The same can be said with coolers for processing units. For years we have seen vapor chambers used on GPUs with great success, but attempts at using them on CPUs had fallen flat until recently. Fortunately a couple of developers have taken the time to work out the kinks to take advantage of what a chamber is capable of on a CPU, and in the end one of the factors was simply adding some heatpipes to work in synergy with the vapor chamber. Seems a simple idea, but it has been a huge point of development for CPU cooling. Naturally it would only be a matter of time before the manufacturers who furthered vapor chamber design would step into the CPU ring, and who better than Sapphire to be first to market?

The Sapphire Vapor-X CPU Cooler is a design that leans much more heavily on the vapor chamber than what we have seen in the past, and shows off Sapphire’s vaunted Vapor-X technology. While there are still four 7mm heatpipes present on the Sapphire Vapor-X CPU Cooler, it is the vapor chamber that makes direct contact with the CPU taking on the bulk of the heavy cooling chores. The heatpipes then draw the heat away from the vapor chamber and up through the aluminum fins for dissipation. Airflow is provided by dual 120mm capable of 77 CFM, but never breaking 40 dBA in the noise department. With PWM control the fans are capable of variable rotational speeds with the incredibly wide range of 495~2200rpm and use aerofoil design for maximum efficiency. To aid in airflow direction the Vapor-X uses a very attractive black cover and snap on fan mounting which directs the maximum amount of air through the fins and over the heatpipes. The Sapphire Vapor-X CPU Cooler also has a functionality first design, with limited disruption of RAM slots and a 163.5mm height capable of fitting in standard ATX cases. A multiplatform mounting system makes the Sapphire Vapor-X CPU cooler compatible with Intel LGA 775/1155/1156/1366 and AMD FM1/AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+.