By: Aaron Lai
May 3, 2019
When I was still in university, I vowed I would take at least one psychology course during my time there. Especially since I found the topic to be quite interesting, I took an intro course in my first year spring semester. One thing I really enjoyed was learning about some past experiments. Some of them were definitely a bit creepier than others. One of the more lighthearted ones was the Stanford marshmallow experiment. The experimenter put children in a room with a plate and a marshmallow. An adult told them they could eat the sugary puff, or they could wait for the adult to return to the room where they would be rewarded with a second marshmallow. The best part was that the children were taped during the experiment and they displayed all the child-like ways to avoid doing an action. Many kids would pick up the marshmallow and sniff it or even lick it before remembering the reward and putting it back down on the plate. Some would close their eyes, hoping the instructor would return quickly, while others tried to distract themselves with other things. Finally, some would just succumb and swallow the marshmallow with no regrets. Such is the same with the items we review. When you are looking for any product, you may think all of them are similar, and so you want to buy the first one you see. Recent trends like flashy RGB LEDs or tempered glass may attract those people. However, often what matters more is the ability for a product to execute its purpose. Visual allure may be enticing, but it still needs to be good at what it is intended to do. Today, we have the Reeven E12 RGB RC-1208RGB, a CPU cooler with an RGB fan attached. You could just purchase it knowing it will light up your system, or you can wait, read through the article, and see how the Reeven E12 RGB RC-1208RGB performs. The choice is yours, but if you want to wait, read on to find out more!
The Reeven E12 RGB RC-1208RGB arrived from the manufacturer's offices in Ontario, California. Traveling via USPS and Canada Post in their respective countries, the box came in excellent condition with no real issues to speak about. Everything is sealed off with clear packing tape. Otherwise, there is not much else to talk about, so I grabbed a pair of scissors and opened up the brown corrugated cardboard box. Inside, Reeven did not do much to protect the box from moving around, but thankfully there also was no damage to the contents of this shipment.
The Reeven E12 RGB RC-1208RGB's retail box is decidedly flashy with its product shown in full RGB colors at the front. The whole box follows the black and yellow color scheme we have seen from past Reeven products. From the top right, you can see the company and product name. Just to note, Reeven does refer to this as the E12 RGB, but it also has a full model name of RC-1208RGB. As such, I will be referring to both names throughout the review. If you did not know by the image on the box, you can also see how they highlighted the "RGB" nature of this product. On the top left corner, Reeven mentions this supports a 12V 4-pin RGB motherboard header, as we will see later on. Otherwise, the product is shown in a scaled down fashion on the front. On the back, we have a bit more information about dimensions and other specifications.
Before we continue on, we have grabbed the specifications from the manufacturer's website for your viewing pleasure:
Model Number: RC-1208RGB (RGB Version)
Socket: INTEL: LGA 115x / 1366 / 2011(V3) / 2066; AMD: AM2(+) / AM3(+) / FM1 / FM2(+) / AM4
Overall Dimension: (W)123 x (H)152 x (D)78mm (with Fan)
Fan Dimension: 120 x 120 x 25mm
Heatpipe: Ø6mm x 4
Fan Speed: 500(±20%) ~ 1500(±10%) RPM
Air Flow: 16 ~ 49 CFM
Static Pressure: 1.2 ~ 3.56 mm H2O
Noise Level: 9 ~ 20 dBA
Weight (with Fan): 590g
Out of the box, Reeven has provided all of the necessary accessories and parts to attach the heatsink and fan on top of your CPU. A cardboard box holds all of the nuts, bolts, screws, arms, spacers, and other necessary items for mounting the Reeven E12 RGB RC-1208RGB. A single Reeven fan is provided with no model name, but a model number of RS1225H15FW-C12P. With all of these accessories, you can mount the E12 RGB on Intel LGA115x, LGA 1366, LGA2011(V3), and LGA2066 sockets, as well as AMD AM4, AM3/+, AM2/+, FM1, and FM2/+ sockets. The only notable exclusion from this list is AMD's TR4 socket, which is understandable considering how much larger the processor is. Otherwise, some other documentation is included with installation instructions. Just to note, Reeven provides a two year warranty with the E12 RGB RC-1208RGB.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware; Installation
3. Test Results
4. Conclusion
