Specifications, Availability and Pricing

This little cooler packs quite a bit into the limited area that it will consume on top of your processor. Unlike its predecessor, the 752, the Vortex Plus utilizes four 6mm copper heatpipes and two separated sections of the cooler, one pre-cooler on the base and a set of 45 aluminum fins comprising the bulk of the surface area. The fan on the Vortex Plus lays parallel to the motherboard, so not only does it use just under 55 CFM of air to cool the processor through both sections of the cooler, but adds a flood of airflow to the motherboard components as well.

The Vortex plus may be small, but it seems at a glance to be thought out very well. Since it is what I almost consider low profile, they have made sure that the Vortex Plus will not conflict with things like capacitors, or even memory modules. That's right, Cooler Master cleared a bit of the fins underneath to be sure that even on a micro-ATX motherboard everything should be accessible and operational while the Vortex Plus is in place. With the fan attached it can even add air flow to the memory if the slots are close enough to the socket; however, it will need to be regular height modules. Fancy heat spreaders are not going to cooperate well.

Since this cooler was supposedly introduced at CES this year and I say supposedly as I couldn't afford to see it there myself, little has been written about its actual release date. I am happy to tell you, though, that even though it isn't on shelves currently, Cooler Master has set a quite affordable $29.99 MSRP. That sort of pricing takes it from the must have to fit in my HTPC, to a cooler to ponder for any cooling situation. Time to get a closer look at the Vortex Plus from Cooler Master and see if this compact, low priced offering can handle the task it is set out to do.