Baseline testing the cooler

Testing The Cooler

Time to test. The cooler will work absolutely great with any processor from low to high-end (Core i3/Core i5/Core i7 quad-core and even six-core included up-to 130W) at default operating frequencies, of course there's room left for overclocking as well.

We have built a new test system for cooling benchmarks. So unfortunately I do not have comparable and competing results ready for you just yet.

I decided to go with the Core i7 3770K as it literally is the hottest processor your money can buy you. You guys all know that once overclocked with added voltage, the temperatures get out of control big-time.

Prior to testing I've been battling the question wether or not to actually use a Core i7 3770K. The Ivy Bridge processors all have poor heat transfer from the silicon die to the IHS. Fact remains that Ivy Bridge is what people buy -- and as such you want to know how these coolers perform on it. We could use a Core i7 2600K instead, but these already are EOL. We could also use a 1000 EUR 6-core Core i7 3960X processor but again ... how many people do actually buy these processors ?

The vast majority of our readers will purchase the Core i7 37x0 series -- so this is what most of our readers are really interested in hence we took the top 4-core SKU -- it's just that Intel made things very complicated with their poor heat transfer design.

So we'll be testing that processor at default clock frequencies, and then overclocked towards 4600 MHz with a 1.20 Volts and then blast the processor with 1.30 Volts. That voltage is not at all needed for 4600 MHz but typically will bring the processor with a heatpipe cooler towards 90~100 Degrees C (!). We are merely trying to see how the cooler will behave under such stringent conditions.

All temperatures reported are the processor package sensor temps. The cores independently will differ a little in degrees C here and there. We measure at an ambient temperature of 20 Degrees C.

Test 2 - IDLE Temperature

Let's have a look at the results. Again let me state this is a completely new test setup, you'll not be seeing any other cooling solution for comparison today. We are however working on a cooler article with multiple coolers tested. It will be released later on.

Below, the IDLE temperatures, thus your processor is doing barely anything to nothing. Just sitting and waiting in your system.

This is liquid cooling, the coolant will overall in idle be warmer than a heatpipe cooler as the ambient temperature is also your LCS coolant temperature at minimum. I prefer the Quiet mode as the cooler simply can't be heard.

Test 3 - LOAD Temperature

But now let's have a look at the processor's LOAD temperatures. I do have to make a note here, we measure in a 20 Degrees C ambient room temperature. Ambient temperatures do effect the coolant, albeit a little bit.

• Anything at roughly 50 Degrees C or lower we consider enthusiast class cooling.
• Anything in-between 51 to 60 Degrees C we consider performance cooling
• Anything in-between 61 to 70 Degrees C we consider mainstream cooling
• Anything above 71 Degrees C we consider average cooling

We are at the 50~55 Degrees C zone with the processor tested on several performance modes (Quiet, Balanced, Performance and Maximum). The temps will differ a little depending on how warm it is.