In the PC cooler market,there are two major factions: air cooling and liquid cooling.Although all-in-one liquid coolers are becoming more and more popular and their prices are getting lower,air coolers still have a significant market share.Some manufacturers have even launched flagship air coolers specifically for the high-end market.For example,the newly launched Tera Cooler RZ820 by Super Flower is one of them.This product features 8 heat pipes and,with the support of reflow soldering technology,claims to achieve a cooling power of 290W.It should be noted that this cooling power is close to the current limit of air coolers.So,how does it perform in various aspects?Let's find out.

Product Specifications:

Cooling Power: 290W

Heat Pipe Specifications: 8 heat pipes

(8mm x 4 + 6mm x 4)

Fin Material: Aluminum

Product Dimensions: L161mm x W150mm x H165mm

Top Cover Material: CNC aluminum with anodized sandblasting

Body Process: Reflow soldering

Base Process: Nickel-plated copper with reflow soldering

Top Cover Lighting: ARGB/5V@3Pin

Supported Platforms:Intel: 115X/1200/1700/18XX/2011;

AMD: AM4/AM5

Number of Fans: 2

Fan Dimensions: 150mm×120mm×25mm (front); 140mm×140mm×30mm (middle) Fan Bearing: FDB Bearing

Fan Speed: 500~2200+10% RPM (front); 400~1500+10% RPM (middle) Fan Airflow: 147.3 m²/h (front); 122.16 m²/h (middle)

Fan Static Pressure: 3.2mmH2O (front); 3.2mmH2O (middle) Noise Level: 32dB(A) (front); 27.1dB(A) (middle)

Warranty Period: 6 years

Reference Price: $799 (pre-sale price)

The shape is square and domineering

Many mainstream air coolers on the market share a common feature: the fans they come with are mostly fixed to the heat sink fins with metal wires.Due to the simple structure,their appearances are often uniform and lack aesthetic appeal,not to mention a sense of design.The Super Flower Terra Gale RZ820 air cooler,compared to common air coolers on the market,boasts a stronger overall appearance and looks more refined,square,and robust,with rounded corners for added safety.Notably,the RZ820 features an outer shell and a magnetic top cover added to the main body of the cooler,which offers several advantages: firstly,it enhances the overall appearance,making it more neat and aesthetically pleasing; secondly,this design helps to prevent turbulence from the fans,thereby improving heat dissipation performance.Additionally,the outer shell serves to protect the cooler from damage that might be caused by external impacts.

Another highlight is the use of an aviation aluminum magnetic top cover.The magnetic design allows users to easily detach and attach the top cover,making it more convenient for cleaning and maintenance.The top cover is crafted with CNC and anodized sandblasting processes,giving it a better overall texture.

The cooler also incorporates a family-style "triangular geometry" element,with an illuminated panel on one corner of the top cover that supports ARGB and can synchronize with mainstream motherboard lighting systems.Adjacent to it is the LED-lit logo,which does not support RGB effects.

Equipped with a 140mm and 120mm dual-fan setup,the internal structure of the RZ820 is similar to the Assassin IV we have previously experienced.It features a dual-tower design with two cooling fans inside.The fan located between the dual towers is a 140mm model,while the outer fan is 120mm.Moreover,I noticed that the sides of the dual towers of the RZ820 are not covered by an outer shell.This design ensures the heat exchange performance on the sides of the towers,allowing heat to dissipate more quickly.An important reason for this is that the RZ820 has reserved space for a third fan,and it comes with fan mounting wires in the accessories.Users only need to purchase a fan and mount it onto the tower.To avoid conflicts with the motherboard's heatsink armor,it is recommended to use a 120mm fan for the third slot.

Upon opening the metal top cover,the fan in the middle of the cooler features an irregular design with a round bottom and a square top.Additionally,there are two convenient handles on the fan for easy removal.Users can simply pinch both ends and lift upwards to remove the fan for cleaning.

