CPU Cooler Charts 2008, Part I - Loosing Your Cool?

[jimmysmitty]

Anyone noticed the THG Award badges on the CNPS8700's box? :lol:

It is funny AND ironic!

Probably just using it from their CPNS 9700 series. Most companies do that when they win an award they use it as the company name.

But still funny huh?

I hope they have the Thermaltake BigTyphoon VP and BigTyphoon 14. Both look promising. Just need a LED fan instead and I would be set. Love my CPNS9700 but if thosse cool better I would get them.

 

[Multiplectic]

Probably just using it from their CPNS 9700 series. Most companies do that when they win an award they use it as the company name.

Yeap, I realized that, but still, really funny. :lol:

The BT VP and 14 are being sold? I thought those weren't out on the streets yet. Like CoolerMaster's V8 and V10, that we're announced, but I haven't seen them at retail stores.

 

[jimmysmitty]

Yeap, I realized that, but still, really funny. :lol:

The BT VP and 14 are being sold? I thought those weren't out on the streets yet. Like CoolerMaster's V8 and V10, that we're announced, but I haven't seen them at retail stores.

I am hoping Thermaltake sent them samples. Probably not but you can hope right?

BTW nice profile picture. CTRLALTDEL-Online is the best web based comic ever. GO ZEKE!!!!!!!!!

Ih and this is my 666th post. Should turn out deliciously evil.

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

Error404

Sorry! The Requested Page was not Found!

I think that's a weakness and false promise right there! You promised me a CPU HSF article, I got a 404! :lol:

Dude, you just made me shoot Cheez-Its out of my nose.

 

[gondo]

I'm gonna wait for part 2 of the test. At least the Thermalright is a winner here. It's the best air cooler available. But I'm waiting to see others such as the Tuniq Tower and Zalman's towers.

 

[nukemaster]

I do not normally complain about anything, but there are some clear over sites here

1. Put it in a damn case(use one with a removable tray for fast swapping and cut a hole in it for backplate mounting.....).
2. Don't face the coolers every witch way(hot air rises, why now fact then up? many cases have a top fan now)
3. Don't complain about installation. you only do it once in most cases(it should have a minimum impact on end score.). and those push pins don't give me a feeling of secure with large heat sinks....
4. Why the hell are your temps SOOOOO high? I mean i can run my 9500AT or AC freezer(a little harder here with the close fins, but i have done it. Thats the $23 wonder heatsink is what it is) passive and get better then some of those(i mean 7-9 volts 55c -57 on the hottest core....52 on the lowest 2....lapping time?).
5. frostytech does kick ass

Room temp 26c cooler 9500AT fan at 2000, then off

All in all i am still waiting for the end result with ALL coolers....

@ gondo Zalmans 9500AT is very close the the freezer 7. its cooler, but not more then 2c tops. For the price i will be getting freezers for most builds...set at lower speeds its performance is good(just not too low or it suffers allot more due to the close fin structure)

 

[bombasschicken]

They seem to favor the push pin mount it seems, installation wise. [:mousemonkey:4]

http://images.tomshardware.com/2008/02/20/cpu_cooler_charts_2008/coolercharts2008_72474.jpg

And why anyone would mount this HS this way... I dunno. [:mousemonkey:2]

I kinda wish they would have done tests in a PC case with poor/good/best airflow to really see how it affects the performance on HS/Water cool products.

But... I guess I'm asking for too much.

I wanted to say the exact same thing. Last time I checked, hot air went in the UP direction... And inside a closed case, with possibly a crossfire config or something, would be more interesting. Also, testing temps of cards and ram around the HS since they usually are designed to cool othing things in the area...

 

[Grimmy]

I wanted to say the exact same thing. Last time I checked, hot air went in the UP direction... And inside a closed case, with possibly a crossfire config or something, would be more interesting. Also, testing temps of cards and ram around the HS since they usually are designed to cool othing things in the area...

First off.. lets clear some things up.

If you look at the fan closely... you should notice, the airflow of the fan is pointed down.

And if you have a PSU above that HS, your going to have a vacuum lock. . o O (Just don't understand why they did tat)

That design is made to point airflow to a rear exhaust fan. (Edit: but then I'm used to more traditional cases, now a days that have fans on the top, and PSU on the bottom)

Edit:

Just wanted to be sure we are on the same idea.

