Ocypus Iota A62 WH CPU Air Cooler Review

TweakTown's Rating: 92%

The Bottom Line

The Ocypus Iota A62 WH is a solid solution for anyone wanting a dual-tower CPU cooler. It has a couple of quirks, but is a well positioned product in its category.

Pros

• Top-tier performance
• Mainstream compatibility
• Near silent operation
• Matrix digital display
• Software not tied to cooler functionality

Cons

• Trim color doesn't match
• USB cable is too short
• Ocypus Digital software

Should you buy it?

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Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing

Not that long ago, we got an email from the boss asking us to look at a CPU cooler, and when the boss asked, we did what we could to accommodate, and that is how we got introduced to Ocypus. Reading their product page and about section, their headline is "driven by design to promote product innovation," followed by their mission to "create idea products for gamers." If these statements hold true, we may be in for quite the ride and a fresh view of what CPU air coolers should be as we move forward.

We can almost guarantee that the name Ocypus has never crossed your mind, and with so few products available, we can understand why. Ocypus is dabbling in cases, liquid and air CPU cooling, fans, fan hubs, and thermal paste. What holds all their products together is like the O in Ocypus; they decided to go with round, rounded, or tiny round holes in them as the aesthetic choice to define the brand. Everything seems like it is on the up and up, and if what is on paper rings true, Ocypus may be able to shake up the market more than you might expect.

On top of their design choices and aesthetic appeal, Ocypus has a long road to travel. ID-Cooling has proven to be the affordable cooler of choice in the past, and an upstart could take that away from them, but only time will tell. Offered in both black and white versions, the Iota A62 WH seems up for the task, but let's see what is involved in their attempt to attack the charts before we make any offhanded comments too early in the review.

We took the information in our chart from the product page, which also matches what is found on the box. Sadly, it is more informative of the fans than the cooler. We are shown the compatibility of the Iota A62 dual-tower portion of the product, covering mainstream Intel systems and AM4 and AM5 users of AMD CPUs. We are then told that the Iota A62 has a 260W TDP, mainly due to the 127mm width, 136mm depth, 158mm height, and 1110g weight. Lastly, we are told that the Iota A62 has six 6mm heat pipes in its design.

While it may be intuitive, we like knowing the material choices, IE, copper for the base and pipes, with aluminum for the fins, of which there are fifty in each tower. We were not told of the coating either. Is it ceramic, thermally conductive in any form, or a can of Rust-oleum and a guy in a respirator mask dowsing them at the end of the production line? While being sarcastic, many would like to know.

Almost everything you need to know is delivered about the fans, however. In the box are a pair of white fans to go with the white tower, which are 120mm fans and 25mm thick. The fans utilize fluid dynamic bearings, allowing for near 2000 maximum RPM fan speed. Each fan can deliver 77 CFM of ai8r flow, but that 4.65 mmH2O metric feels made up. The noise level is said to stay below or equal to 29 dB(A), and the fans sip 0.2A and 2.4W each via their 4-pin PWM connectivity.

Typically, we wouldn't single out the warranty, but the only definitive term on-site shows one year of coverage for samples or giveaway prizes. The site says to look for this information on the product page or the cooler manual, but neither location delivered. We assume that the warranty is two years for those with a receipt, but Ocypus makes every effort not to disclose the duration.

While Ocypus may not be the most informative company in the game, we won't hold that against them. We are here for the results, not so much what we can find on the interwebs about it. Everything we see and read alludes to the fact that Ocypus may have a real chance of upending the market, and the fact that the Iota A62 WH will only set you back $70.99 shows how serious Ocypus is about giving its customers a realistic price point for this type of cooling solution.

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Packaging

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It may be a light gray, but it gives off silver vibes when applied to the front panel as the backdrop. Ocypus puts its name at the top, which is also its logo, a smaller-than-expected view of the cooler inside, leaving the Iota A62 WH at the bottom.

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The background swaps to matte black for the next panel, with the circular motif we explained Ocypus using on their products. Other than that, in tiny letters, we see heat pipe cooler Iota A62 WH.

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A return to the silver for the back is a decent choice, but it does make the slightly darker gray text tough to read. Essentially, "if you need more information, go to the product page" is mentioned next to the specifications we covered earlier.

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Ocypus saves the best for last, and it should have been the front of the packaging. Here, we see the name and logo above a very close look at the top of the Iota A62 WH with the digital display active.

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Ocypus chose the dense foam route to enclose both sides of the tower while adding some at the cooler's base for added protection. The fans are already installed on the tower, so they should be ready. The hardware is kept at the bottom of the box and inside another box, ensuring no damage to our sample.