The fan located between the dual towers of the RZ820 is from Super Flower itself,with the specific model number unknown.Both the middle and outer fans use Fluid Dynamic Bearing bearings,commonly known as hydraulic bearings.This bearing technology uses oil instead of traditional rolling balls,which means there is no metal-on-metal friction noise during operation,and there is no wear and tear,resulting in a longer lifespan and lower noise levels.The outer fan of the cooler operates at speeds of 500~2200 RPM,with an airflow of 147.3 m^2/h,a static pressure of 3.2 mmH2O,and a noise level of 32 dB(A).The middle fan operates at speeds of 400~1500 RPM,with an airflow of 122.16 m^2/h,a static pressure of 3.2 mmH2O,and a noise level of 27.1 dB(A).It can be observed that the outer fan has a higher speed and greater airflow,which is necessary to enhance the intake volume,albeit at the cost of relatively higher noise levels.Adopting 8 Heat Pipes and Reflow Soldering Process

The RZ820 is positioned as an ultra-flagship air cooler,and to reflect its "ultra-flagship" status,it is equipped with 8 heat pipes.It should be noted that air coolers with 8 heat pipes are not very common at present,with most having 7 heat pipes.The heat pipes have undergone a blackening treatment to prevent oxidation.Additionally,this black coating can enhance thermal radiation and improve thermal conductivity.The cooler is equipped with 4 Φ8mm and 4 Φ6mm heat pipes.I have also noticed that the arrangement of these 8 heat pipes is somewhat special,with one 6mm heat pipe on each side,followed by two 8mm heat pipes each,and finally,two 6mm heat pipes in the middle.Why arrange them in this way?The purpose is to make the heat conduction more uniform,as the heat generation near the edges is relatively lower,and the heat generation in the middle area is relatively concentrated,so four 8mm heat pipes and two 6mm heat pipes are arranged in the middle.

The RZ820 features a matrix fin array,a design that effectively increases the heat dissipation area and enhances the cooling effect.To ensure a closer connection between the fins,the fins are joined using a clip-Fin and folded-edge Fin process,ensuring the gaps between the fins are minimized.However,due to the traditional pin-through Fin process,the adhesion between the heat pipes and the fins cannot reach 100%,inevitably leaving some tiny gaps that affect the cooling efficiency to some extent.To solve this problem,the RZ820 employs a better reflow soldering process.Compared to the ordinary pin-through Fin process,reflow soldering can completely fill the gaps between the heat pipes and the fins,thereby greatly enhancing the thermal conductivity.Through the welding process,it can ensure the maximum contact area between the heat pipes and the fins,allowing heat to be transferred more quickly and efficiently,significantly improving the performance of the entire cooling system.

In addition,the RZ820 also features a large-sized copper base design that can fully cover the surface of flagship desktop processors.The copper base surface has also been nickel-plated to improve its corrosion resistance and thermal performance.Between the copper base and the heat pipes,the same reflow soldering process is used to ensure their tight adhesion,thereby further enhancing the efficiency of heat transfer.

The copper base of the RZ820 is pre-coated with thermal conductive silicone grease,which can be used by simply removing the protective cover.Moreover,Super Flower has also equipped the RZ820 with EX90 high thermal conductivity silicone grease,allowing the cooler to efficiently release heat and improve cooling performance.This silicone grease has a capacity of 1g,which is enough for 3 to 5 applications,and it is the same as the silicone grease used in the DE360 liquid cooler and the Zen RZ620 BK air cooler that we have previously reviewed.According to official data,the thermal conductivity of EX90 silicone grease is as high as 14.8W/m.K,with a thermal resistance coefficient of 0.03℃/W,and the operating temperature range is -50℃ to 250℃.It can maintain good thermal conductivity under extreme temperatures and is suitable for high-performance processors.

The RZ820 is compatible with mainstream platforms such as Intel LGA 115X/1200/1700/18XX/2011 and AMD AM4/AM5.It can be seen that in addition to being compatible with mainstream desktop platforms,it can even be applied to processors with the LGA 18XX interface.Its installation is also relatively simple; for the Intel platform,it only requires changing the backplate and fixing it with the dedicated clips.The AMD platform is even simpler,only requiring the replacement of the column,without the need to change the backplate.In addition,the hardware of the fixing clips is marked with directional arrows,and installation can be done by following the direction indicated by the arrows.

