Danamics LMX Superleggera Cooler Review

Results Analysis

For this review Danamics provided us with two SilenX Ixtrema 120mm fans for testing purposes - as we mentioned earlier, the LMX doesn't come with fans as standard. Even with two cooling fans the LMX’s performance in our three test systems was erratic, albeit with a few choice highlights. In our LGA1366 system cooling, featuring an overclocked Intel Core i7-965, the LMX managed to dethrone the mighty Titan Fenrir thanks to a with a great loaded delta T of just 48°C – the best cooling we’ve seen from an air cooler, although the LMX is using two 120mm cooling fans to the Fenrir’s single fan, and it does only better the Fenrir by 1°C.

On LGA1156 the LMX didn’t fare so well though and faced with an overclocked Core i7-870, it allowed the CPU to reach a loaded delta T of 38°C, compared to the Fenrir’s 30°C. This is a disappointing drop-off in performance considering the effectiveness of the LMX on LGA1366.

In our AM3 test machine, the LMX again struggled to keep pace with the best conventional air coolers, with a Delta T of 42°C to the Fenrir’s 35°C. Again this is a disappointment, especially as the pair of 120mm cooling fans LMX provided are moving, on paper, much more air than the Fenrir’s single 120mm fan.

The pair of SilenX fans were far from low noise, low airflow specials either. They were just as loud, if not more so, than the Fenrir’s cooling fan at full speed. Of course, the LMX will only be as loud as the fans you choose to fit to it but the fact that even with two noisy, high airflow fans the LMX can’t keep up with the best heatpipe coolers on LGA1156 and AM3 is poor.

Conclusion

All this means that the Danamics LMX Superleggera is a big disappointment. While performance was superb on LGA1366 the same performance could easily be achieved by adding a second fan or increased airflow model to the direct contact heatpipe design of the Titan Fenrir. Cooling on the other CPU sockets was uniformly disappointing, especially on AM3 where even the ultra low noise, £25 GELID Tranquillo bests the LMX, a damning result indeed considering the Tranquillo is vastly quieter than the two fans Danamics gave us to test with.

While we understand that being an early adopter rarely comes cheap, the LMX’s pricing is frankly ridiculous. At £99 before you factor in the price of a cooling fan or two, the LMX is three times the cost of a Titan Fenrir and close to £40 more than the Corsair H50 low cost liquid cooler. We know the technology is new but asking customers to pay so much for a product that offers such a minor performance improvement on LGA1366 and inferior cooling on LGA1156 and AM3 is just unrealistic.

In short there’s simply no reason you would choose the LMX over the huge variety of far cheaper, and superior performing, conventional heat pipe coolers already on the market.

• Features
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• -
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• 8/10

• Performance
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• -
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• 7/10

• Ease of Use
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• -
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• 8/10

• Value
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• -
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• -
• -
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• 2/10

• Overall
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• -
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• 5/10

Score Guide