Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler Review

Conclusion

After all the dust settled and we got to know the Tranquillo’s strengths and weakness very well, it’s difficult not to come away impressed. Its unique design really does seem to work by funneling air into and over not only the main fin array but the secondary smaller fins placed over the contact plate. This in itself is only one of the many small things which Gelid’s engineers made to this product which allow it to punch far above its weight and price category. Is it the perfect all-round heatsink? No, it isn’t but it comes pretty darn close especially when you consider we have yet to come across an absolutely perfect combination of performance and price.

When we look back over the installation section in particular, there is no denying that the Tranquillo is a very adaptable product even though it is far from perfect in some respects. One of the major disappointments we came across and continue to stumble upon with even the newest heatsinks is a distinct lack of forethought when it comes to installation onto an AMD-based system. In addition, while we do love the unique and obviously well designed fin array it still has one major weakness: lack of dual fan capability. We understand what Gelid was thinking by making the other side of the fin array point outwards, it unfortunately limits the potential performance of the Tranquillo. It also seems significant time and monetary resources were put into a solid copper base design yet there was a failure to follow through on its finishing.

With all this being said this budget-minded heatsink was still able to give the venerable TRUE Black a real run for its money and that is still one heck of an accomplishment. It should also be mentioned that the Tranquillo ships with a fan that is almost as quiet as a Noctua NF-P12-1300 but seems to push more air.

One of the most important things about the Gelid Tranquillo is the fact that it has an excellent performance to cost ratio. We really can’t fault Gelid for the cost cutting and design quirks that make this cooler what it is since it really did impress us through almost every single test scenario. It may not be the best at all situations, but it was hardly ever the worst even though it barely breaks the $30 mark in some situations. If you are looking for excellent performance but don’t want to shell out the $50 and more some higher-end units retail for, you can’t go wrong with the Tranquillo.


Pros:

- Good performance results on most tests
- Quiet yet kick arse fan included
- Multi-socket Intel mounting abilities
- Unique fin design
- Fluid Dynamic Bearing fan
- Very adaptable to numerous situations and noise levels
- Excellent price to performance ratio
- Copper base design
- Fast AMD installation


Cons:

- Less than perfect finishing on the copper base
- Capable of mounting only a single fan
- AMD installation results in North / South orientation and could interfere with memory slots