When installing such a large cooler,it is recommended to first install the memory on the motherboard,with the side of the cooler with the external fan facing the memory side,and the fin side facing the I/O interface side.This is because most cases use a front-to-back airflow design,and this installation can adapt to the mainstream case airflow.The dimensions of this cooler are 161mm (L) × 150mm (W) × 165mm (H).With the external fan using a sliding rail structure that can move up and down,and the tower interior also incorporating a memory clearance design,it is convenient for users to easily install and remove memory without disassembling the cooler.At the same time,the 165mm height of this cooler will not conflict with the case side panel,as the cooler height limit for most M-ATX and ATX cases is above 170mm.From our installation experience,the fan of this cooler can be directly installed without any adjustments and is fully compatible with the ROG Z790 DARK HERO motherboard we paired it with.The motherboard has the GALAX HOF EXTREME D5-7200 memory installed,which stands at 48mm in height,and no adjustment of the cooler's external fan height is necessary after installation.There is about a 10mm gap between the lighting module on the side of the motherboard near the I/O ports and the cooler tower.At the same time,it does not affect the installation of the M.2 SSD near the PCIe slot,and after the graphics card is installed,there is still a 8mm gap.In terms of hardware compatibility,the RZ820 is compatible with mainstream motherboards and memory.

Meets the cooling needs of high-end processors under high load

The RZ820 is officially rated for a cooling power of 290W,so how does its performance actually stand?We will test it next.We set the processor power limit to 290W in the motherboard BIOS and lifted the temperature limit for the processor in the motherboard.Then,we used the AIDA64 System Stability Test to stress the FPU and ran it continuously for over 30 minutes in an evaluation room with a room temperature of 21°C.

According to the test results,when the Core i7-14700K is running at a maximum of 5.4GHz (not all performance cores),the package temperature of the processor exceeds 106°C (performance cores).At this time,its power consumption is 289.8W.From the test,it seems that using the RZ820 to fully unleash the performance of the Core i7-14700K might be a bit of a stretch,but after lifting the temperature limit and restricting the power,the performance of the RZ820 can also meet the cooling needs of high-end processors under high load.

In fact,during the full load test,if the temperature wall limit is lifted for the Core i7-14700K,the power consumption often exceeds 300W.If you want the processor to perform at its full potential,it is a significant challenge for many flagship 360mm liquid coolers.When the system detects high temperatures,it will reduce the processor's power consumption by adjusting the voltage or frequency.Additionally,if you are using a high-end processor like the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X,due to the more advanced manufacturing process of Ryzen processors,the gap between the rated thermal design power and the actual power consumption is usually not large.The maximum power consumption of consumer-level processors with AMD Zen architecture typically does not exceed 200W,and using them with the RZ820 will be even more relaxed.

At the same time,during the full load test,the fans will also run at full speed.At the highest speed,we measured the noise level to be 46.5dB(A) with a decibel meter about 50cm away from the cooler in an environment with an approximate noise level of 39dB(A),which is relatively low noise.Since we conducted the test on an open platform,if it were installed inside a case,with the distance increased,the noise heard would be even lower.

In conclusion,the Thermaltake Tai-Chi RZ820 is not only stronger than ordinary air coolers because of its 8 heat pipes,but it also has a better design in terms of appearance and internals.For example,its appearance is more regular,especially with the addition of a reflow soldering design,allowing the cooler's performance to reach up to 290W,but this is a performance under extreme conditions.In daily use,the RZ820 can meet the cooling needs of 14th generation Core processors with K under high load scenarios,such as rendering graphics and images and gaming,and it is even more relaxed to suppress the heat of AMD Ryzen processors with lower power consumption.Of course,the price of 999 yuan is not low either,and it is worth a try for fans of air coolers.