CoolJag Falcon 92-CU CPU Cooler Review

Conclusion

If we had to sum the cooler up in two words those words would be: “Unfulfilled Potential”. The Falcon 92 has LOTS of potential considering it has nearly everything going for it; it has an almost all-copper construction, four large heatpipes and quite a bit of surface area to disperse the heat your processor kicks out. Unfortunately CoolJag made some serious errors with their fan selection and especially with their quality assurance checks that left the now-infamous thermistor sucking in cool air. As we saw when you take that fans brains out of the equation the Falcon 92 is a fairly impressive, if quirky, CPU cooler. Like we said before: unfulfilled potential.

In a perfect world for CoolJag's marketing team, the Falcon 92 would have had a normal PWM compliant fan so maybe their claims would be seen as “over enthusiasm” and not so hollow when everything was said and done. In the overclocking enthusiast community people are willing to live with boastful claims, less than optimal mounting instructions and even having to use washers to protect their board just as long as the performance is there. If CoolJag does not tweak the fan design before too many people buy it, they will certainly make a name for themselves but it won’t necessarily be the one they want.

So with all of this to consider can we really recommend this cooler? If you are willing to take the time and effort to modify it then the CoolJag Falcon provides quite good performance but it is still thumped by some of its priced competitors like the Thermalright Ultima 90. Only time will tell if CoolJag can overcome the teething problems this cooler seems to have but it looks like they are on the right track.

Sure, the CoolJag Falcon 92 looks badass but its stock performance was anything but impressive. To put it another way (and to beat a metaphor to death in the process), it is like finally meeting the big bad biker dude that everyone has been talking about and realizing that he is: A) an accountant from PEI, B) his leathers came directly from an LL Bean Catalogue, C) his “boss hog” is nothing more than a Honda with a fancy paintjob and D) his tattoos are nothing but Geeky variations of “I Love Mom” in Huttese, Klingon, Ferengi, Vorlon, Sindarin and even Esperanto.


Pros:

- Good looks
- Green LEDS
- Shin-Etsu TIM
- Low noise fan
- Easy installation for AMD
- Cross platform compatible
- Good performance once modified

Cons:

- “Smart” fan isn’t that smart
- Proprietary fan
- Short warranty
- Not everyone likes Green LEDS
- Mounting issues
- Not an “EASY” installation for 775 systems
- Potential Motherboard damage issues
- Little Better than Stock temperatures at stock
- Needs to be modified to produce good results