Swiftech Polaris 120 CPU Heatsink

The Polaris 120 CPU cooler marks Swiftech re-entry into the mainstream air-cooling arena. The Polaris has the form of a typical tower heatsink with a 120 mm PWM fan and a significant mass of aluminum fins, but what makes it unique are its five 8 mm thick direct touch heatpipes.

April 2, 2011 by Lawrence Lee

Product	Polaris 120 CPU Cooler
Manufacturer	Swiftech
Street Price	US$60

Swiftech was once one of the biggest names in air cooling but eventually stopped designing new products for the retail market, shifting their focus to watercooling. This happened so long ago that the last last Swiftech heatsink SPCR reviewed was the MCX462-V for socket A! Swiftech continued to quietly produce the MCX series with its easily recognizable helicoid aluminum pin design for newer sockets, but the company has not been in the air cooling game for many years.

The box.

The Polaris 120 CPU cooler is Swiftech’s re-entry into CPU air cooling. The Polaris has the form of a typical tower heatsink with a 120 mm PWM fan and significant mass of aluminum fins, but what makes it unique are five 8 mm diameter direct touch heatpipes made famous by Xigmatek and other manufacturers.

Package contents.

The Polaris 120 ships with a black and white 120 mm fan, fan clips, mounting hardware, and thermal compound. The only thing notable about the package is that an extra of every screw, bolt, and nut is included in case you happen to lose one. It’s a small gesture but very much appreciated.

Swiftech Polaris 120: Key Features (from the product web page)
Feature & Brief	Our Comment
(5) 8mm heat pipes – the hottest heat pipes (directly above the CPU) are arranged to receive the maximum amount of airflow for optimized thermal performance.	Overkill as 40 mm is larger than the heatspreaders of modern desktop processors, and the actual die is even smaller.
Fins form wind tunnels for optimum airflow, resulting in more efficient use of the fan, therefore better cooling.	Okay.
Direct-touch base technology provides an optimized transfer of the heat to the pipes.	Heat is transferred directly from the CPU heatspreader to the heatpipes via the thermal compound, a more efficient process than having a baseplate acting as a go-between.
A single high Power (84CFM) PWM controlled 120mm fan is included: *Being PWM controlled, the fan plugs into the motherboard CPU fan header, and users can either let the motherboard manage the fan speed, or tune it to their own specifications; the speed ranges from 750 to 2500 RPM allowing a wide range of operations: from ultra-quiet all the way to extreme cooling for seriously overclocked processors.	Should be very loud at full speed.
Relatively compact footprint (Width 135 mm x Depth 91 mm x Height 152 mm including fan).	The heatsink is shorter than most towers which may be to its detriment.
Mounting system includes retention brackets for all popular processors: *Intel Socket 775, 1155, 1156, 1366 *AMD Socket 754, 939, 940, F, AM2, AM3	As it should.
Competitively priced, yet with a broader range of operations compared to other high-end coolers.	The MSRP of US$60 is competitive if it is truly a high performance heatsink (i.e. one of the best).

 

Swiftech Polaris 120: Specifications (from the product web page)
Fan
Speed control	Via Motherboard PWM (4 pin)
Nominal Voltage	12V
Max Current	0.32A
Airflow range	26 ~ 84 CFM
Noise range	13.2 ~ 41.5 dBA
Speed range	750 ~ 2500 RPM ±250RPM
Bearing	Hydraumatic
Life	30,000 Hours
Heatsink
Fin material	aluminum
Heat pipes	8mm sintered copper

PHYSICAL DETAILS

The Swiftech Polaris 120 is composed of five 8 mm thick copper direct touch heatpipes and 45 friction-fit aluminum fins. The heatsink alone weighs about 710 grams and stands 151 mm high which is fairly short for a high performance tower cooler.

The Polaris 120 looks like a typical tower heatsink except it sits a bit low and the sides of the fin stack are closed, forcing airflow from the fan to go straight through. This could increase airflow impedance and hurt performance, especially at lower fan speeds.

The fins are a bit thick, measuring ~0.43 mm, but as there are only 45 fins, the gaps between them are closer to average, about 1.85 mm.

