Reeven Ouranos RC-1401 Heatsink Review

Most heatsinks you buy these days come with a gimmick.  Some coolers are designed for super performance and are usually quite large with even bigger fans.  Other coolers are designed to be silent.  They often share the same huge size but are matched with special silent fans and use the extra mass and surface area handle the heat load.  The Reeven Ouranous really has no gimmick.  It simply performs well, has a decent sound profile, isn’t overtly huge and looks really good. 

The quadfecta, if that is a real thing.

In terms of overall construction the Reeven Ouranos is a bit unique.  The radiator fins are thicker than you would typically see and are attached directly to the heatpipe instead of having interlocking tabs along one side.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing but does introduce the problem of bent fins.  It seems the thinner versions are a bit stronger with it comes to bending while the thicker styles are not so lucky.  The lack of tabs also opens the sides of the tower for air to excape instead of creating a air tunnel to improve cooling.  Of course the benefits are negligible but I did notice a good amount of air leakage during my tests.

While performance is an important factor I do take issue with the way the heatsink was installed.  The mismatch in hardware seemed like an afterthought which wouldn’t be bad however the chrome nuts are difficult to handle (slippery).  I would have much rather seen a knurled nut similar to the standoffs, they would be easier to install and reduce the need for extra tools.  The crossbar system used on the Reeven Ouranos is pretty common when it comes to installation methods and the good ones have always had the screws attached to the bar, this one didn’t which is just one more thing to hold while installing the heatsink. 

Luckily, the nature of a heatsink is that you should only have to install them once and while there might be far better ways to install a heatsink that doesn’t mean it is a bad product, just more difficult to use.

Overall, I found the Ouranos to be a very solid heatsink with good performance both at stock and overclocked speeds.  I attribute that to the six heatpipe construction and 140mm fan design along with a larger cold plate which helps with thermal capacity.  The cooler comes with a single Goldwings 140mm fan with support for a second if you need more airflow.

Excellent Performance
Thicker Fin Design
Dual Fan Support
Large Multi Sized Heatpipe Design
Low Noise Adaptor

Took awhile to get installed
140mm heatsink gets really close to the first expansion slot

Related Links
Reeven at Newegg
Reeven Website