If this heatsink has 180W of TDP of dissipation power with a single fan, by adding a second fan in a push-pull configuration we can easily improve this figure to 200W or even more, so even if we have a processor of the highest range we should not find any problem to keep it at a good temperature. In this analysis, we are going to check it, of course.
External analysis
The Nfortec Aegir comes packed in an elongated hard cardboard box, on the main face of which we find an image of the product accompanied by the brand and model, and highlighting that it is compatible with both the AMD AM4 socket and the 10th generation AMD processors. Intel. Well, actually, it is also compatible with the next generations.
On the sides we find, among other things, a QR that will take us to the product’s website, but what is interesting is on the back, where we find all its technical specifications in table form.
We open the box and the first thing we come across is the accessories, which are distributed in plastic bags with closure and labeled to indicate if they are for an Intel or AMD platform.
The heatsink comes with the fan already mounted from the factory, but it will have to be removed to be able to mount it more comfortably, of course.
In the upper part we can see the brand logo serigraphed, right in the center and surrounded by the ends of the six nickel-plated copper heat pipes.
The base does not have direct contact with the heat pipes, but it is also made of nickel-plated copper and is soldered to the heat pipes. It does not have a mirror effect, by the way, and it is protected by a transparent sticker that we are urged to remove before installing it. By the way, and this is something that the manufacturer should take note of, this sticker leaves quite a lot of residue on the base, and you have to use it thoroughly to remove all the adhesive residue that is stuck to it.
On the top of the base we also have some small aluminum sheets to further help with heat dissipation.
Let’s remove the fan for a closer look. It has a size of 120 mm in diameter and has rubber inserts in the corners to absorb vibrations. Also noteworthy is the fact that its connector is a 4-pin PWM connector and that it has 9 quite wide and inclined fins to generate good static pressure and thus move the air well between the aluminum fins. A success.
Already “naked”, we can see that the tower of aluminum sheets is symmetrical, it is not pushed to one side to make room for large RAM. However, given its width, we do not believe it is necessary either.
In the following gallery you can see the dimensions of the heatsink measured by ourselves: 149.3 x 50 x 122.1 millimeters. It’s even smaller than the manufacturer claims, at least if you don’t count how far the heat pipes stick out from the top.
Here you can see the Nfortec Aegir with the additional fan mounted, since the manufacturer has also sent it to us so that we can test it with its full potential.
Even with the two fans mounted, it’s not an excessively wide heatsink, and we don’t think it will cause any compatibility issues with either RAM or motherboard heatsinks.
Seen the device, let’s mount it.
This is how the Nfortec Aegir is mounted on a PC
In this case we have decided to mount the Nfortec Aegir on our Intel test platform, with socket LGA1700. The first step is to prepare the backplate with the four screws and the retaining washers that we will use.
You have to present the backplate on the back of the base plate, put the screws in their corresponding position, and leave them fixed with the washers, inside.
Now, let’s prepare the sink. You will have already noticed that there were two holes on each side of the base, and that is to install the anchor tool for Intel or AMD as needed. We just put it underneath and screw it on.
Once this is done, a pin must be placed on the screws to slightly raise the height at which the heatsink will be placed.
Once this is done, it is time to put thermal paste on the processor and place the heatsink on top, matching the holes with the screws. Anyway, as you can see there is quite a bit of slack on the LGA1700 platform.
Now we simply fit the corresponding spring loaded screws and tighten them.
Ready, it only remains to install the fans again and we already have the Nfortec Aegir ready to work.
We have to say that although the installation is relatively simple, it could be more. Those washers that you have to insert on one side while you make the screw coincide on the other make installation a bit difficult, since they also go in quite hard. We would have liked an alternative method in this respect, but otherwise the assembly and installation could be described as quite simple.
Test of performance
As we said during the assembly, we have used our usual Intel platform for testing, consisting of the following hardware:
- Intel Core i9-12900K.
- ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero.
- 2x16GB CORSAIR Vengeance RGB DDR5 6000MHz.
- TeamGroup Cardea A440 2 Tb.
- CORSAIR RM1000i.
The operating system used has been Windows 11 Pro with all the updates installed. And, as we always do, before proceeding to carry out the thermal and acoustic performance tests of the heatsink, we have left the PC turned on without doing anything for about two hours and then one more hour completely turned off, in order to let the thermal paste sits properly.
To put the processor to the maximum we have used Prime95 64 bits in blend mode, a torture software that stresses both the processor and the RAM to the maximum. The temperature data at rest (Idle) has been taken with the equipment doing nothing for 10 minutes, while the load data (Load) has been taken as the maximum temperature reached during the 20-minute test in Prime95. By the way, the data shown is the temperature delta (measured temperature minus room temperature), so that if the room temperature varies, the comparison is still reliable.
As we can see, the Nfortec Aegir with two fans has given us quite impressive performance, almost on a par with Noctua’s heatsink, which is much more expensive.
We pass to the loudness test; here we have used a Protmex PPM-SM001 sound level meter at an exact distance of 50 centimeters from the heatsink, so that the data collected is measured in dBA.
This is not the quietest heatsink on the market, but it is not the noisiest by far either, although it is true that the temperature even at maximum load means that the fans never run at full speed. Additionally, we will tell you that we set them to the maximum to see if they were noisy or not and yes, at 1,800 RPM it becomes noisy.
Conclusion and verdict
While it is true that this is not the best performing heatsink on the market, we must applaud Nfortec for being able to create a relatively cheap heatsink (it costs €50 in their online store) capable of keeping an entire Core i9 at bay. 12900K, which is not saying much. The Nfortec Aegir has shown a very good performance, on par with much more expensive heatsinks, and with a low noise level that is always appreciated.
In addition, we are dealing with a relatively simple heatsink to install, which does not cause any compatibility problems thanks to its size, and which is also compact and not too heavy.
For all this, we think we have to give it our Gold award, as well as our recommendation for its very good performance.
