CoolJag Falcon II Low Profile Core i7/Core 2 CPU Cooler Review

A Closer Look

Immediately noticeable at first glance is the low profile of the Falcon II. Only about 70mm tall, the cooler is easily the lowest sitting high-performance cooler that I’ve ever seen. Actually, it isn’t as tall as many much lower performance coolers I’ve owned.

When you think of a 120mm cooler, you usually think of hulking giants, both towers and those with radiators configured parallel to the motherboard. Though the Falcon II does have a 120mm fan, the entire feel is of a smaller cooler.

Much of the reason for the height is the thickness of the radiator, which is about 3/4″. Yes, this greatly reduces the cooling area of the radiator fins as compared to a more conventional one, but CoolJag makes up for that, as we’ll see in a few seconds. Grabbing all the height savings they can, CoolJag used a 20mm thick fan as compared to the much more common 25mm.



CoolJag Falcon II Low Profile Core i7/Core 2 CPU Cooler CoolJag Falcon II Low Profile Core i7/Core 2 CPU Cooler

We see here the low profile of the Falcon II, compared with the current stock Intel cooler, this one came with a retail i7. From the motherboard PCB to the uppermost part of the fan, the Falcon II is only 3/8″ taller. That means the Falcon II will fit pretty much any application that the stock cooler will. Impressive indeed!


CoolJag Falcon II Low Profile Core i7/Core 2 CPU Cooler

Other than the height, the radiator is of a conventional crimped aluminum type. Not conventional is the way the fan is connected to it, with pins running through a frame on either side of the fan. Removal of the fan won’t be easy, but there isn’t much need to remove it on this cooler.


CoolJag Falcon II Low Profile Core i7/Core 2 CPU Cooler CoolJag Falcon II Low Profile Core i7/Core 2 CPU Cooler

Despite its low profile, the Falcon II sports four 6mm heatpipes. The greatest height savings are from the low profile of the heatpipes, much shorter than any I’ve seen. Though, most heatpipe coolers of parallel design purposely have a lot of room between the base and radiator to allow access to the mounting hardware, whether it consists of Intel’s locking push pins or AMD’s mechanism.


CoolJag Falcon II Low Profile Core i7/Core 2 CPU Cooler CoolJag Falcon II Low Profile Core i7/Core 2 CPU Cooler

Though it is very common nowadays to use a two-piece copper/aluminum base, there is nothing conventional about the Falcon II’s base. CoolJag is a leader in the industry in “skiving”, a particular method of machining aluminum heatsinks. As we see here, the fins are very thin compared to a typical heatsink machined from a solid block of metal, allowing for greater heat transfer. This extra heatsink should help compensate for the low profile of the radiator.


CoolJag Falcon II Low Profile Core i7/Core 2 CPU Cooler CoolJag Falcon II Low Profile Core i7/Core 2 CPU Cooler

To most of us, the finish of the base always matters. CoolJag has done an excellent lapping job on the Falcon II’s base.

Included is installation hardware for Intel LGA 775 and LGA 1366. Also included is thermal grease and a spreading spatula, and an extension for your power supply’s ATX12v cable. We’ll see in a minute why the latter is included.


CoolJag Falcon II Low Profile Core i7/Core 2 CPU Cooler CoolJag Falcon II Low Profile Core i7/Core 2 CPU Cooler

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