The Thermolab Baram is an impressive piece of kit. Looking at the results, it bested all the other high end coolers thus putting itself into a league of its own. Surprisingly it is also much cheaper than the Noctua and CoolIT solutions at only £32.99, although no fans are provided. Couple it with some Scythe/Noctua/Akasa/Yate Loon fans and this is definitely a heatsink worth considering. The most astounding observation was the fact that it out-competed the NH-U12P by over 4 degrees at loads, proving Thermolab\'s use of the heat sink design to be more efficient.

There isn\'t much in terms of negatives to say about the Baram. It\'s easy to install, looks attractive, works very efficiently and the price point is definitely in its favour. The original we received may not have had the most intuitive manual or installation kit but Thermolab was quick to fix those issues and the end product is just fantastic. However, in terms of marketing, it does seem to have failed in getting some attention away from more popular manufacturers such as Noctua, Thermalright etc. Personally I believe this to be down to the fact that its unique features are very subtle so people are not taking enough notice of it, whereas the likes of the Prolimatech Megahalems of the Coolermaster V8 have distinguished designs that sets them apart. This is a big shame because the Thermolab Baram is a brilliant cooler!

Pros:
•Excellent design features
•5 heat pipe solution
•Easy to install
•Class leading cooling performance
•Very well priced although other similarly priced product provide a fan
•Attractive design

Cons:
•Nuts bundled must be installed by hand

The Thermolab Baram CPU cooler deservedly earns itself the Vortez Hardware Gold Award.



I would like to thank Thermolab for providing us with the sample.

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