Introduction

From the CRYORIG website:

WHO AND WHAT IS CRYORIG?

CRYORIG was officially founded in 2013, but took several years in the making. We began our journey right at the start of the first decade of the 2000's. During what was the most prosperous age of PC DIY and Overclocking. Members of our team have either worked directly or indirectly with brands such as Thermalright, Prolimatech, Phanteks and many more. We ourselves are overclockers and PC modding enthusiasts, with a passion and drive to strive for improvement. With direct knowledge of manufacturing and design as well as holding multiple patents under our collective belt, we decided to make a name for ourselves, and that name is CRYORIG. So what is CRYORIG exactly? CRYORIG is about making the coolest rig possible.

With a rapid rise and continued improvements to their product lineup, CRYORIG has quickly become an enthusiast favorite. Offering an extensive lineup of CPU coolers that cover nearly every possible market segment and high quality fans, they have quickly become a force in the PC cooling market. With the likes of the R1 Universal or Ultimate, CRYORIG offers quiet high-quality products with top-tier performance. Meanwhile, the H5 Universal and H7 Universal are excellent products for the typical mid and entry level. There are also coolers like the recently reviewed C7, a niche cooler for those who want a stock replacement that performs better, is quieter, and fits into just about any case imaginable. With such a solid lineup in place, it's not hard to see why they have come so far so quickly. Yet given their rapid growth and expansion, it will also be interesting to see how CRYORIG does in the future and what the company might expand into next.

In today's review, I look at the CRYORIG M9. This tiny tower cooler comes in two variants, the M9i I will review today and the M9a, which is for AMD sockets. With an ultra-affordable price tag, the M9i looks to give users an effective tower cooler that is compatible with a wide range of cases due to its short stature. It should also prove capable enough for those looking to do some light overclocking.

Packaging & Contents

The tiny box the M9i comes in measures roughly 11 cm in length, 10.4 cm in width, and 14.2 cm in height. It doesn't take a genius to deduce that the cooler inside such a small package will also be rather compact. Taking a look at the front, there is a close up of the cooler's plastic top plate and some quick info on its specifications. The "i" in "M9i" means this coolers is for Intel's platforms. The AMD version features an "a" instead. Moving onto the left side, we see the M9 designation in large black letters, which makes it rather hard to miss. The meat is on the back, listing the cooler's specifications and which sockets it supports.


The right side mentions a few of the M9i's features, such as its proprietary Jet Fin Acceleration System, zero interference design, and quick-mount system. The top of the box just lists the company's name, CRYORIG, and their slogan "research idea gear".

Contents

When I opened the box, I was greeted by a cooler that was encased in some cardboard; however, there was no real space between the inner and outer box to protect the cooler. I would have liked a slightly larger box that offers a bit more protection. Afterall, who wants a cooler with bent fins, dings or dents when the postman deigns to play football with it. Granted, I am making a mountain out of a mole hill with this as CRYORIG backs the product with a generous three year warranty that is increased to six years after you've register the product, so it evens out in the end.


The M9i may lack support for Intel's LGA1366 and LGA2011 sockets, but that is to be expected as the cooler has as a maximum TDP of around 120 W because of its small size. As such, CRYORIG has included everything you need for Intel's mainstream sockets, including another set of fan clips for a dual-fan setup.

Common parts supplied for mounting include:

• 4x Backplate screws
• 4x Thumbscrew caps
• 4x Fan clips
• 2x Fan vibration dampeners
• 2x Mounting arms
• 1x Backplate
• 1x 92 mm x 92 mm x 25 mm fan
• 1x Heatsink
• 1x Tube of thermal compound
• 1x Installation manual