Here's the spec:
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Design:
Heatsink:
SilverStone's NT06-PRO is one of their latest low profile coolers as part of their constantly progressing Nitrogon series. at 82mm in height, SilverStone have really made this to not only be compatible with most competitor small form factor cases but more importantly a perfect fit for theirs. This way they can make a SIX heatpipe cooler with enough cooling capacity for almost if not all processors available and have it fit in most of their small cases. On to the actual review where we compare it quite closely to the NH-L12, lets see how it stacks up!
| Leaving the included fan off, we find quite a tall 'low profile' CPU cooler standing in at 82mm in height as we just discussed. This isn't something we normally come across with coolers of this type as once you add the thickness of the fan on top, it really no longer becomes low profile. Silverstone have played a little trick with this one as the included 120mm fan actually mounts underneath thanks to the included sets of fan clips and mounting options on the side of the cooler. to stay compatible the included fan only measures in at 20mm thick, smaller than you standard 25mm fan. Because of this replacing the stock fan isn't really an option for most people as it's not an easy size to replace. For those however who have a little elbow room to work with, you can always mount your new |   |
fan on the top, it really defeats the purpose though. As far as the fin-stack is concerned we get a measly 7 fins per inch, quite a lot less than the dense stacks we normally see on smaller coolers. with 52 total fins at 7fpi we get quite a low impedance of airflow so you won't need to use a fan capable of handling huge static pressures to deal with this cooler. Because of this you should be able to get a good performance out of some quieter high airflow fans as SP optimised fans tend to be a little louder.
5 of the total 52 fins are shorter than the rest to provide access for installation of the cooler, a common annoyance for me with low profile coolers. at around 9.6% of the total surface area of the stack, 5 fins represents quite a large portion of the cooler and of these fins we lose around 47% of the fin length. This adds up to a rounded total of 5% reduction in surface area due to the cut outs.
| Connecting the fins to the heatsink is six 6mm heatpipes measuring around 270mm long. For a low profile cooler the most you ever normally see is 4 heatpipes but I believe the NT6-Pro has 6 just to try and make up for the lack of fin density on the fin stack. The heatpipes connect to the base not as a direct contact design but rather by being sandwhiched between two copper plates. |  |
| Located on the top of the base plate are 4 guide rails to help with both mounting the cooler and securing it in the right place with absolutely no give to it. I really did like the overall fit because its got an almost clicky feel to it where you move the bracket and it almost snaps directly into place. |  |
Heatsink + Inc. Fan:
Putting the 20mm thick stock fan on is easily done through clips on either side of the cooler. I did find it to be a little fiddly with the clips and prefer the designs that are more secured to the fan so that you don't have to worry about keeping them from falling out the fan mounts all the time as you install it onto the cooler. Thanks to the provided extra set of fan clips you can also mount a fan on top, or you could just be anti-conformist and mount the stock fan on the top, there's always that choice...
Overall the cooler isn't that nice to look at with no pronounced features or extra's to attract your attention, it is more function than form. On to performance!
Performance:
Because of the unique measurements of the NT06-Pro some of the testing differed to how we would normally test the product. Normally a cooler like this we would test it stock and then replace the fan with our standard NF-F12 in the exact same set up, unfortuantely we can't do this as a 25mm fan would not fit underneath the cooler. Therefore the NF-F12 test was done with the NF-F12 on top of the fan, raising the cooler height to 108/109mm during that test (+27mm thanks to the NF-F12's anti-vibration pads).
Test Bench:
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Stock Temperature Results:
As we can see the NT06-Pro's biggest competition is from Noctua's own low profile top-down cooler, the NH-L12. Unfortunately what we don't have is a single fan test for the NH-L12 yet, so this chart shows single fan NT06-Pro performing in very close proximity to the L12, standing at 82mm in height compared to the L12's 91mm dual fan mode height.
With only a single fan and a difference of 9mm in height, I'm impressed at how well the NT06-Pro held up but 2.2 degrees is a substantial difference and so enough to make a clear choice on if you could pick between the two. Not to mention they are almost exactly the same price.
Stock Fans Noise Performance:
The included fan is impressively quiet considering its 2200rpm max speed. Like most stock fans though I would recommend running the fan at a lower speed and just monitoring the temps until you find a speed/setting you are happy with. I would say at max speed it is almost directly comparable to the NF-F12 we tested it against in terms of noise levels so it's a terrific fan performance wise to come stock with the cooler, one I would probably keep and not consider replacing on the NT06-Pro.
Aftermarket NF-F12 Fan Temperature Results:
Plugging in the slightly bigger NF-F12 saw only a 0.6 degree increase in temperature. This is impressive in my eyes believe it or not and shows that the NT06-Pro really is capable of dissipating heat despite lower airflow. This is due to the fact that a side by side comparison of the stock fan and the NF-F12 shows an almost 20CFM difference between the fans. Even with a 55 CFM fan the coolers still only increases in temps on an 84W CPU, by 0.6 degrees. The cooler did not need or benefit from the static pressure design of the F12. Unfortunately though as the NH-L12 comes with the NF-F12 as stock, it is still performing worse than the L12 temps wise so if you can fit the extra height of the L12, the NT06-Pro isn't really going to compare. If you have to use the L12 in it's lower profile mode we may see the tables turn however, we would need to further test the L12 to find out.
