Legit Cooling Reviews

Corsair Air Series A50 CPU Cooler Review

Manufacturer: Corsair
Product: A50 CPU Cooler (Part Number CAFA50)
Date: Wed, Jan 26, 2011 - 12:00 AM
Written By: Shane Higgins -
Share:

Installing the Corsair A50


Corsair A50 CPU Cooler

The A50 comes with all that is needed to mount the cooler to AMD AM2 and AM3 sockets, as well as all Intel LGA sockets. The A50 also comes with an inline resistor to throttle the fan speed from 2000 RPM to 1600 RPM, and a tube of thermal paste.

Corsair A50 CPU Cooler

The instructions are also quite nice. Even if you can’t read the language, or at all for that matter, the illustrations are very well done and very clear.

Corsair A50 CPU Cooler

I will be installing the A50 on our Core i7 test system. The Intel mounting parts consist of a backing plate, top strap and screws.

Corsair A50 CPU Cooler

The backing plate is adjustable for the socket. Simply slide the post to the notch for your socket.

Corsair A50 CPU Cooler

The bracket for the post has notches that hold the post in place quite nicely. So no fumbling around with keeping the posts lined up while installing it on the board. The backing plate also has a full cover insulation sheet.

Corsair A50 CPU Cooler

The top plate mounts to the cooler base with 4 screws. The groves in the base top keep everything aligned correctly.

Corsair A50 CPU Cooler

With HDT coolers the normal way of putting a pea size drop of thermal paste on the CPU doesn’t work. The grooves in the cooler base suck up the paste and don’t allow it to spread. So you either have to do the butter method and spread the paste on the CPU or, like in the image above, put small thin lines on each pipe then install the cooler.

Corsair A50 CPU Cooler

With the cooler installed we can attach the fan and get the system reassembled.

Corsair A50 CPU Cooler

The A50 cleared all the board components of the Intel DX58SO motherboard. The A50 is also like most tower coolers today. If the body of the cooler hangs over a RAM slot you’re going to run into issues if you’re using RAM with tall heat spreaders over 40mm in height.

Next Page - Legit Reviews Intel Core i7-930 Test System


Review Index
Page 1 - Corsair A50 CPU Cooler
Page 2 - Unboxing the Corsair A50
Page 3 - Looking closer at the Corsair A50
Page 4 - Installing the Corsair A50
Page 5 - Legit Reviews Intel Core i7-930 Test System
Page 6 - Corsair A50 Temperature Testing Results
Page 7 - Final Thoughts and Conclusion