The fan side is cut in a wavy profile to reduce turbulence and noise.

The heatsink’s most prominent feature are the five direct touch heatpipes, pressed together without any structural support between them. A column in the center of the fins is hollowed out for better airflow perhaps.

The base is almost perfectly flat but there are visible machine marks.

INSTALLATION

The most critical aspect of installation is that the heatsink be securely
mounted. A firm mating results in good contact between the heatsink’s base and
the CPU heatspreader and more efficient heat conduction. Ideally it should
also be a simple procedure with the user having to handle as few pieces of
hardware as possible.

Installation begins with preparation of the backplate. Long bolts are inserted in the appropriate holes and nuts are used to secure them. Washers are used to prevent electrical shorts.

The bolts are inserted through the motherboard mounting holes and a second set of washers and nuts are secured on the other side. It’s a bit tedious having to thread 8 nuts on such long bolts.

A crossbar with a pair of spring-loaded screws has to be added to the mounting frame to keep it in place. This seems like an extra step passed on the the user. It would be better installed it at the factory.

The heatsink is placed on the processor with the ends of the bolts poking through the holes of the mounting frame. Four more spring-loaded screws are utilized to finish the mount. Note that the Polaris is oriented on AMD motherboards with the fan blowing in the preferred direction, toward the back panel case exhaust vent/fan.

The fan clips are interesting in that they hold onto the area around the fan’s mounting holes rather than the holes themselves. As we mentioned previously, the Polaris 120 sits a little bit low. On our LGA1366 test board, there was 45 mm under the bottom fin, and 37 mm of clearance beneath the (centered) fan.

We spread thermal compound along the four gaps between the heatpipes to ensure sufficient coverage. The resulting footprint revealed that the pressure holding the heatsink down was adequate, though bit weaker at the edges. Also little contact was made between the CPU and the outer heatpipes.

TESTING

Before thermal testing, we took some basic physical measurements.

Approximate Physical Measurements
Weight	710 g 830 g with fan and clips
Height	151 mm
Fin count	45
Fin thickness	0.43 mm
Fin spacing	1.85 mm
Vertical Clearance*	45 mm *
Horizontal Overhang**	-20 mm
* measured from the motherboard PCB to the bottom fin of the heatsink. ** measured from the far edge of the heatsink to the top edge of the motherboard PCB.

 

Comparison: Approx. Average Fin Thickness & Spacing
Heatsink	Fin Thickness	Fin Spacing
Thermalright HR-01 Plus	0.45 mm	3.15 mm
Scythe Ninja 3	0.39 mm	2.64 mm
Noctua NH-U12P	0.44 mm	2.63 mm
Noctua NH-C12P	0.47 mm	2.54 mm
Noctua NH-D14	0.43 mm	2.33 mm
Prolimatech Armageddon	0.51 mm	2.08 mm
Prolimatech Megahalems	0.50 mm	2.00 mm
Zalman CNPS10X Quiet	0.40 mm	2.00 mm
Scythe Kabuto & Zipang 2	0.34 mm	1.94 mm
Scythe Mugen-2	0.31 mm	1.89 mm
Swiftech Polaris 120	0.43 mm	1.85 mm
Noctua NH-C14	0.38 mm	1.79 mm
Scythe Yasya	0.32 mm	1.78 mm
Cogage TRUE Spirit 1366	0.40 mm	1.70 mm
Arctic Cooling Freezer Xtreme Rev.2	0.30 mm	1.70 mm
Scythe Grand Kama Cross	0.38 mm	1.66 mm
Zalman CNPS9900 MAX	0.16 mm	1.59 mm
Thermalright Silver Arrow	0.32 mm	1.57 mm
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus	0.43 mm	1.54 mm
Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme Rev.C	0.56 mm	1.52 mm
Zalman CNPS10X Extreme	0.42 mm	1.50 mm

Testing on larger heatsinks are done on our
i7-1366 heatsink testing platform, while smaller coolers tackle our AM3 heatsink testing platform. A summary of the test system
and procedure follows.