Ocypus Iota A62 WH CPU Cooler

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Looking at the Iota A62 WH dead in the face, a lot of white is going on, broken up with shadows and that metallic hub cover. The seven-bladed 120mm fans fit the tower well, as we see little of it from this angle. The exposed metal with the brassy ring is a sleek look with a pop of contrast that we like.

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From the side, the Iota A62 WH shows the beefiness of that fan, tower, fan, and tower sandwich. The fins are kept spaced properly with tabs, and Ocypus even captures most of the air with the enclosed central sections of each tower.

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As many dual-tower designs do, Ocypus shortens the lower seven fins to allow for RAM clearance. The other forty-three fins have rounded edges, keeping the circular theme while adding turbulence and allowing for lower noise. What stands out to us is the mustard-yellow plastic near the thick cover. It is supposed to match those brass rings and the O in the Ocypus logo, but it doesn't.

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Not only is it easier to see the grooves at the front and back of each tower to mount the fans, but we also see that Ocypus installs the fans lower on the tower. If you have tall sticks of memory, you will have a cooler that is taller than the 158mm we saw in the specs.

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As we made our way to the top of the tower, we noticed a sticker. That sticker told us that if we wanted to use the temperature on the digital display, we needed to grab Ocypus Digital software.

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Moving back to see the entire top of the tower, we see thick plastic top covers with many tiny round holes in them, something we saw from Gamdias at CES. If you look closely, you can see 100°on the right tower, as it is darker behind those holes.

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At the bottom of the tower, we find a sandwich of copper as the base, six heat pipes in the middle, and steel above, and while out of focus, the crossbar offers small grooves to help dissipate heat. To the right of the spring-loaded mounting screw is the native USB 2.0 connector, which allows the Ocypus Digital software to communicate with the display.

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After assembly with the base, the heat pipes are painted white and gently bent in two directions, spreading the heat across the fins in a straight line. As the pipes enter the fins, we can tell they use a press-fit, which likely removes a lot of the paint and delivers decent thermal transfer.

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The copper mating surface is finely machined in a circular pattern, leaving the shape convex for added mounting pressure. It was covered with only a sticker in transit; while we saw some spots where the air was under the sticker, we saw no scuffs or scratches, and debris-free.

Accessories and Documentation

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First from the box of hardware and accessories is the Intel hardware, well, most of it. To either side are the Intel brackets that will sit on top of the spacers, which screw onto the adjustable backplate for mainstream sockets.

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For AMD users, you get short brackets with holes for AM4 and AM5 usage. Between them are the four AMD spacers, which use plastic to isolate the motherboard while screwing into the factory AMD backplate while offering ease of installation with the knurled sides.

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The accessories are universal to any user, no matter which team supplied the CPU. At the top is a small tube of paste. It does have the Ocypus logo, but no further naming. In the center is a Y-splitter fan cable to power both fans from a single header. Across the bottom are a set of mounting nuts for securing both AMD and Intel brackets and an Ocypus sticker to put on the tower, case, or wherever you see fit.

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The fans are white on white, have seven blades, and have the most petite rubber isolation pads. These Iota F12 or DF1202512CM fans both have metallic hubs. Again, the brass ring is a mismatch to the logo on the sticker, and neither matches the trim on the towers.

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The manual offers a parts list first and then dives into Intel installation, with AMD not too far behind. Connectivity, both for the fans and the USB connection, comes next, ending in warranty information but nothing on the duration.

Installation and Finished Product

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As the manual tells us, we removed all but the backplate from the factory setup. Then we installed the spacers, set the brackets above and below the socket, and secured the brackets with the provided nuts.

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After the TIM application fan removal and reinstallation, our Iota A62 WH is mounted and ready to look around. We installed the intake fan at the level of the caps, making the tower level across the top. In doing so, there is plenty of room for our RAM choice, and again, the fan takes up most of the view.

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At 158mm overall height, there is room to play with RAM choices. Unless you have unconventionally tall memory, clearance will likely not be an issue. However, allowing the fans to sit as high as the notches could add another 30mm or more to the Iota's height.

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While the fan and part of the tower block the four sticks of RAM from sight, you can wiggle an 8-pin EPS connector past it, although we recommend connecting it before installing the cooler. You could add a third fan, but it typically will deliver a couple of degrees of improvement at best.

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Ocypus made a bad call with the length of the native USB 2.0 cable. As shown, we have very little cable left and are only around the motherboard; this hasn't had to go through any wire management holes. If anything gives them issues, there will be complaints about this, as it is a key feature of the cooler, which can easily be left null and void if you cannot connect it cleanly.

