SilverStone Argon Cooler Round Up

The Argon AR07 and AR08 are tower style coolers and share an identical design.  In fact the only major difference is size of the cooling tower.  AR07 will fit up to 140mm fans while AR08 will fit up to 92mm.

One of the most striking features of the AR07 and AR08 is the fin details.  Both coolers feature and very unique pattern on the leading edges which is more than decoration.  As I have mentioned many times when it comes to radiators the air passing over the fins needs to loiter around so that it can absorb heat.  Fast moving air tends to create boundary layers and works as an insulator.  Adding places for the air to break these barriers is good for cooling and increases surface area.

The fin details extend beyond the surface of the tower and can be seen with three deltas embossed into the center of the top fin.  This pattern is repeated down the entire fin stack and is almost separating the airflow.  This will keep the air moving near the heatpipes and again breaking up the boundary layers causing the air to loiter around.

Capacity of a heatsink is determined by a number of things.  Size and surface area are obvious choices but the size and number of heatpipes used is how the heat is moved from one location to another.  The Argon AR07 and AR08 both feature three large diameter heatpipes and follow a core contact design allowing the heatpipe directly connect with the CPU.

This is a very efficient cooler design that can react quickly to heat loads but is plagued with “heat capacity” problems when you reach the saturation limit.  Simply put if you are pumping more heat into what the cooler can handle you will overheat very quickly.  Coolers with extra mass at the bottom tend to handle these situations better with a little more capacity at the expense of running a little hotter.

The fans used on the Argon coolers are a 40,000 hour PWM fan with a noise level less than 30dBA running at full speed.  It is difficult to see in the photo but the fins have an edge detail that makes the leading edge a little thicker that you would normally see and is likely designed to reduce impeller noise.  I’m not sure if that is accurate but they look cool either way.