Introduction

As promised, here is the last installment of my three part mini-series of Xigmatek product reviews. The previous two were some of the newer releases from Xigmatek, while this one is a trusted cooler that has made its place on most retail shelves a while back. While the sample is a little late in getting reviewed, we do try to give every cooler their day in the sun.

Part three consists of the Xigmatek Achilles S1284C CPU cooler and the optional Crossbow ACK-I7363. The Achilles is an advance of the S1284EE, an already proven design. The main two differences of the Achilles are the nickel plating on the heat-pipes and the orange bladed, white LED fan, both of which add a bit of "flash" to the basic design. With the addition of the Crossbow kit this cooler is now i7 compatible as well, opening Xigmatek up for a bigger market of use. The previously mentioned fan is a 61 CFM version identical to the fan that comes with the Red Scorpion, but this time it cools a four heat-pipe version instead of the RS's three heat-pipe configuration.

With the Achilles S1284C being an upgrade to the basic, four-pipe version of the S1284, one would only assume it should do pretty well at cooling your CPU. With the lower CFM fan being included in this kit, I don't expect any miracles, nor do I expect it to be as good as either of the two I have recently reviewed for Xigmatek in the past few weeks. Time to stop all the chatter and get down to what this cooler has to offer.