CRYORIG C7 Cu

[crazyeyesreaper]

The C7 Cu by CRYORIG takes the C7 and makes it better by using an all-copper design. When it comes to Mini-ITX heatsinks, this one sits at the top in terms of weight at 675 g. The copper not only adds a great deal of weight but also increases performance and makes it feels like a premium heatsink.

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[Lagittaja]

The copper not only adds a great deal of weight but also increases performance

Would have been great if you could have retested the C7. Reading this, one might assume it was tested.

 

[londiste]

The best comparison everyone is looking for and won't find in the review is against the regular C7

The CRYORIG C7 Cu is ridiculously easy to install. The first step is to apply some thermal paste to the CPU. After that, position the four screw pillars over the four holes on the motherboard and gently set the cooler down onto the CPU.

Now, position the backplate on the screw pillars that extend through the motherboard. Once the backplate is snug and the pillars are poking through, start the hex nuts by hand to hold everything in place. Then, use the included nut driver to snug them up by alternating on the hex nuts until everything is nice and tight.

That was not my experience. It is easy in theory.
Getting screw pillars through the backplate was very difficult and I had to use considerable force there. Holes in the backplate are very tight and have a nice little plastic thingamajig in there to keep the pillar in. It was holding well enough to prevent putting the backplate on nicely and horizontally but not strongly enough to hold the pillar in place when I pushed the opposite pillar through.
Eventually, I poked one pillar through and hex nut went on. Then I forced the rest of the pillars through one by one, putting the nut on as soon as the pillar was through. Starting with the one diagonally over the first pushing that down with considerable force.

It was positioned correctly, I was using the right holes, there was nothing blocking the backplate, nothing was out of place. I retried about 10 times and still could not figure out how Cryorig managed to screw up such a simple mounting mechanism.

Edit:
That fan on C7 is not a very good one. It has a very noticeable noise ramp-up somewhere around 2000 rpm.
The custom mounting bracket is a pain in this regard. Looking to replace fan on my C7 with another fan, probably NF-A9x14.

however, performance could likely be improved with a thicker fan.

No. As was noted, this is a niche product. That niche is CPU coolers under 5cm in height.
If you want/need a CPU cooler in roughly 100x100x50 space, there is only handful of them. If you can go bigger, you will (or should). This is also where copper instead of aluminum might pay off, few degrees here are a rather big deal in these cramped conditions.

 

[Woomack]

I can't get that: "Thermal throttles in OC tests " as a con ... this is 115W TDP cooler which is as big as stock intel cooler and still provides much better performance. Can't expect that this cooler will work with 6 cores at 4.8GHz and voltage at which most larger coolers still hit 90°C+. At any OC at 1.15V+, 8700K already passes rated max TDP of this cooler so how can it be a con when it's tested at 1.3V?
Another thing, maybe I've missed that but why for tests was used Noctua TIM and not the one which comes with the cooler?

It's probably the best compact cooler on the market. I'm really satisfied with how it works on my 8086K in Kolink Rocket ITX case.
Attached screenshot with my result on 8086K. This way it was working for 2-3 weeks, later I set 4.5GHz 1.10V.

Answering one of the questions, I was testing C7 and C7 Cu. Results below. Count mixed load as games/daily work, it was tested in extended PCMark 10 benchmark. Max was in Prime95.

Now something that you may find weird looking at the results above. At auto, temps of my CPU are higher so on the screenshot above (4.7GHz 1.15V) temps are actually lower than in the comparison where voltage and clock of the cooler is at stock. The CPU still boosts up to 5GHz on single cores. The motherboard sets too high voltage at auto settings what isn't required.

 

[PLAfiller]

Cool looking little cooler, but as much as I want to like it, there are just other options out there. One can fairly easy find a second hand Noctua NH-L9i for 15-25 EUR. Fan is bolten and can be easily replaced. Even some older stuff like : Scythe Kozuti is giving it a serious run for its money.

