CPU ID-Cooling IS-47K -vs- Alpenfohn Black Ridge: Comparison for the S4M Case.

[seven7thirty30]

Recently, ID-Cooling released the IS-47K low profile CPU cooler and I was able to get my hands on one with the intent to do a full review versus the comparable Alpenfohn Black Ridge low profile CPU cooler. I currently use the Black Ridge in my custom Skyreach S4 Mini build (you can find my build log HERE). Both of these coolers measure 47mm in height, but unlike the Black Ridge (advertised TDP 95W) the IS-47K advertises a 130W TDP. This caught my attention. The price of the IS-47K is currently $46 shipped -vs- the Black Ridge at $67. The price difference could be well worth choosing the IS-47K over the Black Ridge, especially if the IS-47K has equal or better performance. Unfortunately, the IS-47K will not fit on the ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming - ITX/ac WITHOUT removing the M.2/VRM heat sink. Personally, I didn't want to remove it from my motherboard for the review. However; I decided to post my initial comparison between the two coolers with some pictures for you guys.

The build quality of the IS-47K is impressive. I didn't see any bending or warping of the fins and all six heat pipes sit perfectly over the heat spreader without any gaps. Compared to the Black Ridge, the IS-47K build quality is superior.








I removed the Black Ridge from my S4M to get some side by side pictures of the two coolers.





The IS-47K (left) fin stack is thicker than the Black Ridge (right).



The IS-47K (left), and Black Ridge (right).




IS-47K (bottom), and Black Ridge (top).



The real advantage that the IS-47K has over the Black Ridge is that upon initial fitting it is compatible with any RAM height since it does not overlap the DIMM slots. The Black Ridge sits over the DIMMS which limits your RAM options.



Hopefully, this comparison will help you when deciding between the two. I do plan to do a thorough review in the future with a different S4M build to compare thermal performance between the two coolers.

 

[CubanLegend]

dang.. thats a nice thick cooler, thank you for the comparison, well done! I wish you'd been able to do a temp comparison.. I'll wait for that before buying.

-Good thing is.. It looks like my prediction was right, the cooler's heatsink is pushed further AWAY from the mobo's GPU port thanks to the extra long bend on the heatpipes from the CPU coldplate, that's marvelous for GPU-shifted setups in the S4M, (and in my S4Mc brickless GPU-shifted setup).
-Also, It's nice to know that the IS-47K doesnt overlap RAM slots, so we can use tall ram instead of being limited to VLP DDR4 for the optimal Blackridge + NF-A12x15 120mm Noctua fan combo! Thanks for testing that.

Sadly, my concern is that you seemed to only show it running the Noctua 92mm fan, how does the IS-47K fare if we try to fit the NF-A12x15 under it for even BETTER cooling?.. if it can't fit the 120mm and only fits the 92mm, then it's cooling power at the top end of its advertised TDP will be compromised, or maybe even lower than the Blackridge's cooling power when paired with said 120mm cooler. ...AND if you do actually try to fit the 120mm fan, will you be forced to stick with VLP DDR4 anyway? (which shouldnt be a problem with current high TDP CPU Blackridge owners who already have the 120mm fan and VLP-DDR4)

as a sidenote about your M.2 cooler gripe, did you ever try running the M.2 without it and just let your CPU fan's air flow over it to cool it directly? most motherboard manufacturer's "m.2 cooling solutions" are no more than pretty heatsinks, that really only TRAP and induce heatsoak more heat than they actually work to dissipate heat... remember, i actually had improved temp results (on my CPU/mobo/and VRM) when removing my M.2 and VRM heatsink towers on my ASUS Z270i Strix board in my S4MC.

 

[seven7thirty30]

dang.. thats a nice thick cooler, thank you for the comparison, well done! I wish you'd been able to do a temp comparison.. I'll wait for that before buying.

-Good thing is.. It looks like my prediction was right, the cooler's heatsink is pushed further AWAY from the mobo's GPU port thanks to the extra long bend on the heatpipes from the CPU coldplate, that's marvelous for GPU-shifted setups in the S4M, (and in my S4Mc brickless GPU-shifted setup).
-Also, It's nice to know that the IS-47K doesnt overlap RAM slots, so we can use tall ram instead of being limited to VLP DDR4 for the optimal Blackridge + NF-A12x15 120mm Noctua fan combo! Thanks for testing that.

