Fake it till they make it: 'Improved' AMD Wraith Prism coolers with extra heatpipes are counterfeits

[Spotty]

Source (AMD): https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/etfyec/amd_update_on_wraith_prism_cooling_solutions/

Original Source: https://www.xfastest.com/thread-238063-1-1.html

Source: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/counterfeit-amd-wraith-prism-coolers-are-entering-the-market

 

 

Chinese website XFastest showed off numerous pictures of a supposedly new AMD CPU Wraith Prism cooler that featured 6 heatpipes instead of the standard 4 heatpipes. The Wraith Prism cooler is AMDs premium stock cooler featuring RGB illumination and is normally included with the Ryzen 7 2700X, 3700X, 3800X, and Ryzen 9 3900X CPUs. It is produced for AMD by Cooler Master.
 

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Exclusive news from XFastest. Recently, a new type of original radiator was released from the related foundries of AMD radiators. At first glance, this radiator looks similar to Wraith Prism, but it has six heat pipes. The average Wraith Prism has only four heat pipes.

Judging from the leaked pictures, except for the increase in the number of heat pipes, the new AMD original radiator that appeared this time is indeed no different from the ordinary Wraith Prism. It has RGB lighting effects and can be used for AM4 pins.

(Translated) https://www.xfastest.com/thread-238063-1-1.html (Images taken from xfastest.com)

(Left; Real... Right; Fake)

 

More pictures in spoiler:

Spoiler

However don't get your hopes up for a better performing AMD Wraith Prism cooler just yet, not all is as it seems!
AMD has released a statement on the AMD Reddit page under their official AMD account confirming that these coolers are not legitimate products by AMD and that they are indeed counterfeits using the AMD design and branding.
 

As reported by Tom's Hardware these fake coolers appear to be quite sophisticated fakes. Many people could be easily fooled in to thinking that they were genuine AMD coolers. Tom's Hardware also noted that the performance of the counterfeit coolers may not match that of the genuine articles.

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Whoever is making these fake Wraith Prism coolers obviously has decent production capabilities: The two additional heat pipes are implemented perfectly into AMD's original design. The cooler looks very elaborate so it likely didn't come out of some random guy's garage, but most plants that work with copper tubing and vapor plates could probably produce such a cooler. In either case, copper heat pipes aren't easy to make - that is, of course, assuming they are functional and not just there for trickery.

While consumers might be tempted to pick up the cooler, AMD advises against doing so because it hasn't tested and validated the cooler. It's also unknown if the counterfeit cooler utilizes heat pipes with a vapor chamber. If the heat pipes are not manufactured properly, the coolant could leak out of the heat pipes onto your hardware. Assuming the vapor chambers are manufactured correctly, there should be very little coolant inside. However, with a counterfeit, all bets are off.

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/counterfeit-amd-wraith-prism-coolers-are-entering-the-market

 

 

While news of 2 extra heatpipes on a Wraith Prism cooler probably isn't all that interesting, it is interesting that AMD coolers have become so popular that people are out there making counterfeits to try and cash in on the market.

I'm not sure how much market there would be for these either. People buying AMD CPUs are already going to have a stock cooler included in the box. Anyone who buys the Ryzen 7 2700X or higher CPU will receive the Wraith Prism CPU, while the other CPUs in AMD's AM4 Ryzen lineup will include either the Wraith Spire or Wraith Stealth coolers. Are these coolers only for people who purchased lower end CPUs who wish to upgrade to the Wraith Prism cooler?

I must say that in the pictures they do look very convincing aside from the giveaway of the extra heatpipes. To my eyes it does look like the fake might not have quite as densely packed aluminium fins either, which may also effect cooling performance, however that hasn't been confirmed yet.

[mr moose]

The question is, A. do they cool better? and B. had they change the plastic shroud a bit and labeled it with something other than AMD would they have made more money?