 

[londiste]

NH-L9i performs worse. Kozuti is weaker than either.
C7 simply has more area than NH-L9i.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

The best comparison everyone is looking for and won't find in the review is against the regular C7

That was not my experience. It is easy in theory.
Getting screw pillars through the backplate was very difficult and I had to use considerable force there. Holes in the backplate are very tight and have a nice little plastic thingamajig in there to keep the pillar in. It was holding well enough to prevent putting the backplate on nicely and horizontally but not strongly enough to hold the pillar in place when I pushed the opposite pillar through.
Eventually, I poked one pillar through and hex nut went on. Then I forced the rest of the pillars through one by one, putting the nut on as soon as the pillar was through. Starting with the one diagonally over the first pushing that down with considerable force.

It was positioned correctly, I was using the right holes, there was nothing blocking the backplate, nothing was out of place. I retried about 10 times and still could not figure out how Cryorig managed to screw up such a simple mounting mechanism.

Edit:
That fan on C7 is not a very good one. It has a very noticeable noise ramp-up somewhere around 2000 rpm.
The custom mounting bracket is a pain in this regard. Looking to replace fan on my C7 with another fan, probably NF-A9x14.

No. As was noted, this is a niche product. That niche is CPU coolers under 5cm in height.
If you want/need a CPU cooler in roughly 100x100x50 space, there is only handful of them. If you can go bigger, you will (or should). This is also where copper instead of aluminum might pay off, few degrees here are a rather big deal in these cramped conditions.

Going from 13-15mm fan to 25 mm fan would likely cause little to no issue in regards to clearance in the majority of SFF cases. The big benefit would be a better noise profile. The other issue is that while the C7 is not in the review (i have one somewhere god knows where, reviewed it three years ago, put it somewhere, now I cant seem to find it.) The AR11 basically fills the the role of the C7. The AR11 is cheaper and performs the same. The other issue here is the fact the C7 Cu while trading aluminum for copper essentially just traded the ability to absorb and release heat a faster rate for the ability to absorb more heat. While in general thats fine. The problem here is it really doesn't translate as well. At least on Intel mainstream processors with TIM under the IHS you likely won't see much of a difference. However taking into account Ryzen's soldered IHS the copper will likely prove more beneficial on that particular platform as heat transfer is improved.

Suffice to say on Intel's LGA1151 platform there isn't much of a benefit going C7 Cu vs C7 unless the CPU has been delidded. At which point I would expect about 5% better performance realistically. Its times like these I wish I had a Ryzen system on hand as well for comparison. Maybe when Zen 2 launches something can be done about it.

 

[Animalpak]

Ive tried the regular C7 and it was a real mess as a CPU cooler cant keep below 45 degrees even the stock temps of my 4790K

 

[Liquid Cool]

Normally, I'd be in the market for something like this because I love copper. Although...I owned the regular C7 in the past and the fan was always ramping up and down in speed. Essentially, it was a loud ticking, grinding mess of a cpu cooler. Since their solution doesn't allow aftermarket fans and the fan I received was nothing short of terrible. I'll be passing on this one.

For my Ryzen 3 2200g....I'm currently using the Cryorig M9a...at 20 bucks it can't be beat. It's quiet, never ramps up in speed(even while gaming), and keeps my apu in the mid to high 20's at idle.

Although...I have been considering an AIO...my Thermaltake P1 looks too bare!

,

Liquid Cool

 

[NC37]

Makes me glad I bought the 65mm Noctua. Current HSF that I borrowed from my 1700's box is the spire with the RGB color. It literally sits flat against the PSU in the CM Elite 130. Just maybe 40% of the fan exposed to the air. Looked at Noctua's best low profile. Then at the C7s. Just so iffy performance in that size area. Even with this C7 being all copper, it just isn't that good. With the 65mm Noctua I'll gain ~5mm clearance from the PSU. Plus larger fan size, should be able to allow the 1600X to not throttle as much.

