Dynatron T459 Low Profile Active Copper LGA1156 Intel Core i3/i5/i7 CPU Cooler

I've tested, written about and used many low profile coolers over the past couple of years building mini-ITX HTPC and office systems for clients including:Silverstone NT07-1156Gelid Slim Silence i-PlusTitan DC-155A915Z/RPWand this one is simply the best one out there under 37mm. First, the fan is the quietest among them all. Even the best still have a bit of a buzz but the Top Motor fan included on this one is smooth with no buzz. You have to put your ear within a foot of it with the top of the case open to hear anything. Second, the quality of this heatsink is the best. It's full copper and it comes with the thermal paste already applied. It's very heavy and easy to install with no backplate required. Third, and most important, it does a fantastic job keeping processors cool in these tiny little cases. I use it for builds in the Realan E-i5 (75mm high) and E-K3 (72mm tall) which are very small mini-ITX cases. For the E-K3, that the cooler uses the standard mounts is very important because the backplate on other coolers interferes with the VESA mount while the T459 does not interfere at all.The only con is the way the fan is mounted. It's screwed into the heatsink from underneath meaning if it does fail and need to be changed, the heatsink will need to be removed.For Intel builds in these mini-ITX cases I will use no other as long as these are available. I've found nothing quieter or better cooling in this size at this price. Perfect!

Bought it for Intel Core i3-4370. I'm lucky it didn't burn a hole in my mobo - idles at 35c-55c and saw it peak at 84c before I immediately dropped the clock from 3.8 to 3.5. Reseated multiple times, double and triple checked to make sure I didn't seat improperly. board clamps don't seam to hold the heatsink down very well. Ordering a noctua, hoping for the best. Stay away.

Fan is way too loud. Buried in a system with other fans in it you would probably not hear it. I am using an M 350 running pfSense with a Skylake Celeron. The factory Intel heatsink made the chip idle at 28 degrees C, this heatsink idles at 36C. Sadly the Intel heatsink does not fit the M 350 case. I used a Noctua in-line fan speed control adapter, basically an in-line resistor, to tame the fan speed. Much much better noise floor now. We'll see what happens with the temperatures once I get the system installed and running. Will update this review with temperatures once the system is live. The heatsink itself is legit and no joke, very heavy, pure copper, and a very very fine fin pattern meaning of lots of surface area. I was able to orient the heatsink such that the air coming off of it blows over my Northbridge CPU. The stock CPU thermal compound is arranged in a grid pattern meaning there are gaps in its coverage. I immediately removed it with acetone and used Noctua compound instead. The Noctua will cure over time so my temperatures may drop a degree or two. Overall very pleased once I brought down the fan speed considerably.

I had high hopes due to all of the positive reviews, but I cannot recommend this CPU cooler at this time. My quick test showed this to be more than 10F hotter than stock.CPU: Intel Core i7-4770SMB: ASUS H87M-PLUS/CSM DDR3 1600Windows 8.1Using: Prime 95 64-BitDynatron T459: 128FStock: 115FZalman CNPS7000C-Cu: 95F

Bought one of these to conserve space in a Mini-ITX build for a family member and paired it up with an Intel Core i3-4160. First thing I noticed was that this thing is an EXTREMELY low profile cooler. Like, surprisingly short, even compared to my expectations--it's just a little taller than the diameter of a US quarter once installed! It is also very heavy for it's size, but that is to be expected as it is almost entirely copper.In terms of cooling performance, it seems to be about par with (maybe slightly weaker than) the Intel stock cooler for an i3-4160, from my experience. Keeps the CPU in the low 40s at idle and between the mid 50s and 60s at "moderate" working loads (which I'm defining in this case as 30-50% total CPU usage) with the fan set to dynamically ramp up according to BIOS defaults. The fan is surprisingly quiet (almost silent most of the time on dynamic fan settings), even when I manually set it to 100% to see how long it could handle Prime 95 as a "worst-case scenario" stress test.Mind you, this IS an extreme low profile cooler and even at it's best, an i3-4160 at stock will push northwards of 80 degrees at around the five minute mark of Prime 95's standard stress test, so if you're looking for a heatsink for overclocking or gaming where you'll often have the CPU running at 50-75% load or more for long stretches, then this is NOT the cooler for you. However, for a low-profile, light usage (email, web browsing, and netflix) computer or HTPC, this cooler can get the job done.If I had the option, I would give this cooler "3.5 stars" for its impressively short stature and whisper-quiet operation, but only adequate cooling performance for low-intensity applications (an i3-4160 was warm, but still within acceptable temperature ranges at moderate load) and overall performance leaving me only comfortable using this cooler with CPUs up to a 54W TDP maximum despite it being rated for up to 73W. In addition, one little nitpick concern for me going forward is mostly a matter of personal taste, but the heatsink is secured using those plastic push screws you see on Intel stock coolers. They're more than strong enough to hold the heatsink's weight and keep it snug when affixed properly, but I still would have preferred to see metal screws and a backplate for the extra peace of mind it gives me knowing the heavy hunk of metal I just attached isn't going anywhere. These factors do amount to a neutral 3 stars for the formal ranking with the review instead of up to a positive 4 stars; but I am overall satisfied with the cooler for the purpose I bought it.TL;DR: this is the lowest-profile heatsink I've ever personally encountered and it's cooling performance is acceptable for light-usage computers (which was what I used it in) or possibly HTPC applications. HOWEVER, if you are looking to keep your mini-ITX gaming rig cool, this almost certainly not the cooler for you; and I personally would not recommend this heatsink be paired with processors with a TDP of any higher than 54W.

Needed a low profile fan for a mini-itx nas build. This cooler works great and is quiet. I love the fact that the heat sink is solid copper, it does a great job of cooling and will fit no problem in the tightest of spaces. The stock cooler didn't come close to fitting but this one has room to spare. I've tried other low profile coolers at twice the price in other builds but this one is the best and a good price too. I will only be using these coolers for cramped spaces from now on. If you plan on over clocking this is probably not for you but for a basic build it's perfect