Xigmatek Gaia SD1283 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler bracket included dual fan push pull compatible

I know everyone wants to compare this with the hyper. That is fair. But to be honest, at a $20 price point this is its own beast. Granted the provided fan is geared more towards silence it still gets the job done. This cooler is pretty well the same size and shape as the hyper. It does have 1 less heat pipe. As stated in another review on here it however has a much better looking base. It is overall thicker and has a lot more aluminum to dissipate the heat built up at the base. The fins also seem less dense. I can not say weather that is a pro or a con but what I can say is less static pressure should make the air pass through the fins easier.

The fan is a 1500 max RPM Hydro bearing fan that is rated at 56.2 CFM and only 24 dbA max. It is NOT the most powerful fan on the market but I have to say is very quit for that much CFM. The cooler itself will also support push/pull with the provided rubber mounts to ensure silence.

The only and main con of this cooler would be the fact that the mounting system has been changed 3 times. Their is no indication of which mounting system the cooler will use so you are in for a lottery when opening the cooler to find out. The mounting system for my particular cooler was no where near hard to figure out but the directions I must say are very vague. At first I thought I was going to like the fact that simple thumb screws are used to attach the cooler but as the installation evolved It became clear that it was not meant to be installed in tight cases. If room is an issue around your cooler then I would suggest removing the motherboard to allow you to tighten the cooler down with minimal fuss.




Some shots of it with the Hyper 212 non evo.





As for overall performance, I am by far a pro at testing coolers but I did test the hyper with a burnt in application of MX2 and Prime95 small ftt's. After 30 minutes or so the Hypers results are as follows.

53c after 30 minutes is not to shabby on a 1055t OC to 3.4

The same test where ran on the Gaia with a burnt in application of MX2 with its own fan. The results of that are as follows



With a difference of 2 degrees I think It is fair to say that it will compete well with the hyper but at a few bucks cheaper. I will also say that with another more powerful fan it should match or beat the hyper all together.I did not measure ambient temps as I see that as useless when not every ones ambient temps will be the same. A cooler should be judged by how well it works in ANY temps to me. I do have to mention that my house was a lot warmer when testing the Gaia so it may have effected the overall temps.

So without further ado, I present the new top of the line Air cooler on a budget!!

The Gaia is one of a number of CPU coolers from Xigmatek that use the same heatsink design (their Dark Knight II SD1283 and Balder SD1283 being the others), with the only real differences being in finish and fan selection. The Gaia model is positioned right against Cooler Master's benchmark Hyper 212+, matching it almost feature-for-feature and spec-for-spec and generally coming in within $5 of Cooler Master's offering.

The cooler itself is very similar to the current Cooler Master Hyper 212, using the same 'direct heatpipe contact design' (I suspect that this design is largely responsible for the low cost of these models), with the pipes pressed into an aluminum base and running through closely stacked aluminum fins. The Xigmatek largely differs in the use of three 8mm pipes in place of the Hyper 212's 4x6mm configuration, rubber cross pins in place of the H212's plastic frame for fan mounting and (to my eyes) a slightly nicer base, with a smoother finish and smaller gaps between the heatpipes and the rest of the heatsink.

Installation is dead-simple. A multi-socket compatible frame is captured under the CPU socket at each corner by thumbscrews and collars, with the threaded collars on top serving to lock down a pair of bars that ultimately anchor the heatsink to the baseplate. It's easy to install by oneself in less than ten minutes and provides a very solid mount that won't loosen over time. Fans are retained by rubber pins that slip between the heatsink's fins - an inexpensive naturally vibration-dampening solution that's unique to Xigmatek, but somewhat more fiddly than the Hyper 212's clip-on fan frames - they do give you enough of those pins for push-pull installation, though and replacements are readily available.

Performance is (perhaps unsurprisingly, given their similarities) almost identical to the Hyper 212 when using the same fans, but Xigmatek's bargain offering comes with a fairly low-power 800-1500 RPM unit seemingly more oriented towards quiet operation (which it excels at) than all-out cooling. Those seeking maximum performance will probably want to include one or two more powerful fans with their order, while 'quiet PC' types will likely be quite happy with Xigmatek's included fan.

In a vacuum, this would be an easy recommendation, but the existence of a number of very similar options at a similar price point - most notably the Hyper 212 referenced throughout this review - makes giving a definitive answer to 'which one should I buy?' a bit tougher. The Gaia's quiet included fan makes this a great option for those looking for performance and silence that blows away the cooler that came with their CPU, while overclockers will get great performance on a budget if they're willing to upgrade the fan to something a bit more stout.