Cooler Master V8 GTS High Performance CPU Cooler, Horizontal Vapor Chamber, 8 Heatpipes, Aluminum Fins, Dual 120mm Fans, Red LED, AMD /Intel LGA1200/1151/2066

This product is very impressive so I decided to write a quality review. This review is lengthy but worth the read if you like learning. It's a CPU cooler/heat sink and it does a monster job! Even at peak loads while multitasking and gaming with my rig (GA 990FX Gaming motherboard, AMD FX 8370 overclocked @ 5 Ghz, GTX 970, 32GB DDR4 2133 RAM, 1200W Cooler Master power supply, Samsung M.2 512 960 Pro SSD, Windows 10 Pro) the temp never even gets warm. I will also add some side information and a picture which I hope helps answer questions people may have, enjoy =]PROS: It's the best "air" cooling device I've owned, simply incredible performance for the price. easy 30 minute or less installation if you have patience and competence. Comes with a giant bag of everything needed to mount on many different chip sets/builds. It looks really cool, red lights everywhere and clear-ish dual fans spinning away lit up by the red lights. Surprisingly quite. I had to take off my headset, close all the doors and listen carefully to see just how much noise it makes and I barely hear it even with the tower is right beside me on the top of my desk. Also notable is that the heat sink fins are much thicker, larger and durable than the 1st gen V8 (approximately 2-3 times as thick). This means there is more "thermal mass" to aid in radiation of heat. The fins are also separated MORE than the 1st gen, which means there is more room for thermal resistance between the fins. There are also TWO fans now instead of one. The most notable feature of the two fans is that they have 4th gen bearings which last much longer and are "dust proof". My 1st gen V8 lasted 8 years before the 120 x 120 x 25 cooler master fan seized and I ran it full throttle all 8 years :D pretty impressive....CONS *some of these are not "bad" but are notable as advisory: IT"S MASSIVE. I replaced my previous V8 first gen. heat sink with this one. You can see in the photo that it is MUCH larger than the 1st gen V8 (bought in 2008). SO, be sure you have a tower that can accommodate this beast if you want your system sealed after install. I HIGHLY recommend that your motherboard be REMOVED from your tower and this device installed AND PLUGGED IN to the "CPU FAN" outlet before reinstalling motherboard. I would also note that on certain motherboards, one of the four corner mounts will be impossibly difficult to fasten down with their "wrench". I had to bend the wrench neck to about '60 to fasten this bolt due to the motherboard's heat pipes/heat sinks in that area. THE INSTRUCTIONS are a joke. If I were a basic user, I would be very frustrated with these instructions and be left with several questions. There are FOUR short sentences and they are poorly written. They also have pictures which are microscopic and don't help at all. Also, there is a thin plastic sticker on the contact surface that needs to be removed before installation so you don't melt it or possibly turn your system into a fireball. The sticker reads "WARNING Please peel off label before you use it" LOL I don't know what they think I'm going to use the label for.... perhaps as a study guide for learning English :D.I hope this information and picture help you make an informed decision on your purchase. I was born and grew up in the Silicon Valley, CA and am well versed in all computer matters. Bought my first computer in 1983 and have come a long way =] As a whole I give this product 10/10 for FUNCTION. I can care less about their mishaps on the instructions, mounting design, "wrench", etc as they are irrelevant to this device's FUNCTION. I rarely give a product 10/10.

I built my machine to be able to run most games at max settings while being 100% air-cooled. No issue with that and it runs like a champ. GPU stays at a stable 35-40C under load and the CPU rarely went above 50C. Stock CPU cooler as well and no overclocking. However, I recently undertook a project that required a substantial amount of processing power and the need to convert video files from one format to another. When converting a file, my CPU (FX-8320) started spiking to around 70-72C under load. Not critical, but very hot considering it never got anywhere near that when performing any other tasks. So I started hunting for a new cooling rig.To begin with, when I came across this monster, I fully expected that there was a chance it would not fit. I'm running inside a Rosewill Blackhawk and it's a mid. As it was, it was very manageable. But the V8 is huge, so I'm going to point some things out to prospective buyers.-If you have a mid tower, there is a high probability that this will not fit.-If you have a mid tower, depending on which kind you have, You may be able to get it to fit with some minor modifications to your case.-I managed to get it installed, but the effort required was substantial. I had to cut out the grate on the top of the case and remove 2 fans (no longer necessary) in order to even have a chance at tightening the top bracket screws.-Installing using the AMD bracket is a pain. The screws connect directly to the backplate, so you have to hold the plate while trying to get the screw threads started on the other side, which is only more difficult if you're working with limited space to begin with.-I'm running an Asus 970 Pro Gaming Aura and it is covered in heat-sinks. If your motherboard is also covered in heat sinks, be prepared for a tough time getting to the screws or consider a smaller cooler.Now, with all that said, it works beeeeautifully. Even runs quieter than it did before (probably because of the two fans I removed). Under max load while performing the same tasks that were pushing it over 70C, I now barely touch 40C under load. It also idles around 20C now compared to my previous average of 32C. With roughly a 40% reduction in load temps, I will say the effort was well worth it, but I'll probably be upgrading my case in the near future.