 

[Blueberries]

I looked at this review for ONE reason only... to see a comparison to the C7 Alu. Which is nowhere to be seen.

How do you drop the ball this hard?

 

[Supercrit]

I looked at this review for ONE reason only... to see a comparison to the C7 Alu. Which is nowhere to be seen.

How do you drop the ball this hard?

Perfect "You had one job" moment.

 

[londiste]

Going from 13-15mm fan to 25 mm fan would likely cause little to no issue in regards to clearance in the majority of SFF cases.

Anyone with a case where that additional 10mm is not an issue should not be buying C7 in the first place.

The other issue here is the fact the C7 Cu while trading aluminum for copper essentially just traded the ability to absorb and release heat a faster rate for the ability to absorb more heat.

Bullshit.

 

[PLAfiller]

[QUOTE/]Bullshit.[/QUOTE]

Ahahaha, dude you are killing me. I don't get it, do you like this cooler or not? You trash the mounting system and the fan, but like....the fin stack?

 

[londiste]

Ahahaha, dude you are killing me. I don't get it, do you like this cooler or not? You trash the mounting system and the fan, but like....the fin stack?

Kind of. Mounting system has problems and fan is crap but mounting is one-time hassle and fan can be replaced.
Fin stack - yeah, that is exactly what I like about tis cooler . There are not many competitors in the first place and even less so with comparable surface area.

The other issue here is the fact the C7 Cu while trading aluminum for copper essentially just traded the ability to absorb and release heat a faster rate for the ability to absorb more heat.

Ok, let me elaborate on this. The same claim comes up every time around Cu vs Al coolers. And it is simply incorrect.
Al has two advantages, lower weight and lower price. That is it.

Given the same surface area rate of absorbing/releasing heat really does not rely on anything other than temperature difference. Neither Al nor Cu is worse or better there.
Absorbing more heat? The relevant material property is called Specific Heat Capacity. At 25°C, aluminum has a specific heat capacity of 0.900 J/g°C and copper has 0.385 J/g°C. Note the gram in the unit, we are comparing coolers with the same volume, not mass.
Density of copper is 8.96 g/cm³ while aluminum's is 2.70 g/cm³. This can easily be seen in C7 Al/Cu weight difference where C7 without fan weighs 295 g for Al versions and 613 g for Cu version.
Put that together and Cu can store 3,45 J/cm³, Al can store 2,45 J/cm³.

 

[GlacierXD]

Cool looking little cooler, but as much as I want to like it, there are just other options out there. One can fairly easy find a second hand Noctua NH-L9i for 15-25 EUR. Fan is bolten and can be easily replaced. Even some older stuff like : Scythe Kozuti is giving it a serious run for its money.

None of those could even compares to the regular C7, not even mentiong the cooper or the even better graphene version of it. This is the single best low profile cooler out there, there's just no doubt about it.

 

[Woomack]

Suffice to say on Intel's LGA1151 platform there isn't much of a benefit going C7 Cu vs C7 unless the CPU has been delidded. At which point I would expect about 5% better performance realistically. Its times like these I wish I had a Ryzen system on hand as well for comparison. Maybe when Zen 2 launches something can be done about it.

I had no time to test it on other Ryzens but here you have my results made on 2200G in ITX case. Simply there is a higher difference using higher wattage CPU. On 95W TDP+ there is already a point to get the Cu version.
CRYORIG said there is about 15% improvement between C7 and C7 Cu. I've seen between 5-15% depends on the CPU.

If you compare the C7 to the Noctua NH-L9i then it was already about 10°C better in my older tests on i7 6k series CPU. In the same time, Noctua was already 15°C better than the stock Intel cooler. On non-overclocked ~95W TDP CPU, the C7 Cu should be about 5°C better so about 15°C better in total than the NH-L9i. There are of course many variables like case airflow, CPU voltage and other things.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

I looked at this review for ONE reason only... to see a comparison to the C7 Alu. Which is nowhere to be seen.

