Nofan CR-95C IcePipe Copper CPU Cooler Review

When it came to testing the NoFan CR-95C, I always knew its temperatures wouldn’t match those of active fan CPU coolers. With our i5 3570K at stock clocks the CR-95C did a very good job of keeping the heat under control given the fact its entirely passive. Considering the i7 3770K outputs a similar level of heat, you’d probably get similar temperature numbers with that, even though the NoFan CR-95C claims to not support Core i7 processors.

As expected, with our 4.5GHz clock at 1.3v, the CR-95C struggled. It was eventually overwhelmed 7 minutes into our 10 minute test when the Ivy Bridge processor throttled itself down after passing 95 degrees on the package temperature, which was about 90 degrees across all four core temperatures.

These results were quite disappointing considering the CR-95C showed promise by performing better at idle than a Be Quiet! Dark Rock Advanced. What is clear from the NoFan CR-95C’s performance is that it doesn’t have heat dissipation issues for “realistic” loads. In fact when I played some games (like Grand Theft Auto IV) and used my computer in an everyday fashion whilst overclocked to 4.5GHz at 1.3v, the temperatures stayed comfortably below 80 degrees. It was only prolonged periods of high intensity load, like our 10 minute Prime 95 testing, that caused it to struggle – because the passive design cannot shift high amounts of heat that quickly. I think the NoFan CR95-C would be able to handle a milder overclock better, such as 4.2GHz at 1.2v.