 

[MattC]

I can't help but think that they are doing something wrong for so many decent looking coolers to perform so poorly (and so HOT!). I myself have the scythe ninja rev B and I use it without a fan to keep my c2d 2.8 (OCed from 1.8, and also undervolted to 1.1) under 50 even under prolonged full load while ambient temps are around ~65-70.
Of course, I am using the antec 900 with the big top fan - so my components all go together really well. Still, it seems like the reviewer may have been hasty at times and perhaps misapplied thermal gunk or didn't always have the retention mechanism fully secured.

 

[Zorg]

3. Don't complain about installation. you only do it once in most cases(it should have a minimum impact on end score.). and those push pins don't give me a feeling of secure with large heat sinks....

I agree, the installation should have a lower weight in the scoring. I really don't like the push pin design at all. As far as I'm concerned all push pin mounted coolers FAIL.

 

[NewbieTechGodII]

I find it funny how people like to bitch and complain about how the tester didn't do x, y, and z, when conducting a comprehensive test like this one. Let's see those people go through the process of testing 80 heatsinks and do it so perfectly.

Whether these coolers were tested in a case or not isn't all that important. Each of these coolers are tested under the same conditions and since none of them are hindered by a poor case design (or even helped by a really good one), each cooler is left to stand (or fall) on its own.

Still, I have to agree with some of the people in here when they mention temperatures: are the Quads THAT hot? I have a E6300 OC'd to 3.14GHz, cooled by an Ultra 120 eXtreme, and under load using Orthos, the temp stays under 55C (in an Antec 900).

 

[Grimmy]

I find it funny how people like to bitch and complain about how the tester didn't do x, y, and z, when conducting a comprehensive test like this one. Let's see those people go through the process of testing 80 heatsinks and do it so perfectly.

Whether these coolers were tested in a case or not isn't all that important. Each of these coolers are tested under the same conditions and since none of them are hindered by a poor case design (or even helped by a really good one), each cooler is left to stand (or fall) on its own.

Still, I have to agree with some of the people in here when they mention temperatures: are the Quads THAT hot? I have a E6300 OC'd to 3.14GHz, cooled by an Ultra 120 eXtreme, and under load using Orthos and the temp stays under 55C (in an Antec 900).

Well... I know I'm asking allot (hence why I did say mentioned it)... but hey, their doing it, why not? The ambient temp is going to be warmer then it being outside of the case, so if your going to show the actual performance, it should be taken into some consideration. Perhaps.. if they mentioned the room temp, and try to match that room temp to a typical case temp, then would make thing easier.

But either way, their going to waste about 10 grams of thermal grease, or more, and they are providing good info data on HS, so why not try to get close as possible circumstances, and setting it up the correct way (airflow wise)?

 

[jbj190]

No, quads are not that hot.

 

[wasp777g]

Has anyone had any issues installing the Thermalright IFX-14 on a EVGA 680i motherboard because of a micro SMD located on the back of the motherboard? I've read articles that the diode can get in the way of the backplate on some heatsinks such as the Thermalright Ultra-120. Does the IFX-14 use such a similar backplate?

 

[nukemaster]

Still, I have to agree with some of the people in here when they mention temperatures: are the Quads THAT hot? I have a E6300 OC'd to 3.14GHz, cooled by an Ultra 120 eXtreme, and under load using Orthos, the temp stays under 55C (in an Antec 900).

with the P35 DS3r(Q6600 @ 3.0) fan control on my hottest core stays at 55-57 and coolest at 52ish(the last 2 stay within a degree of each other)
I was surprised at the fact that my e6600 @ 2.93 seemed to run as hot as my Q6600. Even power(i only noticed about 30-40 watts more, i was expecting 2x the e6600) wise i find the Q6600 has been great for the encoding time saved.

 

[skittle]

*sigh* probably one of the worst THG articles I have ever read.

WAY too many variables that were not measured and accounted for, and conclusions that dont make sense: The ninja scores a 4/10 for cooling performance?... I dont think so.

Also the IFX-14 used a scythe fan... but scored better in the noise rating? wtf is this?

and where is the ultra-120/extreme? Zalman 9700?

 

[NewbieTechGodII]

Well... I know I'm asking allot (hence why I did say mentioned it)... but hey, their doing it, why not? The ambient temp is going to be warmer then it being outside of the case, so if your going to show the actual performance, it should be taken into some consideration. Perhaps.. if they mentioned the room temp, and try to match that room temp to a typical case temp, then would make thing easier.

