Conclusion

To be honest, we were expecting some great things from this cooler. The specifications’, hype, price, and proven winning quality from their fans all provided us with the anticipation of what this cooler could achieve. Unfortunately, our conclusion came to one simple statement; poor LGA1366 cooling ability.

With regards to the load testing using the high performance San Ace H1011 fan at full throttle, a topped out temperature of 82C on a i7 930 at 4.20GHz with 1.35v isn’t too bad considering these CPU’s can handle temperatures all the way to 100C before they start to become unstable and throttle. That said though, comparing that to the best CPU cooler right now, the Cogage Arrow, using the same conditions was a good 15C cooler. I’m afraid when that cooler costs the same as the DS at around £45 Inc VAT, it’s bad news for Coolink.

We’re not really sure why the DS is so far behind the Arrow as they use similar technology. If anything, we were expecting results to be the same or maybe better with Coolink’s GDT Technology we mentioned earlier. Never the less, a whole 15C hotter isn’t great and although 82C isn’t bad, if one was to use the stock fan at a comfortable 1300RPM or lower speed, one would be hitting temperatures exceeding 90C which is too much.

So what does this mean then in real terms? The DS isn’t a bad cooler at all. It comes with one of the best noise to CFM fans on the open market and is relatively cheap. Its supports both Intel and AMD platforms, and features some new inventive technology, albeit tweaks. However, if one wanted to use this cooler on the hottest platform for LGA1366 and was looking to overclock, we can’t recommend this cooler as you’ll be limited by temperatures and thus a lower overclock.

Coolink’s Corator DS is a nice looking cooler, but compared to the current leading champion of air coolers, the DS is no match at all. However, there is some good news at least for AMD users. Before we stopped our testing of coolers on the AM3 platform, we managed to do some testing on an overclocked AMD Phenom II X3 705e @ 4.0GHz w/ 1.5v. See below.

This is the DS’ saving grace. While it appears on LGA1366 its cooling ability isn’t great under load testing, AMD however looks to be very promising. Even with 1.5v pumped through the CPU running at 4.0GHz, the DS this time around is only 2C behind the Arrow and on par with Thermalright’s Venomous X. Testing was done using the high performance San Ace fan. I can hear Coolink breathing a sigh of relief.

Coolink’s Corator DS receives a 7/10 and a Bronze Award. While cooling on LGA1366 may well be sub-par, AM3 proved to be the sweat spot for this cooler.

Cons

-          Poor Socket LGA1366 cooling (if overclocking)

-          Mounting for one fan only

-          May have height/space restrictions

Pros

-          Great Socket AM3 cooling

-          Supplied with one top performance fan!

-          Supports all platforms out of the box!

-          Fast, easy, and secure mounting

-          Very secure packaging!

-          Cost

-          5 Year Warranty!

Thanks

A special mention to Andreas at Coolink for supplying the cooler for review!