Intel cooler review: Intel Laminar RM1 stock cooler review: surprisingly competent

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Once a cottage industry, investing in good cooling for desktop processors has become big business. From simple air-based heatsinks to extravagant all-in-ones costing upwards of £300, a solution exists for all budgets and aesthetics.
There’s merit in dabbling with…Intel Laminar RM1 stock cooler review: surprisingly competent

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Intel’s New Stock Alder Lake Heatsink Is Surprisingly Capable

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(Image credit: NetEase)

Chinese news outlet NetEase snagged one of Intel’s new refreshed stock coolers and tested it with a Core i5-12400. The new RM1 is one of three new stock coolers for the Alder Lake generation and will address the mid-range 12th-Gen Core i3, i5, and i7 CPUs, and it proved to be pretty capable when paired with the Core i5-12400.

A few months ago, we saw reports of Intel revamping its stock cooler lineup specifically for Alder Lake. The revamped lineup also includes the RS1 and Rh2. The RS1 will come with new Celeron and Pentium processors and have a similar form factor to Intel’s previous cooler designed for its 10th Gen processors and older, so it lacks a copper core. The Rh2 will be Intel’s flagship cooler, so to speak, and it will only ship with 12th Gen Core i9 chips and has a much larger profile than the RM1. The Rh2 will also be the most aesthetically pleasing cooler of the three, with RGB lighting effects on the fan.

Allegedly, these coolers will be bundled with Intel’s 65W parts and not Intel’s high-wattage K SKUs.

(Image credit: NetEase)

The RM1 cooler features an all-black plastic shroud encasing a blacked-out metal heatsink in the middle and surrounded by a blue ring at the top. At its core, a copper slug directly contacts the CPU to enhance the cooler’s capabilities over traditional metal designs. However, the copper slug does look noticeably larger than Intel’s previous coolers featuring the same copper cores. Presumably, Intel did this to ensure Alder Lake’s larger LGA 1700 form factor could be cooled correctly.

In testing with a Core i5-12400, the cooler kept the CPU at a steady 73C with 20C ambient temperatures while running a full AIDA64 stress test, resulting in around 80W of power consumption. According to the outlet, the only downside was the fan’s rather high 3100 RPM, which produced a lot of wind noise.

Nonetheless, this is an impressive result for Intel’s new stock cooler. Previous versions of Intel’s stock cooler, even with copper slugs, could barely keep 65-80W parts from approaching near 100C, or at best, kept the locked chips at 90-95C under ideal conditions at max load.

If these results are indeed true, then the new RM1 cooler is a huge upgrade over Intel’s previous cooler design, and you might not have to ditch it immediately in favor of an aftermarket heatsink. In fact, with over 20C of headroom, there would technically be some overclocking headroom if Intel ever unlocked its 65W parts.

Since all three of these coolers will be designed for Intel’s 65W locked SKUs, expect these coolers to arrive when Intel officially releases 65W versions of its Alder Lake desktop CPUs next year.

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Aaron Klotz is a freelance writer for Tom’s Hardware US, covering news topics related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.

Overview of coolers for the Intel Pentium III

With the onset of the warm season, the problem of computer cooling becomes especially acute. Almost all devices — a video card, a processor, a hard drive — emit heat during their operation, which must be removed. In this article, we will focus on cooling one of the most important parts of a PC — the processor.

All semiconductor devices, which, in particular, include modern processors, during their operation emit energy in the form of heat, which must be removed, since the permissible operating temperature range of any semiconductor, at best, lies within the interval from -60 ° C to 150 ° WITH. When the temperature goes beyond the permissible limits, both mechanical damage to the semiconductor structure and a strong change in electrical parameters are possible. Therefore, since the days of 486 processors, a special place has been given to their cooling — processors are equipped with various cooling devices designed to prevent excessive overheating.

