The Phanteks PH-TC12DX is an overall solid performer. It starts out by offering users various colors to pick from to match their system's theme. Moving on from that, the sound levels of this particular cooler are exceptional considering its cooling performance under maximum load. Hitting just 65°C in Prime 95 at 4.1 GHz is fantastic as it beats out far more expensive competitors, such as the Corsair H90 and Gelid Black Edition. At stock, with CPU speeds of just 3.6 GHz in Prime 95, the Phanteks cooler again proved able by finishing just 3°C behind its much larger sibling, the PH-TC14PE. Maintaining that level of performance at a sound-level of just 47 dBA while cooling an Intel i7 3960x is amazing. The big bonus is the exceptional improvement of the installation procedure from the PH-TC14PE I reviewed earlier to the PH-TC12DX I reviewed today. The crossbar that gave my big hands a problem with the much larger cooler comes pre-attached to the PH-TC12DX to avoid having anyone struggle with attaching it in the first place. So, not only does the PH-TC12DX offer good performance and acceptable sound levels, one simple change to the install procedure also made it a breeze to install.

A few issues did crop up during testing. The biggest of which is the connection between the heatpipes and the aluminum fins. This connection is neat, clean, and without gaps on the Phanteks PH-TC14PE. On the PH-TC12DX, however, it is nowhere near the same quality. Gaps are visible and the yellowish compound used seems insufficient as it fails at filling those very gaps. While this did not seem to impact performance, it is something that should not be overlooked. Memory clearance on Intel's socket LGA2011 was great on my test bench. I was able to use any memory module without issue. This does not, however, remain true for every system. Those on LGA1155 or AMD's socket AM3+ will not be as lucky. Such cases will only fit standard-height memory if all four DIMM slots are used. The recorded temperatures under typical loads also caught me off-guard. While performance at idle and in Prime 95 looked great, typical load testing on the overclocked system had the Phanteks PH-TC12DX fall towards the back of the pack. While overall performance was good, typical load tests seemed a bit off in comparison, but the same temperature was recorded after multiple tests.

If you are in need of an air cooler that offers solid performance with low noise levels, the Phanteks PH-TC12DX could just be the thing, especially if you need a splash of color to liven things up in your PC.