Sadly, my concern is that you seemed to only show it running the Noctua 92mm fan, how does the IS-47K fare if we try to fit the NF-A12x15 under it for even BETTER cooling?.. if it can't fit the 120mm and only fits the 92mm, then it's cooling power at the top end of its advertised TDP will be compromised, or maybe even lower than the Blackridge's cooling power when paired with said 120mm cooler. ...AND if you do actually try to fit the 120mm fan, will you be forced to stick with VLP DDR4 anyway? (which shouldnt be a problem with current high TDP CPU Blackridge owners who already have the 120mm fan and VLP-DDR4)

as a sidenote about your M.2 cooler gripe, did you ever try running the M.2 without it and just let your CPU fan's air flow over it to cool it directly? most motherboard manufacturer's "m.2 cooling solutions" are no more than pretty heatsinks, that really only TRAP and induce heatsoak more heat than they actually work to dissipate heat... remember, i actually had improved temp results (on my CPU/mobo/and VRM) when removing my M.2 and VRM heatsink towers on my ASUS Z270i Strix board in my S4MC.

The IS-47K comes with a 92mmx15mm fan. From what I see, it won't be able to accommodate a 120mmx15mm fan like the Black Ridge can. That being said the 120mm fan on the Black Ridge will require VLP RAM. With the 92mm fan you can use any RAM that you want as long as the stock heat spreaders are low enough, or if you remove them and put low profile aftermarket heat spreaders like I did.

Even if I removed the M.2 heat sink, the IS-47K will still conflict with the motherboard VRM/Mosfet heat sink on the ASRock Phantom Gaming ITX/ac motherboard. The IS-47K will fit if they're both removed and I'm pretty confident that they could be replaced with smaller heat sinks.

 

[seven7thirty30]

Update: The parts for the new S4M build that I'm working on for a friend are on their way. I hope to have the shoot-out review done soon. I'm going to compare the thermals between the IS-47K, Black Ridge, and Noctua L9i in the S4M case.

 

[Tazpr]

Got my IS47k earlier in the week to go on a 10900F in a Velka5 - would be interested to hear your experiences with your Phantom Gaming Z390 system (my old motherboard and system)

 

[scatterforce]

Just a reminder, from other testing, the IS-47K works best with exhaust.... fan pushing air away from the motherboard. I am definitely interested in other reviews in other cases, but I've seen 2 instances from different people/cases that exhaust is ~7 degrees cooler than intake.

 

[seven7thirty30]

Just a reminder, from other testing, the IS-47K works best with exhaust.... fan pushing air away from the motherboard. I am definitely interested in other reviews in other cases, but I've seen 2 instances from different people/cases that exhaust is ~7 degrees cooler than intake.

I'll keep that in mind. I'll do a test in both fan orientations on all the coolers.

 

[CubanLegend]

Just a reminder, from other testing, the IS-47K works best with exhaust.... fan pushing air away from the motherboard. I am definitely interested in other reviews in other cases, but I've seen 2 instances from different people/cases that exhaust is ~7 degrees cooler than intake.

that's odd, as the Blackridge is the same kind of cooler and we noticed about 3-8c degrees cooler when using the intake setup... I wonder what could cause a difference? Was this IS-47K tested in an S4 Mini?

 

[Tazpr]

@seven7thirty30 how have you found yours so far?

I'm not sure if there's an issue with mine but this thing is awful - temperatures are 10 degrees higher than an Intel stock cooler using the recommended fan orientation.

 

[seven7thirty30]

@seven7thirty30 how have you found yours so far?

I'm not sure if there's an issue with mine but this thing is awful - temperatures are 10 degrees higher than an Intel stock cooler using the recommended fan orientation.

Unfortunately, I'm still waiting on the S4M case to arrive.

 

[hereforthefeast]

Just a reminder, from other testing, the IS-47K works best with exhaust.... fan pushing air away from the motherboard. I am definitely interested in other reviews in other cases, but I've seen 2 instances from different people/cases that exhaust is ~7 degrees cooler than intake.

AFAIK the exhaust recommendation is based on open air tests from ID Cooling so it probably actually does better in an sffpc case if you set the fan as intake.