We did not record any of the data we recieved from running the NT06-Pro with two fans because the NF-F12 did not match closely enough with the stock fan to provide any decent results. We actually saw better results temperature wise running the stock fan on it's own unimpeded by the NF-F12. Unfortunately we couldn't run dual NF-F12's either due to size.
We did not record any of the data we recieved from running the NT06-Pro with two fans because the NF-F12 did not match closely enough with the stock fan to provide any decent results. We actually saw better results temperature wise running the stock fan on it's own unimpeded by the NF-F12. Unfortunately we couldn't run dual NF-F12's either due to size.
*For some reason the aftermarket charts have displayed the dual fan NH-D15 results as higher up than the TD02. The data is actually correct, the chart's just displayed them in the wrong order. Once we can rectify this we will replace the chart with a correctly displayed one.*
Conclusion:
Whether or not the NT06-Pro is worth buying I think really depends on what case you are using. Although the NT06-Pro benefits from 6 heatpipies and looks more powerful on the surface than it's main competitor, Noctua's NH-L12, it lacks the fin density, thicker fins and dual fan set up that have all been conducive to the lower temperatures that the L12 received, for context the L12 features almost twice the fins per inch that the NT06-Pro does, at 13 compared to 7. I also feel that the depth limitations of the underside fan completely limit the maximum potential that the NT06-Pro could have had and really only see it as a cooler you keep in stock single fan mode.
However, the NT06-Pro meets a demand for a set optimal cooler height created by SilverStone themselves. At 82mm in height the cooler fits in a long list of SilverStone cases that most other coolers wont fit in and/or if they can won't compare in regards to performance because at this point, size does matter. Some of these cases to name a few are/will be; ML07, ML08, FTZ01, RVZ01, SG01, SG02, SG03, SG04, SG05, SG06, you get the picture.
Performance aside I also feel slightly let down on the build quality. It's not that the cooler is badly built it's just the fins are so flimsy and bend so quickly we actually had the end fins bent slightly straight out of the box, you can see this in the reviews cover photo, top right corner. I know, I get it, the cooler is a hunk of metal designed to do a specialised job but I want to feel impressed, I want it to FEEL powerful, not underwhelming. A tiny little extra thickness to the fins wouldn't go amiss and we've seen plenty of high performance coolers with thicker fins so.
All in all, it is a cooler and for it's compact size and low profile design, it ticks many boxes for me but stiff competition means it wouldn't be in my top list of coolers to choose from if I was building in something vastly different to the afformentioned cases. on the contrary, if I WAS building in a case that fits this cooler but nothing bigger, I don't believe there is a better cooler to use other than the NT06-Pro. It seems to me like the NT06-Pro has definitely followed in the footsteps of previous Nitrogon coolers with it being specifically built for a selection of SilverStone cases and is part of their ongoing support for those of us who love the SFF Mini-ITX style systems. We gave it 70/100 total rating meaning it just barely qualified for our Bronze Award, see our rating dissection below.
However, the NT06-Pro meets a demand for a set optimal cooler height created by SilverStone themselves. At 82mm in height the cooler fits in a long list of SilverStone cases that most other coolers wont fit in and/or if they can won't compare in regards to performance because at this point, size does matter. Some of these cases to name a few are/will be; ML07, ML08, FTZ01, RVZ01, SG01, SG02, SG03, SG04, SG05, SG06, you get the picture.
Performance aside I also feel slightly let down on the build quality. It's not that the cooler is badly built it's just the fins are so flimsy and bend so quickly we actually had the end fins bent slightly straight out of the box, you can see this in the reviews cover photo, top right corner. I know, I get it, the cooler is a hunk of metal designed to do a specialised job but I want to feel impressed, I want it to FEEL powerful, not underwhelming. A tiny little extra thickness to the fins wouldn't go amiss and we've seen plenty of high performance coolers with thicker fins so.
All in all, it is a cooler and for it's compact size and low profile design, it ticks many boxes for me but stiff competition means it wouldn't be in my top list of coolers to choose from if I was building in something vastly different to the afformentioned cases. on the contrary, if I WAS building in a case that fits this cooler but nothing bigger, I don't believe there is a better cooler to use other than the NT06-Pro. It seems to me like the NT06-Pro has definitely followed in the footsteps of previous Nitrogon coolers with it being specifically built for a selection of SilverStone cases and is part of their ongoing support for those of us who love the SFF Mini-ITX style systems. We gave it 70/100 total rating meaning it just barely qualified for our Bronze Award, see our rating dissection below.
Verdict:
| Performance: Build Quality: Features & Compatibility: Aesthetics & Packaging: Value For Money: | 25/40* 10/15 14/15 6/10 15/20 | Rating: 70/100 |
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