Specifications, Availability and Pricing

The GeminII S524 comes with an array of sixty-two aluminum fins in two distinct sections. The larger set of twenty-one fins emanates from the nickel plated, copper base and gives the cooler its structure. The second group of forty-one fins is much shorter and is basically held in place with the pressed on fit to the heat pipes. This section is much shorter to allow up to 47mm of room for memory modules. I mentioned the copper base got nickel plating; the five 5mm heat pipes receive the same treatment. On top of all the fins you will find a plated steel outer ring atop the GeminII S524 that allows for not only the 120mm fan included to mount to the cooler, but for those looking for more performance, there are holes for a 140mm fan as well.

The included fan shipped in the box is a A12025-18CB-4BP-Fi, 120mm fan. This fan is capable of spinning at up to 1800 RPM with just more than 77 CFM being delivered through the cooler with 2.46 mmH2O of static pressure on the high end. On the low end, this fan will deliver 800 RPM, 34 CFM of airflow, with a pressure of only 0.23 mmH2O of pressure. This tinted clear fan with seven wavy blades is powered with a 4-pin connection and should run for up to 40,000 hours with noise levels between 15 and 31 dBA. We will soon put this combination to the test and see how well it works together.

This is one of only a few coolers on the market that offers memory clearance as a selling feature in the first place. On top of that, Cooler Master specifies 47mm of clearance up front, so there is no guessing about fit. Since this is a design I feel a lot of people can gravitate to for the added benefits, with the embargo date being over on the 16th of August, I would have expected to see this cooler on more shelves at the time of writing. Via emails with Cooler Master, I was able to ascertain that the GeminII S524 has its MSRP set at $39.99, which is what our favorite e-tailer NewEgg is sticking to for now and that's fine with me, as it seems very reasonable at this point. It seems almost every day I am writing about $100 coolers and it's been a while since I got back to the more economical choices out there, so let's get to the nitty gritty and see what Cooler Master offers for $40.