Recently launched in the market, we have with us today the review of the CORSAIR A115. This high-performance heatsink features a dual tower design and a pair of 140mm fans promising to support processors with a TDP of up to 250W. The design is sleek and elegant, with no trace of LED lighting.
Before starting the review, we want to thank CORSAIR for providing this A115 for analysis.
Technical specifications of the CORSAIR A115
CORSAIR A115
TDP
up to 250W
Compatibility
Intel LGA 1700/1200/115x
AMD AM5/AM4
Dimensions
153 x 155 x 164.8 mm (length, width, height)
Weight
1.59 kg
Materials
Double tower of 45 aluminum fins
6 heatpipes of 6 mm thick sintered copper
Nickel-plated copper base
Fans
2 CORSAIR AF140 ELITE fans
Dimensions: 140 x 140 x 25 mm
Speed: 400-1600 RPM
Airflow: 15.3 – 84.5 CFM
Static pressure: 0.1 – 1.73 mm-H2O
Noise level: 5 – 33.9 dBA
Fluid Dynamic Bearing
Others
Pre-applied thermal paste
Packaging and accessories
We begin the review of the CORSAIR A115 by placing its packaging on our work table. We have a cardboard box that combines the brand’s classic black and yellow colors. The front shows the design of the product, while the back shows its technical specifications and main detailed features.
Inside the first box, we find three more cardboard boxes containing the heatsink, a fan, and the accessories separately.
The accessory pack includes a mounting kit that is quite extensive and well-organized, although the paper envelopes are somewhat crude to open without breaking them. However, it does not come with an installation manual, so we must resort to the online version.
In the previous image, we can see the mounting kit for Intel LGA 1700/1200/115x sockets. In the next image, we see the simple mounting kit for AMD AM5/AM4 sockets. In both cases, the CORSAIR A115 is compatible with modern domestic sockets for both brands.
Additionally, we find two metal guides that allow the installation of the second fan, as well as the common fixing nuts for both sockets.
CORSAIR AF140 ELITE fans
The CORSAIR A115 comes with two 140 x 140 x 25 mm CORSAIR AF140 ELITE fans, one of which is pre-installed on the heatsink. These fans have a rotation speed between 400 and 1600 RPM, allowing them to generate an airflow of 15.3 – 84.5 CFM, and a static pressure of 0.1 – 1.73 mm-H2O, with a maximum noise level of 5 – 33.9 dBA.
CORSAIR A115
We continue the review of the CORSAIR A115 with it now on the work table, completely freed from its protections. We find an elegant heatsink with an almost entirely black dual tower, aesthetically highlighting only the brand’s name on the right tower. It slightly resembles the CORSAIR A500 model we reviewed four years ago, but is more modern and updated.
Each tower has 45 aluminum fins traversed by six U-curve 6 mm diameter sintered copper heatpipes.
The assembly rests on a nickel-plated copper base responsible for extracting heat from the processor with the help of pre-applied thermal paste.
Installing the fans is as simple as sliding them along pre-installed rails on the heatsink and one of the fans so we will have to mount them on the secondary one, choosing whether to place it on the left or right of the heatsink.
The CORSAIR A115 specifies dimensions of 153 x 155 x 164.8 mm (length, width, height), so it requires a case of a certain size for installation. We can choose to install the secondary fan on the left, freeing up the RAM area and making it compatible with any height memory.
Installation
The time has come to install the CORSAIR A115 on an Intel LGA 1700 socket processor during the review. First, we place the backplate behind the motherboard, fixing it from the front with the four double screws. Next, we use four nuts to fix the two metal bridges onto which the heatsink will be installed by screwing on both sides.
With the heatsink installed in just a few minutes, we only have to slide the fans along the chosen guides. In the following image, we can see that if we place the fan on the right, it is easy for it to be slightly elevated due to colliding with the memory modules, although we can place it on the left.
Test equipment
To analyze the performance and noise level of the CORSAIR A115, we used the following test setup:
Thermaltake Core P3 TG Pro Chassis
MSI MEG Z690 Unify motherboard
Intel Core i9-12900K processor
G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB @ 5600 MHz memory
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics card
be quiet! Dark Power 13 1000W power supply
Windows 11 Pro operating system
Once the heatsink is installed and the fans are in place, we can see that it looks robust and sober, being very elegant compared to systems with high levels of LED lighting.
Test methodology
We set the CPU voltage to 1.15V in BIOS, the P cores to 4.9 GHz, and the E cores to 3.9 GHz. This allows comparison with simpler heatsinks, forcing a consumption of around 140W.
We perform a stress test in Aida64 with processor and memory checkboxes activated for 5 minutes, clear the history, and note the average of the following minute.
The idle values are measured with the power-saving modes active.
The fans will rotate at the speed set in each mode, as well as the pump, which also varies its revolutions. If there are no pre-defined modes, the motherboard’s PWM is applied, and we test with the fans at maximum (MAX).
For the ranking, delta temperatures between the ambient and its corresponding test are used.
CORSAIR A115 Performance Tests
With an ambient temperature of 20ºC, the CORSAIR A115 can keep the Intel Core i9-12900K temperatures around 61 ºC, generating about 41.2 dB, which, while audible, is not annoying. We can increase the fan speed to the maximum to lower the temperature by about 3 ºC, but it increases the noise level to 50 dB, making it quite annoying.
Conclusion
The review of the CORSAIR A115 leads us to draw conclusions, and the first thing to note is that we have a high-performance model, comparable to double and even triple liquid cooling solutions. It is among the best air coolers we have tested in recent years, although achieving this high performance comes with a slightly higher noise level than liquid cooling options. We should also emphasize its sleek and elegant design without LED lighting and support for processors with a TDP of up to 250W, making it suitable for managing Intel Core 9 or AMD Ryzen 9 processors.
It is already available for sale at an official price of €114.90, which is quite high for an air cooler, and it has strong competition in the high-end range.
Main advantages
+
Very robust and elegant design, without lighting
+
Excellent performance for dissipating up to 250W
+
Controlled noise level at medium revolutions
+
Compatible with RAM of any height
+
Quick and easy installation
Negative aspects
–
High price
From El Chapuzas Informático, we award the CORSAIR A115 heatsink with the Gold Award.
The entry CORSAIR A115, a beast of a heatsink for the most powerful CPUs first appears on El Chapuzas Informático.
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