A Closer Look

The GELID Solutions Black Edition cooler's dimensions are 109 mm x 126 mm x 160 mm, which could be considered large, but its size still pales in comparison to today's super-sized air coolers. It makes use of two fans that are attached through metal clips. These clips won't win any awards for looks, but they do offer a stable fan mount without the use of screws. The dual-tower design also leaves room for the installation of a third fan through the extra fan clips GELID Solutions included. I would, should a user want to attach another fan, recommend using another GELID Silent 12 PWN fan to keep the looks and noise levels in check.


As can been seen, the fins are all evenly spaced, with the sides mostly closed in. This should help direct airflow through the heatsink and, depending on its orientation and the case, straight out the top or back through an exhaust fan.


The fans used on the Black Edition are unique in that they are not as thick as each other. The Slim 12 PWM fan is just 15.8 mm thick, while the Silent 12 PWM fan is a standard 25 mm thick. The thin fan's glossy fan blades also make it more of an eye catcher than its counterpart.


The seven heatpipes GELID Solutions equipped the Black Edition heatsink with are uniquely arranged. They are configured in a dual stack. Three larger heatpipes cross the base, two smaller heatpipes are on the outer edge, and another two heatpipes on top of the three larger heatpipes allow heat from the base to radiate up into the heatpipes more evenly—an optimized, efficient heatsink design.