[Bombastinator]

Idiots.  If they can make a low profile top down cooler with better performance for the same price they should put their own name on it and sell it.  I’ve been recommending arctic cooling 33s instead of the AMD stock cooler lately because the wraith is too expensive lately even when packaged with the CPU.  If they can make a cooler even AS good they could sell it without that kind of garbage.  As it is all they’ve done is kneecap themselves.

[Spotty]

3 minutes ago, mr moose said:

A. do they cool better?

No-one has tested them yet afaik... Maybe LTT can get their hands on one to test? Though I'm not sure how much AMD would like that, especially if the fake turns out to be better
 

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B. had they change the plastic shroud a bit and labeled it with something other than AMD would they have made more money?

Just now, Bombastinator said:

 If they can make a low profile top down cooler with better performance for the same price they should put their own name on it and sell it.

Good point.

I'm still not really sure who would be buying these as AMD branded Wraith Prism coolers. People who bought a 2200G but want to pretend like they have a 3900X? I just don't get it
Obviously someone out there must want to purchase "AMD Wraith Prism" coolers separately otherwise they wouldn't have bothered to make them.

[Arika]

then the question is,

 

if the prism comes stock with those CPUs, why would someone spend money to get the same cooler but maybe slightly better (at least on paper) instead of getting a proper 3rd party cooler

[porina]

As owner of a genuine Wraith Prism, I'm wondering why anyone would want it. Was not very good at cooling, very noisy on my 3700X (stock). RGB looks nice. Might be ok for lower TDP CPUs than they are actually bundled with. I don't think the limit of its performance is the number of heatpipes though, especially as the added pair on the edge probably wont get much heat conduction to them. More a problem for airflow and overall surface area, so my gut feel is the copy wont be that much different at equivalent airflow.

[TempestCatto]

Coming up, Chinese counterfeit news articles! What will they think of the next?

[Taf the Ghost]

14 minutes ago, mr moose said:

The question is, A. do they cool better? and B. had they change the plastic shroud a bit and labeled it with something other than AMD would they have made more money?

A good theory I saw on r/AMD is that the cooler was from a design batch AMD made for the 3900X/3950X that they ended up not using. The beefier cooler wasn't needed for the 3900X and they sell the 3950X without a box cooler. Once products are made for testing, there is both stock and tooling/designs around. The After-Hours Blackmarket tends to happen as a result.

[Taf the Ghost]

2 minutes ago, porina said:

As owner of a genuine Wraith Prism, I'm wondering why anyone would want it. Was not very good at cooling, very noisy on my 3700X (stock). RGB looks nice. Might be ok for lower TDP CPUs than they are actually bundled with. I don't think the limit of its performance is the number of heatpipes though, especially as the added pair on the edge probably wont get much heat conduction to them. More a problem for airflow and overall surface area, so my gut feel is the copy wont be that much different at equivalent airflow.

Box Coolers make them a complete product and are sold to OEMs, as part of the package. (Or at least some OEMs.) The box cooler for AMD is more than adequate, but going for a tower cooler is a generally recommended idea. But budgets are budgets, so they do matter a lot to people.

[Spotty]

Just now, Arika S said:

if the prism comes stock with those CPUs, why would someone spend money to get the same cooler but maybe slightly better (at least on paper) instead of getting a proper 3rd party cooler

The Wraith Prism with RGB only comes with some of the Ryzen 7's and the Ryzen 9's. Lower end CPUs come with the non-RGB Wraith Spire or Wraith Stealth. So I guess anyone who got one of the lower coolers might want to upgrade to the Wraith Prism, but if you're replacing the stock cooler you should really just be buying a decent aftermarket tower cooler instead, providing your case has enough height clearance.

There's a list of which CPUs come with which coolers available on AMD's website: https://www.amd.com/en/technologies/cpu-cooler-solution

[Bombastinator]

8 minutes ago, porina said:

As owner of a genuine Wraith Prism, I'm wondering why anyone would want it. Was not very good at cooling, very noisy on my 3700X (stock). RGB looks nice. Might be ok for lower TDP CPUs than they are actually bundled with. I don't think the limit of its performance is the number of heatpipes though, especially as the added pair on the edge probably wont get much heat conduction to them. More a problem for airflow and overall surface area, so my gut feel is the copy wont be that much different at equivalent airflow.