Key Components in LGA1366 Heatsink Test Platform:

• Intel Core i7-965 Extreme
  Nehalem core, LGA1366, 3.2GHz, 45nm, 130W TDP.
• Asus
  P6X58D Premium ATX motherboard. X58 chipset.
• Asus
  EAH3450 Silent graphics card.
• Intel
  X25-M 80GB 2.5″ solid-state drive. Chosen for silence.
• 3GB QiMonda
  DDR3 memory. 3 x 1GB DDR3-1066 in triple channel.
• Seasonic X-650 SS-650KM
  650W ATX power supply. This PSU is semi-passively cooled. At the power levels
  of our test platform, its fan does not spin.
• Arctic Silver
  Lumière: Special fast-curing thermal interface material, designed
  specifically for test labs.
• Noctua 140 mm fan (used when possible with heatsinks that fit 140x25mm
  fans)
• Nexus 120 mm fan (used when possible with heatsinks that fit 120x25mm
  fans)
• Nexus 92 mm fan (used when possible with heatsinks that fit 92x25mm
  fans)

Key Components in AM3 Heatsink Test Platform:

• AMD Athlon II X4 630 AM3,
  2.8GHz, 45nm, 95W TDP.
• Asus M4A785TD-V EVO ATX motherboard.
  785G chipset.
• Kingston
  SSDNow V 30GB 2.5″ solid-state drive. Chosen for silence.
• 2GB
  Corsair Dominator DDR3 memory. 2 x 1GB DDR3-1800 in dual channel.
• FSP Zen 300W
  ATX power supply. Fanless.
• Arctic Silver
  Lumière: Special fast-curing thermal interface material, designed
  specifically for test labs.
• Noctua 140 mm fan (used when possible with heatsinks that fit 140x25mm
  fans)
• Nexus 120 mm fan (used when possible with heatsinks that fit 120x25mm
  fans)
• Nexus 92 mm fan (used when possible with heatsinks that fit 92x25mm
  fans)

The systems are silent under the test conditions, except for the CPU cooling
fan(s).

Normally, our reference fans are used whenever possible, the measured details
of which are shown below.

Reference Noctua 140mm fan Anechoic chamber measurements
Voltage	SPL@1m	Speed
12V	28~29 dBA	1250 RPM
9V	21 dBA	990 RPM
7V	15~16 dBA	770 RPM
6V	13 dBA	660 RPM

 

Reference Nexus 120mm fan Anechoic chamber measurements
Voltage	SPL@1m	Speed
12V	16 dBA	1100 RPM
9V	13 dBA	890 RPM
7V	12 dBA	720 RPM

 

Reference Nexus 92 mm fan Anechoic chamber measurements
Voltage	SPL@1m	Speed
12V	16 dBA	1470 RPM
9V	12 dBA	1150 RPM

Measurement and Analysis Tools

• Extech 380803 AC power analyzer / data logger for measuring AC system
  power.
• Custom-built, four-channel variable DC power supply, used to regulate
  the fan speed during the test.
• PC-based spectrum analyzer:
  SpectraPlus with ACO Pacific mic and M-Audio digital
  audio interfaces.
• Anechoic chamber
  with ambient level of 11 dBA or lower
• Various other tools for testing fans, as documented in our
  standard fan testing methodology.
• SpeedFan,
  used to monitor the on-chip thermal sensors. The sensors are not calibrated,
  so results are not universally applicable. The hottest core reading is used.
• Prime95,
  used to stress the LGA1366 CPU heavily, generating more heat than most real applications.
  8 instances are used to ensure that all 4 cores (with Hyper-threading) are
  stressed.
• CPU Burn,
  used to stress the AM3 CPU heavily, generating more heat than most real applications.
  4 instances are used to ensure that all 4 cores are
  stressed.
• CPU-Z,
  used to monitor the CPU speed to determine when overheating occurs.
• Thermometers to measure the air temperature around the test platform
  and near the intake of the heatsink fan.

Noise measurements are made with the fans powered from the lab’s variable DC
power supply while the rest of the system was off to ensure that system noise
did not skew the measurements.

Load testing was accomplished using Prime95 or CPUBurn to stress the processor, and the
graph function in SpeedFan was used to ensure that the load temperature is stable
for at least ten minutes. The temperature recorded is the highest single core
reading. The stock fans were tested at various voltages to represent a good
cross-section of airflow and noise performance.

