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The New Alpine CPU Coolers from ARCTIC


ARCTIC Alpine CPU Cooler Series

With the new Alpine 12 and Alpine AM4 series, we are updating our portfolio of cost-effective CPU coolers.

The Alpine 12 series is designed for the 115x sockets from Intel, while the Alpine AM4 series is exclusively compatible with the namesake AM4 socket from AMD. Alpine AM4 series, except the Passive, are also backward compatible with AM3+, AM3, AM2+, AM2, FM2 and FM1.

The Alpine 12 Passive and Alpine AM4 Passive, available since summer 2018, are now being supplemented with the launch of the Alpine 12 and Alpine 12 CO. Further versions for AMD and Intel will follow shortly. The older versions Alpine 11, Alpine 20, Alpine 64 and Alpine M1 are end-of-life products that will no longer be produced.

Product Name Max. TDP Compatibility Availability
Alpine 12 95 W Intel 115x 10 / 2018
Alpine 12 CO 100 W Intel 115x 10 / 2018
Alpine 12 LP 75W Intel 115x 12 / 2018
Alpine 12 Passive 47 W Intel 115x 07 / 2018
Alpine AM4 95 W AMD AM4, AM3+, AM3, AM2+, AM2, FM2, FM1 Q1 2019
Alpine AM4 CO 100 W AMD AM4, AM3+, AM3, AM2+, AM2, FM2, FM1 Q1 2019
Alpine AM4 LP 75 W AMD AM4, AM3+, AM3, AM2+, AM2, FM2, FM1 Q1 2019
Alpine AM4 Passive 47 W AMD AM4 07 / 2018

 

Newly developed heatsinks

All new Alpine CPU coolers feature newly developed heatsinks.

The passive versions achieve an optimized heat dissipation to the environment through the black anodization of the heatsink. This noticeably increases the cooling performance in a fanless system.

The actively cooled Alpine 12 and AM4 models in turn have a new radial heatsink. The high thermal conductivity of the aluminum is fully retained in a new type of extrusion.

The novel production process makes it possible to produce a powerful and at the same time very compact heatsink. The particularly fine cooling fins of the new Alpine coolers are fanned out in a Y-shape. This increases the surface area of the heatsink and also improves the cooling performance.

Affordable CPU cooler for AMD and Intel

All actively cooled Alpine 12 and Alpine AM4 models use our advanced, PWM-controlled fan technology. As a result, all Alpine coolers run very efficiently, with low power consumption and at the same time within a very wide RPM range. In addition, the new Alpine series supports a 0 dB mode – if the a PWM signal drops below 5%, the fans turn off, ensuring absolutely silent cooling of the CPU.

All new Alpine 12 and Alpine AM4 CPU coolers are delivered with pre-applied MX-2 thermal compound. This guarantees a quick and easy installation.

Intel’s new Coffee Lake CPUs: Increased Thermal Load

With Coffee Lake, Intel has recently released its eighth processor generation. As part of the launch of the new generation of processors, a new chipset the Z370 has also been introduced.

While CPU coolers as offered by ARCTIC are still compatible thanks to the same mechanical socket, switching to the new Coffee Lake Processors requires a new mainboard due to its new chipset.

Motherboards with older chipsets (like Z270 / H310 / H370 / B360) are no longer compatible with Intel Coffee Lake processors despite the mechanically identical socket.

Up to 100 Watts extra load

The German magazine c’t examined four new motherboards with the chipset Z370 in a test in issue 23/2017. They discovered that in their default settings all motherboards overclock and operate the processors outside Intel’s specifications. The following mainboards were tested:

  • Asrock Z370 Extreme4
  • Asus PrimeZ370-A
  • MSI Z370-A Pro
  • Gigabyte Z370 Aorus Ultra Gaming

Intel’s restrictions regarding the turbo boost (concerning, for example, power supply and multipliers) are circumvented by all tested motherboards and result in a significant additional thermal stress.

In the case of Intel’s latest flagship model, the i7 8700K, it can lead to an increased power consumption of up to an additional 100 W. This causes a noticeably elevated temperature of the processor and requires a cooling solution that can cover this power peak.

Even if Intel officially states a TDP of 95 watts for the current top model 8700K, when using one of the mentioned motherboards under full load, a cooling solution for up to 180 W may be necessary. Alternatively, the default overclocking has to be deactivated in the BIOS.

 Powerful CPU Cooler necessary

We advise all users of Intel’s Coffee Lake and their K CPUs to pay attention to this extra thermal load via overclocking when choosing their cooler, or alternatively to disable the automated overclocking in the BIOS.