As for the new Intel Pentium III processors, the coolers for which will be considered in this article, their temperature parameters are shown in the table:

90 021 90 90 80 Maximum allowable L2 cache temperature, °C 105 105 105 Maximum allowed processor board temperature, °C 75 75 75

As we can see, the Intel Pentium III processors must dissipate more heat than their predecessors, the Pentium II, but they also allow more heat. It should also be borne in mind that now Intel has introduced a characteristic regarding the temperature of the L2 cache, which was not specified at all for the Intel Pentium II, so this most likely means that these chips also need to be cooled. True, their allowable temperature is somewhat higher than the temperature of the core, therefore, it is not worth dwelling on this task specifically. Also, for effective processor cooling, Intel recommends keeping the temperature inside the computer case no higher than 45C.

Intel is also taking steps to improve the cooling of its own processors. All new processors are produced in a new processor cartridge — SECC2. This package differs from the already familiar SECC by the absence of the front half, on which the cooler was usually hung. Due to this, the heatsink, blown by the fan, does not come into contact with the metal wall of the cartridge, but directly with the processor core chip. Thus, firstly, heat dissipation is better, and secondly, access to the L2 cache is open, which now also needs to be cooled. The coating of the crystal has also changed. Instead of the old Plastic Land Grid Array (PLGA), a new copper-based organic alloy — Organic Land Grid Array (OLGA) is used, which has better thermal conductivity. That is, Intel took care of the possibility of more efficient cooling of their new processors.

Let’s approach the question from the other side. The efficiency of a processor cooler generally depends on three parameters:

• Heatsink size. The more surface area a heatsink has, the more heat it can dissipate. However, for good heat dissipation, only a large radiator is not enough. Since the amount of heat given off directly depends on the temperature difference at the surface of the radiator, we should not forget about the fan.
• The volume of air pumped through the radiator. The stronger the flow of air flowing through the radiator, the less it will heat up, thereby providing better cooling.
• Quality of contact between heatsink and processor (thermal interface). Not only does the material that provides contact between the surfaces of the heatsink and the processor core must have good thermal conductivity, good contact between these surfaces is also necessary. Air has a low thermal conductivity, so the presence of cavities in the contact zone caused by uneven surfaces in contact is highly undesirable.

In this small test we will compare 3 coolers — a regular noname and two high-quality products from TennMax and ElanVital.

Test participants

Noname

An unremarkable most common cooler consisting of a black heatsink with a small number of fins and a 50x50x10 mm fan with a rotation speed of about 4500 rpm. The radiator is made of aluminum, as a material with low cost and relatively good thermal conductivity. Opposite the cache chips in the heatsink there are slots for cooling them. The fan, equipped with a speed sensor, has a connector that connects to the system board. The cooler is attached to the processor with a U-shaped latch spring. The thermal interface providing contact between the heatsink and the processor core is made on the basis of an elastomer, a rubber-like plate containing heat-conducting additives.

During operation, this fan can hardly provide effective cooling, as the thermal interface has low thermal conductivity and an irregular surface. In addition, the fan mounting in the middle of the radiator does not provide uniform surface airflow, only the central part of the radiator is effectively cooled. It should also be noted that the use of sleeve bearings in the fan causes relatively high noise characteristics and a relatively short service life.

Pros:

• Low cost

Cons:

• Relatively small radiator surface area
• thermal interface

TennMax P3 TF Cooler

2 fans on the radiator, providing uniform air flow through the entire surface. The TennMax P3 TF Cooler has a slightly higher number of ribs than conventional products, which are cross-cut to increase surface area. There are also slots for cooling the L2 cache, through which, due to the presence of two fans instead of one, the cache chips are effectively blown.

The cooler uses high-quality 50x50x10 mm fans with a rotation speed of about 4000 rpm. The outputs of both coolers are connected and they are connected to the system board through a single connector. However, the speed control is performed only for one of the two fans. So when the second one is stopped, system monitoring will not be able to issue a warning. But both fans use rolling bearings, which ensures their durability and low noise level.