The biggest problem I see with the wraith is that single bearing fan they use in em. Single bearing fans are junk. A dual ball or sleeve bearing makes a lot more sense.  If they’ve got to do a redesign push it to 100 or 120mm while they’re at it.   It’s not a terrible cooler design.

[RotoCoreOne]

If they rebranded it to Ayymd coolers then I’m down

[Bombastinator]

Pepsi challenge should be done.  Does it cool better? Is it cheaper?  Wondering if maybe they wanted to sell to AMD and replace cooler master.  Might be IP issues with the design.

[DrMacintosh]

30 minutes ago, porina said:

Might be ok for lower TDP CPUs than they are actually bundled with.

I have one on my 2600. I got it from a forum friend and I can say, yeah, it's great for lower TDP parts. I basically never hear it because it never has to actually ramp up. 

[Bombastinator]

My memory is that the wraith prism/max has about the same power cooling wise as a dark rock pro slim.  There are a bunch of $25 coolers that match it.  They seem to want to sell the thing from $35-$50 though and that’s just stupid.  $15 more for an x over a non x and I’ll recommend them all day though.  I was under the impression the max/prism was pretty good on a 3700 though.  Is this not the case and they actually need more cooler?

[Spotty]

19 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

My memory is that the wraith prism/max has about the same power cooling wise as a dark rock pro slim.  There are a bunch of $25 coolers that match it.

I bet the Dark Rock Pro Slim is quieter though.

[AkatsukiKun]

The moment I see AMD Radiator, I stopped taking it seriously.

[Bombastinator]

50 minutes ago, AkatsukiKun said:

The moment I see AMD Radiator, I stopped taking it seriously.

To be fair cpu air coolers are radiators.  Does smack of machine translation and business English though.

[williamcll]

Would be funny if the copies run even better than the original. 

[Bombastinator]

4 hours ago, williamcll said:

Would be funny if the copies run even better than the original. 

They might.  They also might not.  Depends a lot on how much they cheaper out on the heat pipes.  Even if they didn’t it’s possible there’s no functional improvement.  I’d like to see it tested myself

[Doobeedoo]

I've seen it interesting at first when I saw it, though the og cooler is already really good for CPUs it comes with and Ryzen 9 3950X doesn't come with it. 

[geo3]

20 hours ago, Spotty said:

Tom's Hardware also noted that the performance of the counterfeit coolers may not match that of the genuine articles.

This is literally the only relevant bit of info. I couldn't care less who makes a product, only how it preforms and costs.

[Bombastinator]

52 minutes ago, geo3 said:

This is literally the only relevant bit of info. I couldn't care less who makes a product, only how it preforms and costs.

There is that argument and I’m sort of right there with you.  Counterfeit stuff tends to be poorly made though and a poorly made heat pipe is garbage.  There were some chinese manufacturers doin what looked a great deal like noctua DH14s but they did them with crap heat piping and the result was something a good 2 pipe cooler could beat.   They need to be found and tested for actual effect.  Until then they’re nothing.

[TVwazhere]

I'll admit. If the fake only had 4 heat pipes and had a fake QR cod sticker on the one side, I literally would not be able to tells these apart. 

 

It's so good, it makes me think someone either is a really good engineer of coolers who re-created it, they,re sourcing a lot of their components from the same place AMD gets theirs, or managed to get specs and outline drawings for the original AMD coolers and made changes (the more likely outcome given the extreme accuracy).

[GOTSpectrum]

On 1/24/2020 at 11:27 PM, Spotty said:

I'm still not really sure who would be buying these as AMD branded Wraith Prism coolers.

I have a 1700 with the stock spire, I wouldn't mind a prism. Due to the placement of my radiators in my system the VRMs would get baked without a downfire cooler. I do with we had more downfiring options on the market tbh.