But either way, their going to waste about 10 grams of thermal grease, or more, and they are providing good info data on HS, so why not try to get close as possible circumstances, and setting it up the correct way (airflow wise)?

Yes, ambient temperature can (and does) play a role here and I don't recall (without going back through the article) if they mentioned it or not. Still, there are too many case designs with too many fan setups to even possibly go through them. And remember, too, that dude is testing 80 of them! Personally, I wouldn't want to even test 5! And someone mentioned using a slide-out MB tray; are you serious? name the case with an opening that big! I do believe that even in cases with slide-out MB trays, the CPU cooler has to be removed.

 

[NewbieTechGodII]

*sigh* probably one of the worst THG articles I have ever read.

WAY too many variables that were not measured and accounted for, and conclusions that dont make sense: The ninja scores a 4/10 for cooling performance?... I dont think so.

Also the IFX-14 used a scythe fan... but scored better in the noise rating? wtf is this?

and where is the ultra-120/extreme? Zalman 9700?

I think they had 80 coolers to test and this was part I of a III part series.

 

[jimmysmitty]

*sigh* probably one of the worst THG articles I have ever read.

WAY too many variables that were not measured and accounted for, and conclusions that dont make sense: The ninja scores a 4/10 for cooling performance?... I dont think so.

Also the IFX-14 used a scythe fan... but scored better in the noise rating? wtf is this?

and where is the ultra-120/extreme? Zalman 9700?

It may come later. There are a lot to test and might be considered in the higher end air coolers since they are very good for the price.

I still want to see the Thermaltak BigTyphoon 14.

 

[skittle]

Yes, ambient temperature can (and does) play a role here and I don't recall (without going back through the article) if they mentioned it or not. Still, there are too many case designs with too many fan setups to even possibly go through them. And remember, too, that dude is testing 80 of them! Personally, I wouldn't want to even test 5! And someone mentioned using a slide-out MB tray; are you serious? name the case with an opening that big! I do believe that even in cases with slide-out MB trays, the CPU cooler has to be removed.

That doesnt stop other hardware sites. SilentPCReview for one. They test with a standard fan, in a standard configuartion (modified P180), record ambient temperatures, SPL and voltages before taking their measurements. Hell of a lot better information provided there than this crappy "review"

*edit* I didnt see the part about this being a series, I sure hope they round up the better known ones... and improve their methodology.

 

[SpinachEater]

Where are you KyleSTL? I thought you would have been the first to post.

You can't take these results and compare them to anything else except what is in this review. That is the trick with heatsink reviews. You can't cross reference tests from a year ago, other sites, or your home setup because there are too many factors involved that affect the performance. (CPU, thermal paste, the person, temp recording, testing duration, room temp, solar flares <-jk...)

Whether or not they do the tests in the case or out of the case or under water or on the flipping moon...it doesn't matter as long as the conditions are the same for each test. The only information you can get out of this is relative performance.

I was actually headed to this thread to make fun of the people who are responsible for the Scythe Kama sink. WTF were they thinking? Look at the fan placement. A chimp could figure out that the air is going to flow around the sides rather than in between the fins.

 

[skittle]

Whether or not they do the tests in the case or out of the case or under water or on the flipping moon...it doesn't matter as long as the conditions are the same for each test. The only information you can get out of this is relative performance.

Thats the problem I have with this review... There are no control variables, and everything is subjective (save for temperature measurements). There isnt even a cost/performance ratio.

They have the right idea but if they want to make this a useful tool, then they need to do some stuff differently.

For example, whats the point of including a noise assesment when they use 3rd party fans? IMO they should have left this part out.

 

[SpinachEater]

I agree, there is more information that is needed.

The fail stamp has me confused. It would be much more informative to say...we had trouble with installation, we give it a 1 rather than...this one makes me PO...FAIL. I had to double check to make sure Charlie didn't do this article. 😗

 

[nukemaster]

With a series i think they should hold off the recommendations until the last part...or even a refresh of all 3 with comparisons....

And someone mentioned using a slide-out MB tray; are you serious? name the case with an opening that big! I do believe that even in cases with slide-out MB trays, the CPU cooler has to be removed.

TJ09 - Even the biggest fit in here

Origen AE S21T(overprices, just to show that most cases with 120mm fan will have a tray thats big enough for even the tuniq tower)

 

[SpinachEater]

I could park my car in that thing