Valkyrie VIND DL125 White Air Cooler Review: Where form meets function
So far, I have tested only liquid coolers from Valkyrie, such as both the A360 ARGB and the V360 Lite. This is my first time with the air cooler named VIND DL125. This cooler is available in black and white colors, and is a dual-tower, dual-fan design with more surface area, powerful ARGB fans, and Valkyrie design element accents. Salient features include:
- 100-fin dual-tower design
- HDT base with 6 high-conductivity composite heat pipes
- 2x Valkyrie U12 ARGB fans
- Whisper-quiet performance with fluid dynamic bearings
- Universal compatibility with AMD AM5/AM4 and Intel LGA 1851/1700/1200 sockets
- 5-year international warranty
This cooler has an MSRP of €66.58. However, it is on sale at the time of this writing, and you can get it for €49.92.
Specifications
Packaging
Valkyrie ships the cooler in a cardboard box finished in white and light blue colors with stylish accents. The cooler is placed inside Styrofoam padding. The accessory box is tucked between both towers, and the fans are separately placed.
The following come inside the accessory box:
- 1x Intel Metallic Backplate
- 2x Intel Brackets
- 2x AMD Brackets
- 2x Mounting Brackets
- 4x Intel/AMD Standoff Screws
- 4x Intel LGA2011 Standoff Screws
- 4x Fan Clips
- 1x Thermal Paste Tube
- 1x Extension Cable
- 1x Installation Guide
- 1x Warranty Info
Design
Let’s take a look at the cooler.
The overall dimension of the assembled cooler is 222x204x158mm (LxWxH). The dimension of the heat sink is 150x137x158mm (LxWxH). This is relatively a beefier design compared to the DeepCool AK620-G2 Digital NYX. This cooler is rated for 260W TDP cooling.
Both towers have identical fixed top covers that have white and light blue colors and lining. The overall accent is bold and stylish. VALKYRIE is printed on both towers, and the Valkyrie brand logo is split in two between both towers. This is quite some outlook on the cooler.
The missing touch from the top view is the fan. Once you install both fans, you see some bold, elegant, and futuristic design elements from VIND DL125. Just make sure that the sticker side of the fan does not come on top.
The rear and front sides have an identical layout, hence I am showing a single side. Each tower has 50 fins, making a total count of 100. Each tower has 9 fins in an offset or inset manner to provide good RAM clearance from the heatsink itself.
The gap between any two fins is 2.2mm. The left and right sides have a triangle or wave design to reduce the drag and vibrational noise. The center mass has a straight line design.
The inner side of each tower also has same layout. You can, in fact, see the view better from these pictures. The center portion with straight lines also has an inset in the middle.
The mounting plate is secured using a screw. This is side-up text that can be seen, indicating the orientation of the cooler. You can also set the orientation correctly by making sure that Valkyrie logo’s wings on the top of each tower are in the right direction, i.e., facing upward (my daughter indicated that!). The plate also has fins design.
The mounting plate has a spring-loaded screw on each end.
The left and right sides of the towers are identical in layout. The fins have an interlocking mechanism on the sides. The exterior sides have inset. This is where the heads of the fan clips are rested on.
This cooler packs 6mm thick, 6x composite heat pipes. These are nickel-plated. The assembly seems soldered. They are making an evenly spread-out contact with the fins.
The base has a protective cover over it. When I removed the protective cover, the residue of the adhesive remained on the base. It was not easy removing it, and I did not want to sandpaper it due to the nickel coating.
FANS
Valkyrie has bundled two B12 ARGB, white edition fans with this cooler.
Each fan has translucent 9x blades with a large center. The center has the Valkyrie logo in the middle. Each mounting corner has an anti-vibration rubber mount.
The backside has an angular 4-arms assembly. These fans are made in China. Each fan draws 0.2A at 12VDC.
The peculiar design element of these fans is all back color scheme and square frame of these fans. Each fan has 7x blades (9 blades on FC120 fans with the last generation). The center has a DeepCool branding. Each mounting corner has a slim anti-vibration pad which runs the entire height of the fan.
The side frame has two arrow markers facing each other. These don’t tell the direction of airflow or blades’ spin; rather, they seem decorative only. One side of the fan has a short length flat cable with a connector and a socket.
Each fan has a 7-pin proprietary connector to power the fan’s motor and control ARGB LED lighting.
Both fans are first daisy-chained, and then an adapter extension cable is used to connect the fans to the motherboard’s 4-pin PWM fan and 3-pin, A-RGB headers.
