ASUS Silent Square Pro: Compact Embedded-Fan Heatpipe Tower
by Wesley Fink on April 16, 2007 2:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
ASUS Silent Square Pro
Like most ASUS boards and components, the Silent Square Pro is a stand-out package. This package repeats the Silent Square Pro color scheme of orange spread across a black background.
Unlike some competing products which try to tell you everything on the package, ASUS presents some nice photos of the product and the basic product specifications. The large Silent Square package contains the cooler protected by a rigid plastic clamshell and a smaller component box with adapters, instruction manual, and fan controller. As you would expect from ASUS the impression left by the packaging and attention to detail is one of quality.
The Silent Square Pro and Silent Square use the same base heatsink, but different fans and cladding. Five U-shaped heatpipes support front and back cooling fin arrays with a 90mm fan sandwiched in the middle of the heatsink. This is the same idea used by the Tuniq Tower 120 on a smaller scale. Unlike the Tuniq, which uses a common and easily replaced 120mm fan, the Silent Square uses a very uncommon 90mm fan. This means you will likely be forced to run the Silent Square coolers with the stock fans.
The Pro mounts a 2500 RPM fan and the regular Silent Square mounts an 1800 RPM fan. Both coolers shroud the heatsink to direct airflow. The Pro goes even further with top and side covers with airflow arrows embossed on the orange covers.
There are no mounts installed on the shipping ASUS Silent Square Pro, but the kit includes mount adapters for Intel 775 with two different backplates for different motherboard configurations. Mounts for AMD 754/939/940/AM2, and Intel 478 are also included. Since we have inadvertently killed a couple of motherboards with other "universal" back plates shorting rear solder points, it was good to see a second much improved plastic 775 back plate included. Also included is a small syringe of premium ASUS thermal paste and a clear set of color installation instructions.
As mentioned, the ASUS Silent Square Pro includes a 3.5" bay fan controller with a blue led fan speed layout. This useful accessory makes it very easy to control fan speed and noise of the Silent Square Pro. Mounting in a 3.5" bay was easy and the connecting wires were long enough to reach from the bay to the cooler in most case designs.
You will need to remove the motherboard to install the ASUS Silent Square, but the mount installation is still simple on most motherboards. The holding clamp is a turn clip like you see on K8/AMD coolers. It installs quickly. Unfortunately, if your motherboard places the CPU socket near the top edge of the board, like the 680i does, you will have difficulty pushing the clip on a mounted board; there just isn't enough space between the socket and the power supply with the CPU near the edge. In that case you will need to unscrew the board just to push and lock the retention clip.
The Silent Square is still a big cooler, though it is a good deal smaller than a Tuniq Tower 120. It also weighs 745g (26.3 ounces), which is heavy for a cooler the size of the Silent Square. Fortunately the mounting method is very secure and it appears to distribute the weight evenly, which should provide some additional safety.
Since the motherboard must be removed for mounting the Silent Square, it is best to install the heatsink before remounting the board. We overlooked the clearance issue with the mounting clip and ended up having to remove the motherboard to push the clip and then remount the board. Installing the heatsink while the board is out of the case avoids additional difficulties.
The Silent Square is smaller than most other heatpipe towers and did not overhang the DIMM slots on any board we had in the lab. We also had no problem with clearance on any of the boards we had in the lab.
Specifications
The Silent Square will mount on all current CPU sockets. It also will mount on the older Intel socket 478.
The fan included with the Silent Square Pro moves a lot of air for a 90mm fan, though the output would be considered moderate in a 120mm fan. The cooling fins are very closely spaced in the Silent Square design - closer than we have seen in other heatpipe towers. Fan noise level is not specified, but ASUS calls the cooler "silent". We will measure noise levels at low and high fan speeds in our testing.
Like most ASUS boards and components, the Silent Square Pro is a stand-out package. This package repeats the Silent Square Pro color scheme of orange spread across a black background.
Unlike some competing products which try to tell you everything on the package, ASUS presents some nice photos of the product and the basic product specifications. The large Silent Square package contains the cooler protected by a rigid plastic clamshell and a smaller component box with adapters, instruction manual, and fan controller. As you would expect from ASUS the impression left by the packaging and attention to detail is one of quality.
The Silent Square Pro and Silent Square use the same base heatsink, but different fans and cladding. Five U-shaped heatpipes support front and back cooling fin arrays with a 90mm fan sandwiched in the middle of the heatsink. This is the same idea used by the Tuniq Tower 120 on a smaller scale. Unlike the Tuniq, which uses a common and easily replaced 120mm fan, the Silent Square uses a very uncommon 90mm fan. This means you will likely be forced to run the Silent Square coolers with the stock fans.
The Pro mounts a 2500 RPM fan and the regular Silent Square mounts an 1800 RPM fan. Both coolers shroud the heatsink to direct airflow. The Pro goes even further with top and side covers with airflow arrows embossed on the orange covers.
There are no mounts installed on the shipping ASUS Silent Square Pro, but the kit includes mount adapters for Intel 775 with two different backplates for different motherboard configurations. Mounts for AMD 754/939/940/AM2, and Intel 478 are also included. Since we have inadvertently killed a couple of motherboards with other "universal" back plates shorting rear solder points, it was good to see a second much improved plastic 775 back plate included. Also included is a small syringe of premium ASUS thermal paste and a clear set of color installation instructions.
As mentioned, the ASUS Silent Square Pro includes a 3.5" bay fan controller with a blue led fan speed layout. This useful accessory makes it very easy to control fan speed and noise of the Silent Square Pro. Mounting in a 3.5" bay was easy and the connecting wires were long enough to reach from the bay to the cooler in most case designs.
