CoolJag Falcon 92-CU CPU Cooler Review

Modifying the fan

Even though we here at HWC do not like modifying a unit in any way to improve it and in fact think that doing so “cheats” our readers out of a fair, unbiased opinion; we consider this to be a special case so we did modify the fan to see what this CPU cooler’s true potential really is.

Upon seeing that the thermistor did not make proper contact (actually, it made NO contact) with the Falcon's copper fins we, we went about removing it to see if there was any large improvement in performance.


In general this is a relatively easy modification to do. One simply has to remove the 4 small screws that attach the fan and mounting bracket to the copper fins. This allows you easier access to the thermistor (the green "nipple" you see near the upper right-hand portion of the fan).

When you have fan removed all you have to do is flip it over on its back (so that you can read the EverFlow tag and motto on the fans motor) and twist the two pins of the thermistor together. After a few twists, making sure not to break the wire, you can then remove the thermistor. We used a pair of pliers but even nail clippers will do in a pinch. If you want to make double sure that that there is a good connection between the two remaining pins, you can further remove the fan body from the metal bracket by removing three more screws, cut a small piece of the plastic body out with a Dremel Tool and then solder the two pins together. This last step can be considered “overkill” but it will ensure good current flow. Either way, the Everflow fan will now run at full speed unless PWM control is used.


After this is completed one simply has to reinstall the fan and reap all the benefits and rewards that voiding your warranty and risk turning the fan into a brick entail. In this case you will see marked improvement in the efficiency of the Falcon 92-cu. The increase is so drastic that while the CoolJag marketing still crosses the line, at least they don’t seem like such hollow boasts anymore.


Additional Test Results


Q6600 Idle



Here we can see that the Falcon 92-CU was once again able to easily handle the thermal load and was still quiet while doing it. Yes the fan was rotating a lot faster than before, but at least the increased noise can be justified with increased cooling. Of course, the Ultima 90’s more efficient design still beats it.


Q6600 Average Load



These numbers are MUCH better. They still are not great but that sure are heck of a lot better then they were! Just remember that when "overclocked" the Falcon92-CU’s fan is MUCH louder than the stock fan. To me this really does show the potential this cooler has. To bad CoolJag got “fancy” and paired the wrong fan with it in the first place. I am sure that most people will agree when we say that adding additional green lights to a case is easy, but adding an extra fan to this unit would be HARD.

Please note that in these tests neither the Falcon 92-cu nor the Ultima 90 were at their thermal limits; rather this is how far this particular q6600 will OC with 1.45volts. If we had been willing to increase the vCore to 1.5 volts 3.6GHz is possible but it is outside our comfort zone.


Editor's Note:

To tell you the truth, with a modded fan the differences we have seen here are like night and day. This goes to show how the inclusion of a properly-installed fan could have benefited this cooler in more ways than one. In the end, we decided to show you how to modify this heatsink even though this slip-up could have been prevented with proper QA on CoolJag's part.

In our communications with CoolJag, we have been made aware that they know of the issue concerning the improperly installed thermistor and are taking steps to fix it on future productions of this heatsink. However, we have been unable to reach Nexus (whose new XiR-series of coolers use this same design) in order to confirm that they have taken care of this problem as well.