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The contrast between our system and the Iota A62 WH could not be more opposite. Maybe we could have some Vanta black, but that bright white dual-tower would be the most eye-catching part of our build. It is perfect for a white-themed build, but with it being so large, it will block any RGB the memory may have.

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Just to see what would happen, we powered up the system in the booth, as there might be an O from the logo or something as a default display. Sadly, you will need the Olympus Digital software to get anything to happen.

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Once we had a chance to download the software, we obtained the full functionality of the cooler. The software is lightweight, at 3.8MB of RAM usage to run, and is either an icon in the taskbar or a tiny popup in the bottom right of the screen. Ocypus Digital offers options to turn the temperature off or on, show it in Celsius or Fahrenheit, and show the CPU or GPU temperature, and that's the end of it. While it is fine, we expected something more from the display.

Test System Setup, Thermal Tests, and Noise Results

Chad's CPU Cooler Test System Specifications

To see our testing methodology and to find out what goes into making our charts, please refer to our 2020 CPU Cooler Testing and Methodology article for more information.

Thermal Results

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At 58.1°C, the Ocypus Iota A62 WH will not break any records, but look who it keeps company with. Landing just behind the NH-D15 G2 LBC is a good start, and edging out the Hyper 622 Black, both of which cost considerably more, shows that Ocypus is not some knockoff POS; they are in it to deliver performance.

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With an all-core overclock applied, the Iota A62 loses some traction in the chart, but the 65.3°C result is decent. There are a few air coolers that will do better, and only a few of them are in the same price category, but overall, we are not mad at what Ocypus has presented us.

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Using the same CPU settings while jacking up the fan speed shows us that the Iota A62 WH can deliver 2.4°C more performance, landing in this chart at 62.9°C. While it may allow you that extra 100 MHz overclock, the noise accompanying this thermal result is too much for us to handle daily.

Noise Level Results

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Utilizing the PWM signal to control fans, during the stock test, we saw the fans top out at 1094 RPM. At that speed, they delivered 26 dB of noise into the office. It will be inaudible inside a chassis, and many can appreciate that aspect.

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Even once the overclock was applied, with PWM still in control, noise levels were kept lower. While running the test, we saw the fans reach 1448 RPM, but Ocypus keeps noise down to the lower end of the scale at 34 dB under heavy usage.

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While you may achieve a slightly higher overclock or marginally lower temperatures on the CPU as you have it now, the noise that comes along with that benefit is quite a lot. With the fans spinning at their maximum, some 2089 RPM, the noise levels jumped to 53 dB, which is audible in almost any situation.

Final Thoughts

For a company that just popped up out of nowhere and asked us to look at what they are doing, we will say Ocypus is starting on the right foot. To come out of the ether and deliver a competitive product is one thing, but to do it more affordably than many others in its class is something we can all get behind and appreciate. With companies like this backing us as users, the days of shelling out well over $100 for this kind of solution are a thing of the past.

We like the design choices, as far as color; the tiny holes, the rounded fins, the thick plastic covers, and even the slick-looking covers on the fan hubs sucked us in and have us rooting for the Iota A62. However, the three "oranges" used in the tower make it appear cheap as if they didn't want to spend the money to get it right or had settled for close enough. While disappointing, it may be our OCD kicking in and is something others may be fine with. If we are picking at things, we could say that the Iota A62 WH needs a longer USB cable, full stop. You could run it over the motherboard if case management doesn't allow connectivity, but that is not a solution anyone wants.

Thermally, we could have asked for more, but at the cost of the Iota A62 WH, we feel you are getting a fair amount of bang for the buck, but do not expect miracles, as that is not where this cooler is going with its 260W TDP. Audibly, Ocypus does just as well at setting PWM curves as anyone else, delivering users the best portion without making your ears bleed. Again, they are not the most silent in the game, but the levels under normal usage are more than acceptable for most of their potential customers.

At the end of it all, we would like to recommend the Iota A62 in either black or white, but there are some minor issues that need to be worked out. The Iota A62 is ninety-nine percent there; it just needs a longer USB cable, and the rest is our opinion. Even so, at $70.99, sporting temperature display atop the cooler is cool. Still, by being spoiled with ARGB and various screens on coolers now, it feels a bit old school to use today, but unique sells, and Ocypus is the first to deliver a cooler with the digital display the way they have it, which must count for something.

For the money, we can think of only one or two other manufacturers in this league right now. At a bare minimum, we appreciate the smaller dent in our wallet with decent performance given back in return, which is a win for us.