 

[CubanLegend]

Unfortunately, I'm still waiting on the S4M case to arrive.

darn, im waiting for your comparison.. why not test in your current PC & swap out Blackridge to compare the coolers temps in the same PC (with the side panels on)?

Also where did you see 130W TDP advertised, i just checked the ID-Cooling site page for it, under Specifications, and it shows... (uhoh) 95W, did they backpedal or something after some dissapointing testing? oh boy.. my HYPE is deflating, first they make the crap vapor chamber cooler and now they down-specced this cooler after release.

http://www.idcooling.com/Product/detail/id/205/name/IS-47K

 

[Ricky Zeng]

darn, im waiting for your comparison.. why not test in your current PC & swap out Blackridge to compare the coolers temps in the same PC (with the side panels on)?

Also where did you see 130W TDP advertised, i just checked the ID-Cooling site page for it, under Specifications, and it shows... (uhoh) 95W, did they backpedal or something after some dissapointing testing? oh boy.. my HYPE is deflating, first they make the crap vapor chamber cooler and now they down-specced this cooler after release.

http://www.idcooling.com/Product/detail/id/205/name/IS-47K

ID-Cooling's TDP capability claims are just marketing bragging: they list 100W TDP for IS30/40, and 130W for IS50. Changing from 130W to 95W for IS-47K seems reasonable. For both Blackridge and IS-47K the best suited CPUs seem to be the high spec 65W ones or lower spec 95W units.

 

[Tazpr]

AFAIK the exhaust recommendation is based on open air tests from ID Cooling so it probably actually does better in an sffpc case if you set the fan as intake.

YEp I had temp drops of about 15-20 C when flipping the fan haha - in a case with no active airflow you simply cannoy run the fan as exhaust as there's no supply of fresh air so it stagnates.

 

[miptzi]

The Is47k vanished for some time, now popping in youtube reviews again. How is it nowadays for you, owners?

 

[Tazpr]

The Is47k vanished for some time, now popping in youtube reviews again. How is it nowadays for you, owners?

In a draw lol

 

[thelaughingman]

The Is47k vanished for some time, now popping in youtube reviews again. How is it nowadays for you, owners?

it's in the SFF build I did for my dad (R7 2700X recycled from my old build so it's no slouch). I moved across country a few weeks ago so no way to check if it's running well or not. there's no complaint from my dad thus far so I take that as a win

 

[Mmaistro27]

The IS-47K comes with a 92mmx15mm fan. From what I see, it won't be able to accommodate a 120mmx15mm fan like the Black Ridge can. That being said the 120mm fan on the Black Ridge will require VLP RAM. With the 92mm fan you can use any RAM that you want as long as the stock heat spreaders are low enough, or if you remove them and put low profile aftermarket heat spreaders like I did.

Even if I removed the M.2 heat sink, the IS-47K will still conflict with the motherboard VRM/Mosfet heat sink on the ASRock Phantom Gaming ITX/ac motherboard. The IS-47K will fit if they're both removed and I'm pretty confident that they could be replaced with smaller heat sinks.

Do you thi k on the z690 msi inify is the same problem? I don't care about disrouning a bit. The motherboard.

 

[dc443]

According to the HardwareCanucks video reviews, (and this: ) the IS-47K totally unequivocally shits the bed when it comes to thermal performance. At first I thought that this is because the stock fan might be a dud. But that reddit post there the guy was clearly using the noctua fan to test it. For me, this cooler is still an unknown quantity right now but it isn't looking too great.

I'm having a heck of a time figuring out which cooler to get for my Velka 7 setup. The 5800X3D is going to be toasty and needs all the coddling I can muster. I will probably go with the black ridge due to concerns about AXP-90 working ineffectively if it's butting right up against the side panel.

 

[dc443]

But then I've also seen, many posts here as well as this: which show the IS-47K heatsink performing as you would expect, just a smidge less than the Black Ridge.

Super perplexing. Ordered IS-60 Evo, L9i/L9a mount kit, NF-A9x14 Chromax, I'll see what happens once my Velka 7 comes in.

Note also that there are two NF-A9x14 fans, the HS Chromax (and the fan provided with L9i/L9a) go up to 2500rpm while the standard one only goes to 2200rpm and will not perform on par.