the temp difference to 100th of a degree is pushing the boundaries of experimental error though.


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## EpicShweetness (May 16, 2013)

I wanna input some creative criticism . . . .
I noticed that for the size of the cooler as well as the performance of such it did the best. The Noctua was quieter by a few DB, but did not perform as well. The Gelid Cooler while better was more $$$, and larger in size. Other coolers performed better but were of a larger 140mm design, or a closed water cooling loop design. For a 120mm cooler (going for $50 on Newegg) it did AWESOME.


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## terrastrife (May 16, 2013)

pjl321 said:


> That's great thanks for that, shame they don't have the high end air coolers on the same test setup. I think measuring the temp difference to 100th of a degree is pushing the boundaries of experimental error though.



With lower thermal loads you will find that heatsinks will perform better, even better if they don't have heatpipes. Heatpipes have a working range, and watercooling introduces heat from the pump and additional 'latency' in cooling.

However if you start pushing the boundaries, say at around 300W heatload, watercooling jumps ahead in leaps and bounds as heatpipes are saturated have have a negative effect on cooling. The increased surface area also helps with maintaining lower fan speeds, as more low speed fans are quieter than fewer fast fans.


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## ChristTheGreat (May 25, 2013)

Nice review. I don't know what would be the difference with my CNPS10X extreme modded with a XSPC fan.. but this cooler is quite nice.


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## Vario (Jan 6, 2014)

Old review but a comment, I have one of these coolers and the quality is top notch.  I think the review sample must have been improved on because it was a great quality piece for the price ($50). The fans are also really high end.  Overall a better choice than a Coolermaster 212, in my opinion, because it comes with two excellent fans and the Phanteks/Noctua paste. which is great as well.  A 212 ($35) with two good fans (2x$15) and some good thermal paste ($8) is actually more money.  I would like to try running some big 38mm thick fans on it at some point to see if it makes a difference.  I love the fact that it can be removed with only two screws.

The stock mounting clip retainers (black plastic things) suck for the fans, I ended up bending the wire around a traditional fan screw and that worked much better.


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## Rnk (Jul 9, 2020)

I know this is old review but im interested in this cooler. Do you think this cooler still worth in 2020? I want pair this cooler with ryzen 5 3600. Or should i get another newer cooler like shadow rock 3? Thank you


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## crazyeyesreaper (Jul 9, 2020)

Rnk said:


> I know this is old review but im interested in this cooler. Do you think this cooler still worth in 2020? I want pair this cooler with ryzen 5 3600. Or should i get another newer cooler like shadow rock 3? Thank you


The website says it supports socket AM4, however Newegg and others do not list support for that socket. So depending on if its new or old stock you may have to contact Phanteks for mounting hardware for you AM4 build.


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## John Naylor (Jul 10, 2020)

pjl321 said:


> I'm looking at the long list of coolers in the performance comparison table but I would really like to know how well the likes of the $100 air coolers do against the real water coolers. I know they are probably quite alot more once you add everything up but interested to see if its worth the extra?
> 
> Water coolers seem to have gone really quite lately (no pun intended!), is that because these closed looped coolers like the H100 and the air coolers like PH-TC14PE are so good that it doesn't make sense anymore?



There's very few 240mm AIOs that actually improve on the performance of the better air coolers .... The $55 Scythe Fuma 2 for example .....beats the $90 Cryorig and Noctua cooler as most 2 x 120 AIOS.  The ones that can beat the Scythe in cooling beat ya years with noise.  You can see that data in the review graphs


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## Rnk (Jul 12, 2020)

crazyeyesreaper said:


> The website says it supports socket AM4, however Newegg and others do not list support for that socket. So depending on if its new or old stock you may have to contact Phanteks for mounting hardware for you AM4 build.


Ah ok thanks for the info man. I already ask my local shop that their stock is new batch that already have am4 bracket included. I think i'll take this cooler its looking great and have great performance too


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