Introduction

I really thought with my review of the Thermalright Shaman I was making headway with Thermalright and was likely about to see what they were all about in cooling. I wasn't able to get to them during CES to show my face like I did with Fractal Design and get all of the issues out of the way. In January I was promised a CPU cooler then they never said a word afterwards, even with multiple requests over the last four months since that last email from Thermalright there was no action from them at all.

So one night a few weeks ago, Chris and I were on the phone, after a bit of listening to my story he said to me, "I got an idea." This idea was to try an e-tailer to see if they would mind helping out and be the better man and deliver me a cooler to test. The man and company to step up to the plate in this instance is Mark Friga Jr. from FrozenCPU.com. Chris went to him with our issues with Thermalright and took time out to help us, no questions asked.

Now, back to why we are here, the CPU cooler testing. Today we are going to be taking an in-depth look at the Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E. This isn't a true revision of the original Silver Arrow; it's just some additional hardware for the LGA2011 or SB-E sockets. That's not to take anything away from this beast and while not physically the largest cooler we have tested, it offers the largest fan out of the box with the 150mm fan used in this design.

Even though this cooler isn't as large as some of the dual fin cooler arrangements, the cooling capabilities and aesthetics of the Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E CPU cooler are what are going to make most Phanteks and Noctua cooler buyers take a real hard look at this cooler before they actually purchase any of them.

With all the hype currently on the D-14 and the PH-TC14PE, it is quite a feat to steal any thunder, but I think the Silver Arrow SB-E just might be "that cooler" that buyers really want, they just don't know it yet.