Thermalright Inferno FX-10 Heatsink

[supershanks]

Thermalright Inferno FX-10 Heatsink
This is a somewhat unique heatsink in that it fits underneath your motherboard
First seen as part of the mighty Thermalright IFX-14 I thought I'd grab one and take a look.


First thing I noticed was the size of the box , if this is a backside cooler, must be some big backsides around


Contents
Clockwise :-
1) Inferno FX-10 Heatsink
2 The Chill factor Thermal Paste.
3) Multi CPU Backplate
4) CPU Mounting Bolts, (as found with 775 bolt thru kit) , 2 sets (AMD & Intel) Hollow pillars , for mounting bolts, 2 sets of O rings to fasten pillars to backplate. Fan mounting wires.
5) Thermal Pads. 1x1.5mm top pad (similar to those found on Thermalright's mossfet coolers) 1x0.3mm bottom pad which goes between the heatsink and backplate, fastening them together.
.

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Putting it together is a breeze.
1) Set up Backplate
Depending on your socket insert the correct Hollow Pillar(Intel=Small) from underneath and secure with O Rings as shown


2) Put Thermal Pads on Heatink
The thicker 1.5mm Thermal pad goes on top

The thinner 0.3mm pad being used to fasten the Heatsink to the baseplate

It's worthwhile retaining the backing paper for the thin pad to cover it when not in use. The adhesion of this pad is awesome , I had to use a small screwdriver to lever the heatsink off the backplate when I'd finished.

3) Add Wires & Fan
Should look something like this :-


4) Fitting to motherboard
Is normal FX-10 sits at 90 degrees to memory slots on the short side of the motherboard.
Here its matched with Xigmatek HDT S1283 CPU Cooler

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Testing 3.750 7.5x500 @1:1.66 1665Mhz 7,7,7,12 Vcore = 1.38125v
Note: The test shown is a continuation of the tests Here Xigmatek HDT S1283 CPU Cooler Testing

The earlier Xigmatek tests above were pretty disappointing. However things did improve when paired with the FX-10. I'm sure adding the FX-10 Heatsink meant that the mounting pillar didn't protrude above the motherboard, making a better fit between the Xigmatek -and CPU.


CoreTemp Average Core0 52C Core1 52C

Observations
Innovative I got the FX-10 after seeing it here Thermalright

It struck me that it could be used with both Air and Water Cooled systems

Design - The downside of this unit is where it fits, on the short side of the motherboard at 90 degrees to the ram slots. The unit needs at least 70mm from the edge of the motherboard. Most cases don't have this. or it encroaches into the area where PSU cabling is. I'd prefer to see the heatsink along the long side where the PSU 24pin socket is. That would mean that the cooler would also be in line with the normal airflow through a case front to back over memory slots CPU and out the rear exhaust. If thermalright made a variant that fitted this side it would be a winner for me.

Kit As usual Thermalright provide a good quality, complete package, excluding of course the fan

Value At Around £15 It's a reasonable price.

Conclusion
Pros
*Innovative
*Good Complete kit

Cons
* Wrong sided - see design



Supershanks Recommended
8/10

[D.M]

Nice work SS & thanks for sharing

So do you reckon then this IFX-10 could cut down the temps on most air coolers then?

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cheers m8

Yep I think so. Don't get too carried away in this case though as I said I think the protruding pillars on the bolt thru in tests 1&2 caused abnormally high temps. So without re running the tests again , which ain't going to happen after i spent yesterday putting it back in case . I can't be spcific on the temp reduction from the FX-10. Will rerun next time i run barebones

The biggest downer is it won't fit in my case as it's an inverted atx Lian Li V2000B+
I doubt there are to many it will fit. Still i will use it when reviewing barebones

[Kelainefes]

Nice Shanks! I seen poor results on the few reviews of the IFX 10 i found so far, so plz rerun the test without it, when you have time; i'm really looking forward to it after the improvements i've seen with the HR11 VGA Backplate i just reviewed..

BTW have you tried it without the fan?
Or with a lesser overclock? I am curious whether it works over the whole temp range or it "kicks in" only after the cores reach a certain temp.


P.s.:goddamn lack of competition, only a couple of e-shops have it in Italy, and it costs 35 euros!
I mean what the hell the IFX 14 costs 55!

[Kelainefes]

double post...

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I think the biggest disadvantage is the short sidedness of it. I'll certainly use it barebones with the Xigmatek but would like to have one that fit my case maybe FX-12

No I only did it with 2 clocks the 3750 & the 4000. As I say will repeat it with next board I get moving upwards from the same clocks .

Even if it is only 5C it's still not that bad. However it may be that the haet reduction from the FX-10 is greatest when the quality of the upper deck cooler is poorer , like the stock cooler for example. With a more efficient cooler there may be less heat for the FX-10 to dissipate.

[SquidgyB]

I had the IFX-10 fitted into a Lian li A17, I quite like the way it fits, though I did have to do a little modding to the case to get it in. I can see how it'd be really difficult to get it to fit in a lot (if not most) cases. In the lian li I had to hacksaw a little chunk out of the motherboard tray, as it has a step on the top edge which wouldn't let the IFX-10 come out from the underneath the back of the motherboard.

Once the step is removed, it sticks out fine, though it's a bit fiddly to get the motherboard into the case, but it's do-able. I think if I had an extended PSU or a modular PSU the cables would get in the way, but as it's a standard 15cmx15cm PSU and the cables go straight to the back of the case it's all good. As a bonus, the A17 has an exhaust fan just in the right place at the top of the case to move air over the heatsink.

I'll post some pictures if I get the chance to take them, though at the moment I don't have a motherboard to fit it to, just the case and the rest of the gubbins

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I'll post some pictures if I get the chance to take them, though at the moment I don't have a motherboard to fit it to, just the case and the rest of the gubbins

That would be great if you could manage it , thanks.

What effect do you reckon it had on your temps ?? and what topside cooler where you using ?/

Welcome to the forum ny the way

cheers