How do you drop the ball this hard?

Perfect "You had one job" moment.

Talked with Cryorig since I can't find my C7 they are sending one over with which to add the benchmarks to the review.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

C7 aluminum has arrived will have charts updated later today.

Performance Data added. Overall performance difference was 2% with all tests taken into account. Under FPU load at stock I saw a 3C difference. Copper is better than aluminum there is no doubt. But people seem to forget when you have as many barriers as the 8700K does for getting the heat from the CPU die to the Heatsink that advantage tends to disappear depending on the situation.

Kind of. Mounting system has problems and fan is crap but mounting is one-time hassle and fan can be replaced.
Fin stack - yeah, that is exactly what I like about tis cooler . There are not many competitors in the first place and even less so with comparable surface area.

Ok, let me elaborate on this. The same claim comes up every time around Cu vs Al coolers. And it is simply incorrect.
Al has two advantages, lower weight and lower price. That is it.

Given the same surface area rate of absorbing/releasing heat really does not rely on anything other than temperature difference. Neither Al nor Cu is worse or better there.
Absorbing more heat? The relevant material property is called Specific Heat Capacity. At 25°C, aluminum has a specific heat capacity of 0.900 J/g°C and copper has 0.385 J/g°C. Note the gram in the unit, we are comparing coolers with the same volume, not mass.
Density of copper is 8.96 g/cm³ while aluminum's is 2.70 g/cm³. This can easily be seen in C7 Al/Cu weight difference where C7 without fan weighs 295 g for Al versions and 613 g for Cu version.
Put that together and Cu can store 3,45 J/cm³, Al can store 2,45 J/cm³.

I had no time to test it on other Ryzens but here you have my results made on 2200G in ITX case. Simply there is a higher difference using higher wattage CPU. On 95W TDP+ there is already a point to get the Cu version.
CRYORIG said there is about 15% improvement between C7 and C7 Cu. I've seen between 5-15% depends on the CPU.

If you compare the C7 to the Noctua NH-L9i then it was already about 10°C better in my older tests on i7 6k series CPU. In the same time, Noctua was already 15°C better than the stock Intel cooler. On non-overclocked ~95W TDP CPU, the C7 Cu should be about 5°C better so about 15°C better in total than the NH-L9i. There are of course many variables like case airflow, CPU voltage and other things.

 

[expiderman]

Hi. I'm thinking of buying a cpu cooler with a maximum height of 70mm. Do you think the cryorig c7 cu is better than the noctua nh-l12s? It would be interesting to see a comparison with the c7 cu to know which one to choose.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

NH-L12S will beat the C7 cu up down and sideways. Its a far beefier cooler there is no comparison. surface area alone the Noctua is far ahead. And depending on the CPU used the copper of the C7 Cu can in many cases be a non-factor. As shown in this review with the updated charts.

 

[expiderman]

NH-L12S will beat the C7 cu up down and sideways. Its a far beefier cooler there is no comparison. surface area alone the Noctua is far ahead. And depending on the CPU used the copper of the C7 Cu can in many cases be a non-factor. As shown in this review with the updated charts.

ok. thanks for your answer. Then I'll take the noctua.

 

[KrazyFox]

NH-L12S will beat the C7 cu up down and sideways. Its a far beefier cooler there is no comparison. surface area alone the Noctua is far ahead. And depending on the CPU used the copper of the C7 Cu can in many cases be a non-factor. As shown in this review with the updated charts.

Nah! I have the newest Noctua NH-L12S and it's worthless and waste of my $50. The $19 120mm fan and hardware only good from the kit. Get the Cyrorig 7 or be Quiet Dark Rock Pro and be happy. If able to install an AIO the Corsair H60 or H100i is pretty good. Was considering the NH-L9i realizing that was not going to be any good so went with the L12S and just regretting it. Noctua is far behind in CPU cooling as they only can make good fans.