Fastening the cooler to the processor is very convenient — two two-position spring latches connected to two U-shaped pins inserted through the processor case. It should be noted that such a fastening is much more durable than the spring usually used.

The thermal interface of the TennMax P3 TF Cooler is implemented using a specially developed elastomer that is much more efficient than conventional designs. The thermal interface used in TennMax P3 TF Cooler softens at a temperature of about 40C, due to which it provides a tight connection with the cooled surface — the processor core.

Another nice feature of the TennMax P3 TF Cooler is that it can be mounted on PLGA SECC2 processors by removing four washers from the mounting pins.

Pros:

• Powerful airflow through the radiator due to the presence of 2 fans
• High-quality radiator with a relatively large surface area
• Easy mounting
• Good thermal interface

Minus s:

• Monitoring of only one fan

ElanVital FSCL03-L Cooler

A characteristic feature of this cooler is the closed heatsink, so that the air flow generated by one fan evenly passes through the entire surface of the heatsink. The ElanVital FSCL03-L heatsink has a slightly higher profile than other coolers and a longitudinal rather than a transverse arrangement of fins. However, the surface area of ​​this heatsink is in no way inferior to the surface area of ​​the TennMax P3 TF Cooler, since the fins of the ElanVital FSCL03-L Cooler heatsink are thinner and therefore more frequently spaced. An additional surface is the radiator cap.

The fan used on the ElanVital FSCL03-L uses one rolling bearing and one plain bearing. The rotation speed of this fan, which has a size of 50x50x10 mm, is about 4700 rpm. The fan is connected to the system board and has a speed sensor. Despite the fact that the fan has rubbing parts, the noise level produced by the ElanVital FSCL03-L is the lowest of the three coolers tested.

The ElanVital FSCL03-L is secured to the processor by snapping four pins built into the heat sink and inserted through the processor case with one spring latch. This mount also provides a high-quality and durable connection between the cooler and the processor.

The thermal interface of the ElanVital FSCL03-L is made on the basis of a foil coated with thermal paste to improve contact with the processor core. The presence of the paste ensures that there are no cavities between the foil and the cooled surface, however, unfortunately, this solution is not reusable — after the first application, part of the paste remains on the processor. However, the foil has a somewhat better thermal conductivity than conventional elastomers.

Another small positive feature of the ElanVital FSCL03-L is that the cooler indicates which part of it is the top. This makes it possible to immediately correctly fix the cooling device on the processor.

Pros

• Original closed heatsink with large surface area
• High thermal conductivity of the thermal interface
• Convenient mounting

Cons

• No L2 cache cooling
• Use of thermal interface paste making it difficult to reuse

Tests

Theory is theory, but the efficiency of cooling devices still needs to be investigated in the work. Keeping in mind that high-quality cooling is primarily of decisive importance when overclocking processors, and especially during extreme overclocking with increasing core voltage, we conducted a series of experiments on overclocking an Intel Pentium III 450 processor with various coolers. Overclocking was performed on a motherboard that is known to allow higher voltages for better overclocking results.

During testing, the temperature of the processor was measured. Unfortunately, it is not possible to directly measure the core temperature, so we measured the heatsink temperature in close proximity to the core. Naturally, the actual processor temperature will be slightly higher than the measured values, however, the same conditions for all test participants allow us to fairly compare the coolers.

As part of the test system, we used the following components:

• Intel Pentium III 450 MHz;
• ABIT BX6 Rev.2.0 motherboard;
• video card ASUS V3400TNT;
• Ensoniq ES1370 sound card;
• hard drive IBM DJNA 372200;
• 128 MB SEC PC-100 SDRAM;
• operating system Windows98.

