Phononic HEX 2.0 Thermoelectric CPU Cooler, Black

I first noticed this cooler while looking through benchmarks. I had to google it because it wasn't something well known and a brand and name I was familiar with. Naturally it came as a surprise that it was a HSF with a thermoelectric function to actively pull heat from the cpu. I've heard about them prior, but the difference was the performance associated with this particular cooler. It was always near the top of all cooling configurations (not including custom loops), competing even against AIOs with both 120mm and 240mm rads.On paper it was impressive. So i decided to take a leap of faith and try this cooler out, it was a difficult choice especially at this price point. But i dont mind paying a little more, so long as the product works and is essentially worth the time and effort. And I can clearly say that I was not disappointed in the overall assessment of this cooler.I've compared this with a Noctua d-14, Dark Rock Pro, and a h100 on an overclocked cpu at 4.8ghz, and comparatively it has worked much better than the Noctua, Dark Rock Pro, and is within 3-6c of the AIO.I won't delve too much into the performance because it is there. The Hex 2.0 does it's job wonderfully, it even has an app that allows you to control the Phononic LED colors which are RGB as well as allowing you to set your cooling preference.With that said there are a few things to note.The 92mm pwm fan that it comes with can get loud. I replaced this with a silent equivalent and have noticed a major decrease in fan noise maintaining the same performance. If you are overclocking on this you will definitely want to replace it.It needs it's own 6 pin and also needs to be connected via micro usb to have full rgb control. That's more cables than I would like but it is doable.The screw driver included is too short. I used a screwdriver that i received from a Noctua purchase, but will be purchasing a slim one for future use, so don't bash me too much on this quirk.Not enough RGB. The logo itself is about the size of a dime and I would like to have seen some of plastic fan shroud be included in that. Also, the fan shroud can be a bit awkward. My first thought was that it could be better imrpoved to provide a smooth open and closing function.Do I regret my purchase and is it worth the investment?I definitely do not regret my purchase.This product, while not revolutionary, is one of the best in it's class. It's compact size is perfect for mini itx builds. It works as advertised and is much easier to mount than other coolers. It looks sleek, it's built well with a few minor future improvements, and I can see it lasting for years. It will probably be the last cooler I will buy for quite some time as it has a smaller overall footprint than AIOs, while maintaining similar cooling power. Other tower or SFF coolers will not be able to reproduce the cooling results the Hex 2.0 provides.Some of you may be on the fence about buying a cooler now that AM4 is right around the corner, but I assure you that Phononic will support the new platform. I have emailed and received a response from Phononic, regarding this and it will be available in a matter of weeks. Whether it will be provided for free with proof of purchase or sold as a separate product I do not know. I may send a follow up e-mail to get an answer to this. I have seen Noctua selling their AM4 brackets separately on Amazon for about $8.This cooler has performed and exceeded my expectations and I am looking forward to seeing what other products Phononic will bring to the competition.If you need a small cooler with similar performance to liquid cooler alternatives, this is the product.

+Low 30C Idle, 80C range under load (delided, liquid Conductonaut, 7700k OC @ 5GHz)+Small size+Unique look-Cabling may interfere with mounting direction as it sticks out far, in my case (MSI Z270 Titanium) I have to have it reversed to not interfere with the GPU. Still performs well though.-Cost, expensive! Better alternatives for less if seeking pure performance.

I'm sure this thing toasted my new i7-6700. Well, I think the software did it.I wrapped up a new build with the Hex 2.0 a few days ago. Installed Win10, Nvidia driver, then left the computer on all day. That afternoon, I installed the Hex firmware update and set the thing to Smart Sense. Then, when I started installing Steam, the PC crashed, bootlooped and wouldn't even stay stable in the bios. I swapped the i7 out for a Celeron (with the Intel heatsink/fan) and it booted right up - no crashes, no loops. So, I bought another $400 processor, an i7-7700K this time, and paired it with a Masterair MA610P, a standard heatsink/ fan.My Hex 2.0 is in a box now, in pieces, except for the fan. I'm going to use it.Lastly, or I guess firstly, there was a bent fin on the heatsink when I first opened the box.Update:Do yourself a favor and just buy an AIO. Since this thing cooked my $400 i7-6700k, my 4.2GHz i7-7700k has been trucking right along with a Corsair AIO at 5.2GHz and never topping 70C. I'm stable, playing AAA games and have no concerns about the state of my CPU. Like the title of my review says, If TEC was the way to go, everyone would be doing it...You know what power users are doing? Water cooling. Do that.