You will need to remove the motherboard to install the ASUS Silent Square, but the mount installation is still simple on most motherboards. The holding clamp is a turn clip like you see on K8/AMD coolers. It installs quickly. Unfortunately, if your motherboard places the CPU socket near the top edge of the board, like the 680i does, you will have difficulty pushing the clip on a mounted board; there just isn't enough space between the socket and the power supply with the CPU near the edge. In that case you will need to unscrew the board just to push and lock the retention clip.
The Silent Square is still a big cooler, though it is a good deal smaller than a Tuniq Tower 120. It also weighs 745g (26.3 ounces), which is heavy for a cooler the size of the Silent Square. Fortunately the mounting method is very secure and it appears to distribute the weight evenly, which should provide some additional safety.
Since the motherboard must be removed for mounting the Silent Square, it is best to install the heatsink before remounting the board. We overlooked the clearance issue with the mounting clip and ended up having to remove the motherboard to push the clip and then remount the board. Installing the heatsink while the board is out of the case avoids additional difficulties.
The Silent Square is smaller than most other heatpipe towers and did not overhang the DIMM slots on any board we had in the lab. We also had no problem with clearance on any of the boards we had in the lab.
Specifications
The Silent Square will mount on all current CPU sockets. It also will mount on the older Intel socket 478.
| ASUS Silent Square Pro Specifications | |
| Heatsink | |
| Dimensions | 120(L) X 1105(W) X 158(H)mm (excluding fan) |
| Weight | 745g (including fan) |
| Material | Copper Base and Nickel-Aluminum Fins with Five Copper Heatpipes |
| Fan Configuration | Embedded 90mm |
| Included Fan | |
| Fan Size | 90mm x 90mm x 25mm |
| Bearing | Sleeve |
| Noise Level | Not specified |
| Speed | 2500 RPM (1020 to 2280 RPM) |
| Maximum Air Pressure | 3.3mm-H2O |
| Maximum Airflow | 49.4 CFM |
The fan included with the Silent Square Pro moves a lot of air for a 90mm fan, though the output would be considered moderate in a 120mm fan. The cooling fins are very closely spaced in the Silent Square design - closer than we have seen in other heatpipe towers. Fan noise level is not specified, but ASUS calls the cooler "silent". We will measure noise levels at low and high fan speeds in our testing.
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JarredWalton - Monday, April 16, 2007 - link
I wouldn't call this a "top 20" yet - more like "20 good/great coolers" - but I can do something about the graphs. Large (very large) versions now linked in. There's still a ton of data, so I figured a lot of people would just look at the tables below the graphs. Either way, I hope this works for you. Not sure what I'll do with the graphs when there's 30 coolers in the list! ;)yacoub - Monday, April 16, 2007 - link
The click-thru for hi-res is a great interim solution! Thanks!yacoub - Monday, April 16, 2007 - link
so few 650i motherboard roundups. :DGetting a bit anxious to see a nice 650i roundup before the 6320/6420/4400 launch... and perhaps an AMD motherboard roundup so folks who are looking to take advantage of the Intel price drop next week can be better informed about what good stable, overclocking-featured s775 boards exist or are coming soon, and compare that to what the current competition in the AMD arena looks like with their new CPU pricing and whatever AM2 motherboards are decent and how they overclock (which I have no clue about since I haven't seen any reviews/overviews/roundups for AMD boards in several months.)
What a great time for a nice Gary Key overview and analysis of the motherboard/overclocking scene!
Lots of talk on forums about DS3 v3.3 or whatever the Gigabyte P965 board is called. A bit about the MSi 650i board that seems to be well built and not as buggy as most boards but not as strong an overclocker. Please let's get a nice roundup.
rjm55 - Monday, April 16, 2007 - link
AT probably has the largest database of top coolers tested on the C2D right now, sonce most other sites are still testing with older P4's and AMD. Thanks for providing the info I was looking for.One question though. I have personally tested the Zalman 9500 on the AMD and C2D platforms. The 9500 is a brilliant performer on the AMD processor, but I agree it is a dog on the Core 2 Duo. Do you or any readers have a notion why some coolers do well on the AMD and are misrable performers on the Core 2 Duo?
Wesley Fink - Monday, April 16, 2007 - link
I believe the major reason coolers like the 9500 do well on AMD, but not so well on Core 2 Duo is because the AMD processors at present do not overclock nearly as well as Core 2 Duo processors. The 9500 does not run out of steam in the overclock range of the AMD, but the C2D overclocks much further and wxceeds the effective design limits.If you look at temps closely the Zalman 9500 and 9700 cool exceptionally well at stock 2.93GHz and up to 800 MHz higher, which is well within the top speed you can achieve with air cooling of an AMD. When you go further on a C2D the 950/9700 reach their effective limit while some other heatpipe towers like the top Thermalright and Tuniq Tower 120 are still performing very well.
Deusfaux - Monday, April 16, 2007 - link
I remember you said a while back... which ones are left?Apack Zerotherm BT95? (the butterfly cooler!)
Thermalright's other new cooler? I4-FX?
anything else?
DrMrLordX - Monday, April 16, 2007 - link
Scythe Andy Samurai Master? Enzotech Ultra-X?Wesley Fink - Monday, April 16, 2007 - link
The Cooler Master Gemini II and Scythe Andy Samurai are in the labs for testing. The Enzotech Ultra X is on its way. We have also requested a Thermalright IFX-14.DrMrLordX - Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - link
Sweet. You gonna do the Big Typhoon VX as well?Pirks - Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - link
Big Typhoon beat the $rap out of almost all its competitors in overclockers.ru benches and seems to be number 1 (or at least 2) OC cooler in Russia :) too bad AT ignored it, but they will catch up, I'm sure ;)