Reeven Arcziel 12 (RC-1203) CPU Cooler Review

The Reeven Arcziel 12 packs 6 heat pipes, which for a top-down cooler is quite impressive  – we hope the results reflect this. It’s worth noting that even though this uses a top down design, it still isn’t that small because the fan is quite thick and the fan clips add about 5mm extra height too. Helpfully the Reeven fan comes with an arrow that points out the direction of the airflow in case you want to change it or are just interested to see if its functioning as you want it to.

Even though the fan mounting system is very easy, we would of liked to see a fan that is closer to the heat sink as it would probably give better performance and reduce the height which is win-win for everyone.

If you install the cooler in the “correct” position then the Reeven branding should be visible from the bottom of your motherboard (VGA card end). We think it looks subtle and sophisticated – a good job from Reeven.

The yellow fan is a brave look, I think it works quite well but with such a striking colour it could put many enthusiasts off – particularly those who enjoy simple black/white contrasts.

Reeven have gone with a nickel plated copper base which is my personal preference over the “flattened heat pipe” design. From below it looks really quite impressive – although it does appear that the heat pipes don’t integrate with the heat sink very well which could impact on cooling performance.