The ambient conditions during testing were 10~11 dBA and 21~23°C.

Stock Fan Measurements

Though Swiftech provides detailed specifications, the fan lacks any identifying markers. It has the appearance of a typical 120 mm axial DC fan with seven white blades and a black housing. The trailing edges are nearly parallel with the struts, increasing the likelihood of tonal elements in its acoustic profile.

Specifications: Swiftech Polaris 120 Stock Fan
Manufacturer	?	Power Rating	3.84W
Model Number	?	Airflow Rating	84 CFM
Bearing Type	“Hydraumatic”	Speed Rating	2500 ±250 RPM
Corners	Open	Noise Rating	41.5 dBA
Frame Size	120 x 120 x 25 mm	Header Type	4-pin PWM
Fan Blade Diameter	112 mm	Starting Voltage	3.7 V
Hub Size	40 mm	Weight	120 g
Data in green cells provided by the manufacturer or observed; data in the blue cells were measured.

 

Stock Fan Measurements
Voltage	Avg. Speed	SPL@1m
12V	2400 RPM	42~43 dBA
9V	1890 RPM	36~37 dBA
7V	1540 RPM	30 dBA
5V	1090 RPM	20~21 dBA
4V	800 RPM	15 dBA
3.7V*	690 RPM	12~13 dBA
* Starting voltage. Measuring mic positioned 1m at diagonal angle from the center of the heatsink. Ambient noise level: 10~11 dBA.

With a high maximum speed, the stock fan is very loud, turbulent and whiny from 12V all the way down to 7V. It sounds fairly smooth at about 5V, and the fan speed is equivalent to that of many low speed fans at full tilt. At 4V and below, it develops a noticeable hum. At no point does the fan become inaudible, as even at its starting voltage of 3.7V, it measures 12~13 dBA@1m.

The Polaris 120 stock fan becomes quiet at about 4V.

Cooling Results

Swiftech Polaris 120
Fan Voltage	SPL@1m	Temp	°C Rise
Stock 120mm Fan
12V	42~43 dBA	60°C	39
9V	36~37 dBA	62°C	41
7V	30 dBA	63°C	42
5V	20~21 dBA	68°C	47
4V	15 dBA	75°C	54
3.7V	12~13 dBA	80°C	59
Reference 120mm Fan
12V	16 dBA	67°C	46
9V	13 dBA	70°C	49
7V	12 dBA	75°C	54
2 x Reference 120mm Fan
12V	19 dBA	64°C	43
9V	14 dBA	67°C	46
7V	12 dBA	70°C	49
°C Rise: Temperature rise above ambient (21°C) at load.

The Polaris 120 performed pretty well, but only at higher speeds with the stock fan producing 30 dBA@1m or higher. At 5V, cooling performance was fairly poor. Further drops in speed resulted in significant cooling degradation. With its stock fan, the Polaris makes a terrible quiet cooler.

The Polaris fared much better with our reference Nexus fan, producing a 5~10°C improvement at the 12~13 dBA@1m levels. As the Polaris 120 is rather thick, we tried a second fan in push-pull configuration for improved air pressure. This only improved cooling by 3°C at 12V and 9V. A 5°C difference was recorded 7V.

Heatsink Comparison Table

Single Fan CPU Coolers (ref. 120mm fan): °C Rise Comparison
Heatsink	Fan voltage / SPL @1m
	12V	9V	7V
	16 dBA	13 dBA	12 dBA
Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme Rev.C	38	40	43
Prolimatech Megahalems	38	41	44
Noctua NH-U12P	39	42	44
Scythe Mugen-2	39	42	45
Cogage TRUE Spirit 1366	40	42	45
Prolimatech Armageddon	40	42	46
Zalman CNPS10X Quiet	40	43	46
Scythe Yasya	41	43	47
Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme	40	43	48
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus	41	44	48
Thermalright Ultra-120	42	45	49
Titan Fenrir	43	46	50
Scythe Ninja 3	44	47	49
Noctua NH-C12P	43	47	51
Zalman CNPS10X Extreme	43	47	53
Swiftech Polaris 120	46	49	54
Zalman CNPS10X Flex	45	50	54
Cooler Master V8	46	50	54
Scythe Grand Kama Cross	45	52	57
Arctic Cooling Freezer Xtreme Rev.2	49	52	58
Scythe Kabuto	51	53	60

The Polaris 120 ties the Zalman CNPS10X Flex for 15th place among large tower heatsinks, running the CPU about 8~11°C hotter than the leader, the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme Rev.C.