To measure the temperature when using each cooler, we ran the massive1 demo with software rendering at 800×600 resolution for Quake2 and measured the processor temperature after it was executed. Each test was run five times and the average temperature was taken as the result. Ambient temperature during testing — 28C

Here are the results:

So, we see that the temperature of the processor increases almost linearly with increasing frequency, however, at the moment the processor core voltage increases, the dependence breaks down, the temperature begins to rise more sharply and high-quality cooling comes to the fore.

When using a regular Noname cooler, we have that even in the nominal mode, the processor temperature is on average 5 degrees higher than when using higher quality products. Therefore, in this case, even when the frequency reaches 527 MHz, further overclocking is impossible.

Thanks to the use of high-quality coolers that provide better cooling of the processor, further overclocking of the processors becomes possible, with a stronger increase in the supply voltage, causing the crystal to heat up more. Based on the tests carried out, you can see firsthand how much good cooling means when overclocking.

Comparing the results obtained with the ElanVital FSCL03-L and the TennMax P3 TF Cooler, we can conclude that the high airflow through the heatsink does not mean everything. Although the ElanVital FSCL03-L uses a single fan, thanks to its clever airflow, it delivers even better results than the TennMax P3 TF Cooler. It should also be noted here that although the ElanVital FSCL03-L does not provide cooling for the L2 cache, its results are no worse than for models in which the L2 cache is blown with air. This means only one thing — the free circulation of air masses provided by the openness of the SECC2 cartridge is quite enough.

Conclusions

Conventional coolers provide quite normal cooling of the processor operating in normal mode. However, if you are thinking about overclocking, you need to think about better cooling. According to the test results, it is clearly seen that due to the use of special coolers, it becomes possible to overclock the processor more than under normal conditions. In particular, we managed to overclock the Intel Pentium II 450 to 600 MHz, that is, by almost 30%. Thus, if you want to achieve good results when overclocking the system, as well as guarantee yourself from annoying freezes of your PC when the ambient temperature rises, then I think to spend an extra $30 on a quality cooler, such as ElanVital FSCL03-L or TennMax P3 TF Cooler, will not be redundant.

June 7, 1999

Ilya Gavrichenkov

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Intel Laminar RM1 stock cooler review

Once a cottage industry, investing in good cooling for desktop processors has become big business. From simple air radiators to extravagant all-in-one units costing over £300, there is a solution for every budget and every aesthetic.

It makes sense to try secondary cooling when overclocking, color matching in a themed build, or achieving near-silent performance through weight and engineering alone.

However, millions of desktop PCs are sold each year equipped with rudimentary heatsinks supplied by processor manufacturers. Retail packaged chips offered to enthusiasts tend to come with coolers if power requirements are low. AMD, for example, has improved the game of coolers in the box by providing a range of pretty compelling Wraith heatsinks.

To keep up or even outshine it, Intel has also revised the cooling package for 12th Gen Core 65W (and below) Alder Lake chips. Team Blue, dubbed Laminar and shipping with 12 processors, actually has three built-in cooler models known as RS1, RM1 and Rh2.

902 56

	Laminar RS1	Laminar RM1	Laminar Rh2
Design
Boxed with	Celeron G6900 Pentium Gold G7400	Core i7-12700 Core i7-12700F Core i5-12500 Core i5-12400 Core i5-12400F Core i3-12300 Core i3-12100 Core i3-12100F	Core i 9-12900 Core i9-12900F
Mount	4x pushpins	4x pushpins	Metal backplate
TDP rating	65W	65W	65W
Weight	260g	350g	450g
Height	47mm	47mm	69mm
Size	100mm x 100mm	100 mm x 100 mm	103 mm x 103 mm 9No 022	No	yes
Min. /max. fan speed	600/3000 rpm	600/3150 rpm	1000/3000 rpm

Lamin ar RS1 is the cheapest of the three. Relatively small in size, with aluminum fins and core, it is ideal for use with dual-core Celeron G69 processors00 and Pentium Gold G7400. Cooling should be easy on these 46W TDP models.

