For this review I will be installing the Akasa Evo Blue following system into the following system: -

For the purpose of this review I will be comparing the Akasa Evo Blue to another offering from Akasa, the Akasa 859 which is a decent cooler in its own right being a solid block of copper. I will be measuring both load and idle temperatures at both minimum and maximum fan speeds as both heatsinks come with their own respective fan controllers. Load temperatures will be measured whilst running Prime 95 on blend test. In the case of load and idle tests the pc will be left running for approximately an hour to allow the temperatures to even out.

All temperature measurements are taken from MSI’s core centre.

Fitting the Akasa Evo Blue was pretty easy once the Akasa 859 was removed. The motherboard was removed the supplied retention bracket was fitted and the Akasa Evo Blue just simply screwed into place, no hassle, no fuss, no problem what so ever. The only “problem” is that the Akasa Evo Blue over hangs the memory so to replace the memory means removing the cooler.

Once the motherboard was back in the case the speed controller was fitted by simply mounting it into a spare pci slot and connecting the cables up. Again this was easily done as all the cables are clearly marked. Once it was all wired up it was time to switch on.

And rather fetching it looks too with the blue led’s which get brighter as the fan speed increases, its also worth noting that the logo on top is aluminium too buy the look / feel of it.

Another minor draw back I had to remove the CPU vent in the side panel of my case to fit the side panel back on after the Akasa Evo Blue was fitted.

Let’s move onto the test results.

Not a massive difference on paper but a MAJOR difference on noise front. I could quite happily sit here with the Evo Blue’s fan on full speed all day, in fact it wasn’t that much louder at full speed than it was at minimum speed, I can definitely hear it over the case and power supply fans but it’s not an irritating noise. The 859 on full speed, whilst cooling quite respectably, did create ALOT of noise and can become very annoying pretty quickly. It is also worth pointing out that the cooler may well improve as the thermal paste beds in.

Next Page: - Conclusion