SilverStone Heligon SST-HE02 Passive CPU Cooler Review

Specifications, Availability and Pricing

Looking at this cooler you first notice the irregular, almost hash tag shape of each of the fins on the HE02. There are 30 0.5mm thick aluminum fins to be exact. These fins take the heat from six, 6mm diameter, heat pipes, which get their heat from the two piece copper base that they are soldered into. To fight corrosion and help users wipe off finger prints, the entire cooler is coated in nickel plating. Dimensionally the HE02 is 170mm wide, 130mm deep, and stands 160mm tall. While it may eat up most of the motherboard, the lowered height makes this a contender for most mid-tower cases. The last thing to consider is the immense weight of the HE01 that comes in at 990 grams without any fans attached to it.

I want to cover the CPU TDP section very well, because this is very important information to wrap your head around. SilverStone gives the HE02 a 95W TDP rating for completely passive use. This means with no fans around the cooler, it should be able to control the heat from anything 95W or less. They then say that with the addition of case fans, without anything on the cooler body, the TDP then raises up to 150W. This means that you can even OC most of today's top tier processors just with the airflow of the case in play. If you want to go all out with the HE02, SilverStone advises fans attached directly to the cooler to take the TDP beyond the 150W mark, but there isn't a maximum rating since they have no idea what fans you may choose to use. Obviously something like 151CFM Delta fans are going to raise the TDP much more than say an average 50CFM case fans equivalent.

Diving into Google Shopping to shop for the SST-HE02, I found the cooler is priced quite reasonably as long as the cooler performs up to expectations of the limits of the set TDP structure. Currently I was only able to find four locations offering the HE02, and cheapest of which was Newegg with a $65.99 price tag. That is a deal that not only comes with free shipping, but if you are a rebate hound, you can also get another $5 off that price currently. Since most of the other listings are much closer to $70 plus shipping, I see no reason to shop anywhere else if the HE02 ends up being a cooler you want to put in your build.

As with anything I would suggest you buying, we must look at all the fine details and put it through its paces. Stick with me through the packaging and cooler images as the testing reveals something that is well worth continuing along.