Core i7 3770K Baseline test

Testing The Coolers

Time to test. All the coolers 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 policy for cooling benchmarks.  

Core i7 3770K Baseline IDLE Temperatures

Let's have a look at the results for the system in its default non-overclocked state. Below, the IDLE temperatures, thus your processor is doing barely anything to nothing. Just sitting and waiting in your system.

Now, as stated this is a heatpipe cooler shootout article, but recently we tested the Corsair H60 and H100i so we threw those into the results as well in order to give you an idea of how the coolers perform against All-In-One Liquid Cooling Setup kits.

None of the coolers obviously have any issue whatsoever in IDLE with the Core i7 3770K not overclocked. But you can already see a pattern though.

Core i7 3770K Baseline LOAD Temperatures

Now let's have a look at the processor's LOAD temperatures (in the non-overclocked state). We measure in a 21 Degrees C ambient room temperature. Ambient temperatures do effect the cooling performance, albeit a little bit.

Guru3D's rule of thumb on CPU load vs cooling temps:

• 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

All coolers perform well within the baseline. The highest measured temperatures come from the two most silent products, the low-profile HTPC coolers. The Gelid Tranquillo is fine if you don't overclock.

Now this is fun. Let's directly deal with sound levels shall we?