MP3 SOUND RECORDINGS

These recordings were made with a high
resolution, lab quality, digital recording system inside SPCR’s
own 11 dBA ambient anechoic chamber, then converted to LAME 128kbps
encoded MP3s. We’ve listened long and hard to ensure there is no audible degradation
from the original WAV files to these MP3s. They represent a quick snapshot of
what we heard during the review.

These recordings are intended to give you an idea of how the product sounds
in actual use — one meter is a reasonable typical distance between a computer
or computer component and your ear. The recording contains stretches of ambient
noise that you can use to judge the relative loudness of the subject. Be aware
that very quiet subjects may not be audible — if we couldn’t hear it from
one meter, chances are we couldn’t record it either!

The recording starts with 5~10 second segments of room ambiance, then the fan
at various levels. For the most realistic results, set the volume so that
the starting ambient level is just barely audible, then don’t change the volume
setting again.

• Swiftech Polaris 120 stock fan at 1m
  — 4V (15 dBA@1m)
  — 5V (20~21 dBA@1m)
  — 7V (30 dBA@1m)
  — 9V (36~37 dBA@1m)
  — 12V (42~43 dBA@1m)

• Nexus
  120mm fan at 1m
  — 5V (11 dBA@1m)
  — 7V (12 dBA@1m)
  — 9V (13 dBA@1m)
  — 12V (16 dBA@1m)

FINAL THOUGHTS

Swiftech’s return to air cooling is a disappointment for quiet computing enthusiasts. Despite its five massive direct touch heatpipes, the Polaris 120 delivered middling cooling proficiency at best, at least with low airflow. The stock 2500 RPM fan easily exceeds 40 dBA@1m at full speed, so obviously it wasn’t designed to be a quiet cooler. The fan sounds much better at low speeds, but it doesn’t really become quiet unless you get it down to close to about 4V. It also isn’t terribly efficient, getting beaten handily by our reference Nexus fan at comparable noise levels.

One cause for the power low airflow performance might be how the sides of the fin stack are closed off — we don’t recall ever seeing this on a higher performance heatsink. It forces the air to flow entirely through the depth of the fin stack, and it must cause significant airflow impedance at lower fan speeds. We also question the utility of the fifth heatpipe, as four of them easily cover even a LGA1366 processor, which has about the biggest heatspreader of any current CPU. It seems like a waste of materials and expense.

It would also help if the mating was tighter, as the outer portions of the base didn’t get as much pressure as the center. Like Prolimatech and Thermalright’s latest heatsink mounting systems, there is a metal bar strategically placed above the base that could exert extra pressure. In the Polaris 120, however, it is only used to keep the surrounding frame in place rather than actively making the mount more secure. This is a missed opportunity in our opinion.

While hardly a poor CPU cooler, as a low noise heatsink, the Swiftech Polaris 120 just doesn’t cut it. The only situation where the Polaris 120 might be a good choice for quiet performance cooling is if your case is not wide enough to accommodate the majority of 160~165 mm tall tower coolers (the Polaris is only 151 mm tall). There are many cases, for example, that have a side fan above the CPU area that interferes with taller heatsinks. Otherwise, there are many better quiet high performance CPU cooling alternatives at and below the Polaris 120’s street price of US$60.

Our thanks to Swiftech for the Polaris 120 heatsink sample.

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Articles of Related Interest

Zalman CNPS9900 MAX & CNPS5X CPU Coolers
Thermalright Silver Arrow Dual 14cm Fan Cooler
Noctua NH-C14 Dual Fan Top-down CPU Cooler
Thermalright Shaman 140mm Fan GPU Cooler
Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme Rev.C & AC Freezer Xtreme Rev.2
Scythe Ninja 3 & Scythe Yasya CPU Heatsinks

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