UPDATE: There's likely going to be a space conflict between this cooler and your graphics card. Even more concerning than the fan issue discussed in the original review.As I completed the install, I saw what I SHOULD have realized. This Phononic Hex 2.0 cooler has to be installed so as to orient to airflow. Of course you want it to exhaust air toward the rear of the case. That means that the side of the Phononic Hex 2.0 cooler that holds the 6-pin cooler power, 4-pin fan power and the micro-USB software sockets will HAVE to face in the direction of that first PCIEx16 slot on the motherboard. Which is where most builders will want to mount their (first or only) graphics card. And there's just NOT enough room between the back of the graphics card in that slot ... to be able to plug-in those three wires into that side of the Phononic Hex 2.0 cooler. The actual sockets clear the card, but there's zero clearance to plug them up.In my case, what I did was move the graphics card to the second available PCIEx16 slot (actually two spaces over, since the motherboard allowed for a double-wide card in the first slot). When I did that, my double-wide graphics card covered the next "short" slot over, a PCIx4, where I intended to mount my WiFi card. Instead I had to mount the WiFi card into that first PCIEx16 slot, that being the only slot left accessible on my Micro-ATX board. The WiFi card is built to mount half-height, so there's plenty of clearance for wiring up the cooler.I will have to check to see if that scenario is allowable by the mobo ... and that it doesn't reduce the performance of the graphics card. This motherboard, like many, will run a pair of graphics cards in two PCIEx16 slots at x8 each, as opposed to running a single card in the first slot at x16. So I have to hope the board doesn't get confused by the WiFi card in the first full slot into thinking it should run the actual graphics card in that second slot at x8.You know all these motherboard measurements are plenty standardized. The manufacturer of this cooler should have figured out that there would be this space conflict with a lot of today's taller and longer graphics cards ... and engineered those sockets in some other more accommodating manner.During the install I noted some other design shortcomings.* There's an LED light built in, for cool-effect I suppose. Too bad it's on that side facing into the graphics card and below all its sockets and wires. Who's going to be able to see it from there?* The two underside curved mounting brackets (held by the four screws & spacers threaded through the four mobo holes) are rock solid. But still, when you mount this cooler unit on top of them with only the two screws, one on each side, one on each of the curved mounting brackets, the cooler ends up with a bit of wobble/give from front-to-back.* And that L-shaped fan cover/shroud. It snaps shut at the bottom. And it takes a little bit of "oomph" to snap it shut. But once the cooler is mounted ... and you DO HAVE to take the fan out to mount the cooler, in order to get access to the two mounting screws inside ... there's really not enough access to the bottom of the cooler where you need to apply the "oomph." I got it shut, but I tried to be very careful about it, so as not to crack the mobo.* And that software control wire, one end is micro-USB 90-degree male into the cooler and the other is 5-pin USB female into the mobo. Try finding a replacement for THAT wire if the one that comes in the box ever needs replacement.This product may end up being awesome at cooling, but it certainly has some design issues, as mentioned here, that need to be resolved if the product survives into Revision 3.ORIGINAL REVIEW: Replacing the fan is going to be one big headache. Bc it takes a 1.5" (40mm) fan tail/wire to fit inside the cooler's L-shaped fan shroud/cover. So that it will snap shut. You might be able to stash a wee bit more tail/wire into a small space just to the left of the cooler's internal 4-pin connector, at the back side of the fan, but it'll be tough.And the Phononic OEM fan that comes with that 1.5" tail/wire -- a Sans Ace (aka Sanyo Denki) 9S0912P4F011 92mm x 25mm fan -- isn't available retail. And who knows if it comes out-of-the-box with this short tail … or if Phononic spec-ed it for their own order. I've spent an hour or two searching … and I only found one 92mm PWM fan with such a short tail, a Foxcomm OEM fan for a SFF HP computer. I suppose we can go with some oddball no-name-brand 90mm x 25mm PWM fan that would leave enough gap to wind the fan tail/wire around the fan's molding … and hope the wire adds enough dimension to generate a snug fit.Let's see if Phononic presents a plan.UPDATE: I visited my local techie shop. They let me look through a bunch of 92mm fans. I discovered that Arctic F9 PWM (Revision 4) had a thin, ribbon, unsleeved fan wire/tail. I was able to wind its thin wire around the fan frame, stash the little bit of extra wire next to the plug and snap the Photonic's fan shroud shut.