In the past the Korean company Thermolab has been able to surprise with high quality products, which were able to compete with the best in corresponding product categories. With the ITX30 the company has been working on a small cooler for mini ITX builds, like for instance HTPCs, and at a first glance this is a rather interesting little cooler, since it has been made entirely from copper.
Thermolab is one of the companies in the cooler market which is making a
nice looking small factor form cooler for HTPC or Steam Box system for
living rooms. Meanwhile there are two low-profile coolers and in this review we are testing
the smaller one named
the ITX30 with dimension of just 100(L) x 94(W) x 30(H)mm. This cooler is tiny
and made out of pure copper, which is very rare these days considering that the copper is the best material for heat dissipation and also
quite expensive.
As noted earlier, both the base and the heatpipes on the Thermolab ITX30 are
made of pure copper. It features two 6mm heatpipes which are not in direct contact with the CPU but have been routed
through a copper base. In case of the Thermolab ITX30 you get a low-profile cooler that perfectly suits small-form-factor builds. The heatsink fins are made
of copper also. The manufacturing quality
is definitely high, which is a pleasant surprise considering that this is more
of a budget cooler.
A quick look at the base confirms that, since there is no perfect mirror finish. The bundled 80mm PWM fan is quite simple and will not stand out from a pile
of standard OEM fans. The height of this cooler is 30mm including the 80mm fan
which in total is 24mm less than Intel's stock cooler so we can be onehundred percent sure it
fits in every case.
Specifications |
Model |
ITX30 |
Type |
Low-profile 80mm |
Provided Fan(s) |
1x 80x10mm PWM |
Supported Fan(s) |
1x 80mm |
Base Material |
Pure copper |
Fins Material |
Copper |
Socket Support |
Intel LGA 1150, 1155, 1156 |
Thermal compound |
Pre-Applied |
Product Page |
Thermolab ITX30 |
Like the cooler, bundle and the box are also quite simple. It is made out of solid
cardboard and although the cooler inside is only protected by a bubble wrap our sample arrived without a single dent or any
damage whatsoever. The bundled fan is attached to the heatsink while the rest of
the mounting components are placed in a separate plastic bag. The bundle
includes an installation manual, four screws, four transparent plastic washers, two fan clips,
an 80mm fan and the heatsink itself which comes with pre-applied thermal
compound.