The Alpenföhn Brocken 3 is advertised by the manufacturer as a CPU cooler for silent operation. I will evaluate in this review whether this claim is fulfilled. Due to its size of 16.5 cm, the processor cooler doesn’t fit into every case, so you should definitely check beforehand whether the case offers enough space. The specified cooling capacity of the Alpenföhn Brocken 3 is an enormous 220 Watt TDP, which means that the CPU cooler can also cool overclocked high-end processors such as Intel’s Core i7-8700K or AMD’s Ryzen 7 2700X without any problems.
Technical Details
| Dimensions (with fan) | 146 x 165 x 125 mm (W x H x D) |
| Weight (with fan) | approx. 850 g |
| Material | Copper (base plate), nickel-plated copper (heatpipes), aluminium (fins) |
| Heatpipes | 5x Ø 6 mm |
| Fan | 140 mm PWM (max. 22 dB(A), 400 – 1,050 rpm, max. 103 m³/h) |
| Cooling capacity | 220 W TDP |
| Connection | 4-pin PWM |
| Compatibility AMD | AM2, AM2+, AM3, AM3+, AM4, FM1 |
| Compatibility Intel | 775, 115x, 2011, 2011-v3, 2066 |
| Price | € 9.90 * |
Packaging, Scope of Delivery & Workmanship
The foam-packed Alpenföhn Brocken 3 is delivered with the necessary assembly kit, assembly instructions, a screwdriver and the PWM fan. The Brocken 3 is very well processed and none of the lamellas had a sharp edge or other defects.
Design
The asymmetrical design of the Alpenföhn Brocken 3 guarantees that the tower CPU cooler is compatible with almost any RAM. The aerodynamically optimized fins are designed to ensure a good airflow generated by a 140mm Wing-Boost 3-series fan. Five nickel-plated copper heatpipes with a diameter of 6 mm connect the aluminium blades with the copper base plate. For even better cooling performance, an additional fan can be mounted on the Alpenföhn Brocken 3 – assuming sufficient space. The supplied fan has a 4-pin PWM connector so that the rotation speed is automatically adjusted to the required cooling capacity.
Assembly & Power
The assembly (in this case on an AM4 mainboard) is child’s play. In addition to the good operating instructions, you can also find assembly videos on the manufacturer’s page. On the following photos you can see the assembly process. First, the backplate is prepared by inserting the four backplate screws through the corresponding hole on the backplate and fixing them with the help of the plastic clips. The screws are then inserted through the openings in the mainboard. On some (AMD) motherboards, the pre-assembled cooler bracket may have to be unscrewed.
The spacers must now be pushed onto the screws inserted from behind before the AMD mounting frame is mounted using knurled screws. If the mounting frame is firmly screwed, the heat-conducting paste can be applied and the protective film removed from the base plate.
Now only the CPU cooler has to be fixed with two screws. When putting on the cooler, pay attention to the orientation: the side for the fan should point to the RAM. To tighten the screw under the fins, the screwdriver supplied is inserted through the hole in the radiator cover. Now only the fan has to be fixed and after connecting the fan cable to the fan header on the mainboard the CPU cooler is ready for use.
The TDP of 220 watts specified for the Alpenföhn Brocken 3 cools the CPU very well even under full load, in idle and when gambling the fan of the CPU cooler is not audible.
Conclusion of the Alpenföhn Brocken 3 Review
The Alpenföhn Brocken 3 CPU cooler* not only met my expectations, but exceeded my expectations. The installation was very simple and the cooling capacity of 220 watts TDP allows the fan to usually move in the lower control range and is so very quiet. My previous water cooling with 280 mm radiator for over 100 Euro has produced a louder background noise. For a price around 45 Euro a very good performance, if you have a Silent-PC as target. If you want to further optimize the cooling performance without good performance, you can replace the standard fan with a model with higher static pressure – or attach a second fan to the cooler. Due to the space requirement of 165 mm in height, the Alpenföhn Brocken 3 unfortunately doesn’t fit into every case, but you have to put up with that when it comes to performance. And also optically I like the CPU cooler very much and especially the design of the “lid” I find very successful.
Alpenföhn Brocken 3
Design
Workmanship
Compatibility
Volume
Cooling
Value for Money
Quiet and powerful
The Alpenföhn Brocken 3 is a first-class CPU cooler that is easy to install and has only one drawback: it doesn't fit into every case.
