We have previously checked out the GELID Phantom CPU cooler. There is also a Phantom Black edition cooler with very similar specifications. Let’s take a look at the differences between the two.
Unboxing
Same as the Phantom, the cooler is packed inside a cardboard box, mainly colored in black. At the front, you the “Phantom Black” model name on top and the compatible CPU sockets.
Brief descriptions of each feature of the cooler are printed at the back, such as the 7-heatpipe design and 200 watts TDP support.
You can find the detailed specification lists on the sides. The Phantom Black CPU cooler supports most modern CPU platforms and sockets, like Intel LGA 1150/1151/1155/1156 and AMD AM4/AM3+/AM3.
Two closed-cell foam are in place to keep the cooler protected. Additional plastic wrap is used to cover the heatsink.
You get a user manual on how to install the cooler on various CPU sockets, as well as the corresponding mounting hardware. Two pair of fan mounting clips and a 4-pin PWM Y-cable are also included.
GELID Phantom Black CPU Cooler
The Phantom Black is a large dual-tower CPU cooler, which can handle a more powerful processor. To transfer the heat evenly to the heatsink, there are a total of seven nickel-plated heatpipes.
The whole heatsink fin stacks and heatpipes are both painted with high-gloss black nickel-plating, which looks really nice in person. The coating are evenly distributed.
One of the aluminum fin stacks is moved slightly towards the center for better motherboard and RAM compatibility.
The Phantom Black has three 8 mm heatpipes and four 6 mm heatpipes. GELID says its heatpipes placement can help improve the efficiency of distributing heat to all heatpipes.
The copper base plate is also plated with nickel and polished to a mirror-like finish.
Although the Phantom Black supports up to three 120 mm cooling fans, only two fans and their mounting clips are included. You will need to purchase the additional hardware separately.
The included 120 mm fans can be controlled via PWM, spinning from 750 RPM up to 1600 RPM. According to GELID, they have a rated MTBF of 50,000 hours. Different from the Phantom cooler, the fans have anti-vibration rubber pads on each corner to reduce noise.
Review
We have updated our CPU cooler tests to more reflect real-world cooling performance of coolers.
Testing Methodology
To find out how the cooler performs, a total of two benchmarks is included. AIDA64 is used to run a CPU stress test. CPU, FPU and system cache are all stressed to create as much heat output as possible. Also, Cinebench R15 is used to simulate real-world CPU load (like video-editing or rendering). It will be run continuously for three times. The highest CPU package temperatures are recorded. Ambient temperature is around 26°C.
Results will be taken at a 50% fan speed and 100% speed, controlled via the motherboard CPU PWM fan header. Both single-fan and dual-fan configurations of the cooler will be tested separately.
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600X @ 3.6 GHz (95W TDP)
- Motherboard: MSI B350M GAMING PRO (its review here)
Performance
During the AIDA64 stress test, the Phantom Black cooler kept the CPU temperature at around 61°C with one fan in 50% speed. If the fan speed was increased to 100%, the temperature dropped drastically to only 56°C. The dual-fan, full speed configuration achieved the lowest temperature at 55°C as expected.
In Cinebench R15, the CPU generally produces less heat than AIDA64 stress test, but the overall rankings of each configuration remained the same. The highest CPU temperature was lower at 58°C, while the lowest temperature sat at 53°C.
When comparing the Phantom and Phantom Black coolers, the Phantom Black edged out slightly in all of our tests. The Phantom Black always raised the ambient room temperature by around 2°C to 3°C less than the Phantom.
Conclusion
The GELID Phantom Black is a very capable CPU cooler, that is able to keep our Ryzen 5 1600X CPU cool at stock clock speed. Even if the CPU is overclocked, the Phantom Black should have no problem maintaining the temperature under 70°C. In our tests, the cooler performed slightly better than its brother, the Phantom (its review here).
The included 120 mm fan runs well enough to cool the heatsink. There are anti-vibration pads on each corners to reduce noise. At higher fan speed, the fan does generate some noticeable noise, but should be mostly dampened by a closed case panel.
The Phantom Black cooler will cost you $47.30 USD (MSRP), with a 5-year warranty. In my opinion, the $5 USD increase in price (against the Phantom) is well-justified by the cooler’s better nickel-plated glossy finish and more superior cooling performance.
You can purchase the cooler from your local/online resellers.
Thanks GELID Solutions Ltd. for providing us the Phantom Black Cooler for review. (Review Sample)
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