Introduction

Given they're a relatively fresh company to the scene, Xigmatek has taken the overclocking community by storm with their H.D.T technology coolers. It seems every time I see a question on a forum about "best bang for the buck coolers", Xigmatek's name is soon to make the list. They have done really well for themselves and have kept introducing more products to the market as they go. Xigmatek is keeping me busy and sends over another addition to our lab for testing.

This time we are taking a look at the Xigmatek Dark Knight S1283, a variation on an already good cooling solution that is based on the S1283 series coolers. The Dark Knight stands the same as the other S1283's, but this time it is dressed in all black. Xigmatek has plated the entire cooler in a black nickel coating. And I mean everything, except for the fan of course. Speaking of the fan, with the Dark Knight Xigmatek ships the highest CFM fan on their coolers to date.

The main idea of this cooler is to not only take a good cooler and paint it black, but to improve performance as well. I think Xigmatek put it best with their own description of the coating with this comment from their site. "Black Nickel causes a very gentle but also noble image, which also increases cooling performance." That being said, with the addition of more CFM's from the fan and the premise that the coating helps to decrease temperatures as well; the Dark Knight should be quite the performer.

Xigmatek has already set the bar pretty high with their previous releases; now let's have a more detailed look and see just how well the Dark Knight S1283 does.