The Laminar RM1 is a step up. It is expected to be supplied in large quantities. It is a cooling solution for eight popular 12th generation processors. Compatible Core i3s come with a TDP of 60W by default, while all other chips come with a TDP of 65W. Keep in mind that these numbers are considered basic power limits. Operating at higher maximum power ratings, known as PL2, is beyond the thermal scope of this cooler.

Last but not least, the Laminar Rh2 with LED light. Offering a beefier build and protected by a rear panel rather than latches, this is the most attractive of the three.

The mid-spec Laminar RM1 is both a physical and visual improvement over the stock coolers that came bundled ten years ago. Aluminum ribs diverge from the center in a circle. A protective casing made of plastic strips arranged vertically on the outside protects the fingers from cuts. Expanding from the base to accommodate an Intel-embossed 80mm fan, the build quality is surprisingly decent.

A semi-reflective blue stripe adds a touch of class. Neither replaceable nor LED light, it’s a nice addition to the dark cooler.

Intel pins reduce costs and simplify installation. Attached to the motherboard by pressing on the top until it clicks, it only takes a minute to lock it in place and it is wise to use a metal retaining plate. However, it is not actually designed to be re-installed, but can be removed by turning the column heads counterclockwise a quarter of a turn. If you are not endowed with great finger strength, use a flathead screwdriver for this task; the egg timer recesses inside the plastic heads are strong enough to withstand the required force.

Readers who have used Intel needle pin coolers will understand that careful positioning is required. The best way is to pin the push pins diagonally apart. If you go too fast, you run the risk of one of the tweezer-like plastic retainers on the bottom getting caught on the motherboard circuit board and coming off—raise your hand if you had a stock cooler with only three fully working retainer sections.

«RAISE YOUR HANDS IF YOU HAVE ONLY THREE FULLY WORKING LOCKOUT COOLERS.»

Intel’s pre-applied copper core thermal paste literally makes a good impression on the LGA 1700 chip. neat assembly.

We evaluate the possibilities by running the cooler on a stock Core i3-12100F (60W) CPU in an outdoor testbed, simulating the worst-case airflow scenario, and then increasing the power requirements by setting a target of 89W PL2. Finally, we made a budget cooler cry using the stock Core i5-12600K, which comes with a TDP of 125W out of the box. It, of course, is not intended for this, but such a test should bring heat dissipation to the limit.

Performance

Keep in mind that the cooler’s job is to keep the 65W TDP chips running at reasonable temperatures without causing noise.

Running a full-core Blender test overclocks the chip and properly increases the long-term power to 60W. A study of the performance metrics shows that the fan, which is constantly on, accelerates very quickly from a base 1300 to 2500 rpm. It is then modulated according to the exact load.

Considering the last five minutes of load, 65°C is quite acceptable for the Core i3-12100F. Increasing the power target to 89W, which the cooler should not be able to handle, still shows a good figure. No thermal throttling is observed.

Let’s have some fun, 125W is clearly out of the scope for this heatsink. While it can pass the full Blender test without crashing, the Core i5-12600K is starting to lag. Compared to a much larger cooler, our standard Blender test takes nine seconds longer.

Temperature is one side of the equation; fan speed and noise, respectively, are different. The 2700 rpm fan speed is certainly obvious, but not too distracting, even in a quiet system devoid of other cooling fans. Of particular interest to OEMs who can choose this cooler for budget systems, thus lowering the overall build cost compared to premium solutions, it can do the intended job on multiple fronts.

The Laminar RM1 should run a lot harder at 89W, as evidenced by warmer temperatures and fan speeds approaching the maximum limit, though we freely admit that this test is outside the cooler’s purview and comfort zone. The 125W TDP is just for our enjoyment and we certainly don’t recommend this heatsink if you’re looking to increase CPU frequency and voltage.

Conclusion

Intel’s 12th generation Laminar heatsinks ship in the millions in retail boxes with 65W chips and represent a worthy improvement over the inelegant solutions of yesteryear.