A few pictures of the assembled cooler.
Installation
We are not covering the installation steps. Please refer to the user manual for this purpose. I only report my observations during the installation and removal of the cooler. Installation of this cooler on AM5 is a straightforward process, and I have no observations.
Clearance
We need to look at the clearance from multiple angles. Let’s start with the RAM.
The heatsink provides a universal clearance for the RAM. The fan will sit on top of 44mm tall kit without disturbing the overall height of the cooler. However, any taller kit would require the front fan to be slid upward, increasing the overall height of the cooler.
There is no issue with respect to the first PCIe x16 slot on the ASRock X870E NOVA WiFi motherboard.
The cooler has no clearance issue with respect to the rear and top of the motherboard.
The height of the cooler is 158mm. Keep this in mind while planning your build with respect to the PC Chassis.
ARGB Lighting
Valkyrie uses standard 3-pin, ARGB connectors on the U12 ARGB fans, making it compatible with the RGB sync technology of various motherboard manufacturers.
Testing
The following configuration is used for thermal testing:
- AMD Ryzen 9 9900X [243W, 200W]
- ASRock X870E NOVA WiFi
- GSkill TridentZ NEO RGB 32GB 6400MHz CL30 DDR5 kit
- ASRock Phantom Gaming RX 7600 Graphics Card for Display
- Biwin X570 Pro 4TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD
- Fractal Design ION+2 860W Platinum PSU
- Thermaltake Core P6 TG Snow Edition in an open frame layout
Here is the settings table for testing:
| Settings | 243W and 200W for this cooler |
| Clock (MHz) | Auto |
| Voltage (V) | Auto |
| Thermal Paste | Noctua NT-H2 |
| Thermal Paste Application | Dots Method |
| Test Run Time | 30 minutes |
| Idling Time | 10 minutes |
| All Fans Speed | 100% PWM Duty Cycle |
| Pump Speed | |
| Stress Software | CINEBENCH R23.2 |
| Monitoring Software | HWINFO64 |
I am reporting absolute temperature in the graph because the room temperature was at 22°C throughout the day. The testing is done on an open-air bench system. Once inside the chassis, the temperatures are expected to rise and would largely depend upon the optimal airflow inside the chassis.
Result
The graph may sound confusing, but arrow markers show the VIND DL125 White entries. This cooler did 91.2°C on AMD Ryzen 9 9900X operating at whopping 243W. When I repeated the test with a 200W package load, this cooler did 78.5°C.
Conclusion
VIND DL125 is a dual-tower, dual-fan configuration air cooler from My Valkyrie. It is a 120mm size cooling solution and is compatible with Intel LGA1851/1700/1200/115x and AMD AM4/AM5 sockets. The cooler has a dimension of 222x204x158mm (LxWxH), where the heatsink alone has a dimension of 150x137x158mm (LxWxH). It is rated for 260W TDP.
Each tower comprises 50 fins in a 41+9 design/layout. The offset or inset design on the lower side provides maximum RAM clearance. The aluminum fins have a 2.2mm gap in-between. Valkyrie uses 6 mm-thick 6 composite heat pipes. The complete assembly seems soldered. The precision-machined copper base is nickel-coated.
The top covers provide a futuristic, bold, and stylish outlook which, when combined with the white fans, make quite pleasing outlook. The two B12 ARGB fans are in white color. They are rated for 800 to 2150 ±10% RPM speed. The airflow rating is 78 CFM at an air pressure rating of 3.14 mmH₂O. They use Fluid Dynamic Bearing. The noise level is rated at 30.5 dB(A).
The overall installation of this cooler on AMD AM5 is simple and requires 12 items for the mounting kit. There is no clearance issue either on this cooler with up to 44mm tall RAM kits. The height is 158mm, which is also compatible with the majority of PC Cases. Valkyrie may look into reducing the number of items required for installation.
This cooler has an MSRP of €66.58. Its current sale price is €49.92. It has a warranty period of 5 years. The cooler packs a solid performance punch, albeit at a slightly elevated sound level. The warranty period, build quality, and overall looks and ARGB lighting make it a compelling option.
Pros
- Excellent Thermal Performance
- Stylish and Refined Design
- ARGB B12 High-Performance Fans
- RAM Clearance
- 158mm Height
- AMD AM5 Support
- Intel LGA1851 Support
- Price
- Warranty
Cons:
- Noise
The Valkyrie Vind SL125 Can be purchased on Amazon UK for £39.95 at the time of review.
