Our S775 test setup has been laid to rest as we move along with our times. Although the majority of PCs in the world are still S775 based, we realize that those people who buy and install 3rd party heatsinks, will not use outdated hardware. To give an idea of how the tested heatsinks perform a variety of heat outputs we performed our tests with the CPU overclocked (and overvolted) at 3 settings. The test setup consisted of the following gear:

- Intel Core i7 920
- MSI X58 Motherboard
- Geforce 7900 GT with Zalman VF900 @ 5v
- 3x1 Gb DDR3 RAM
- Laptop 5400rpm HDD
- Coolermaster HAF922 (Default fan config, 200mm Front and Top, 120mm in the back, all at 12v)

Windows XP was installed and LinX 0.6.4 used for creating 100% CPU load. When comparing different software tools, we measured the total system draw at the wall socket, with the Core i7 920 at stock speeds:

- Prime95 (8 thread): 155W
- K7Burn (8 instances): 167W
- LinX: 200W !

Than we overclocked/overvolted the CPU to 3.4 and 3.7Ghz, to create these three profiles:

1) 2.67ghz - 133Mhz - default vcore - 200W
2) 3.41Ghz - 170Mhz - +0.05v vcore - 250W
3) 3.71Ghz - 185Mhz - +0.2v vcore - 362W

The last is brutal and only the high end CPU coolers can survive this test, hitting 100°C CPU temp caused the thermal throttling to kick in and so if you see a heatsink with CPU temp results of 100°C = FAILURE.

The ambient room temperature was 22°C during testing. Noise readings of the CPU coolers and fans was done outside the system, with the dBA meter placed diagonally at approximately 20cm. Ambient noise recorded was 32dBA.

We test each heatsink with its default fan, and if we can fit a reference fan we will use the following depending on the fan size:

- Vantec Tornado 92mm (4800rpm)
- Titan 120mm (2900rpm)
- Delta 120mm (3200rpm)
- GlobalWin NCB (1300rpm)

Performance Results

With the Core i7 920 at stock speeds we can see that both Cooler Master units are about 6-7°C better while being noticeably quieter. The Hyper 212 Plus with its default fan offers a good performance/noise ratio, but the fan at full speed is well audible, swapping it for the GlobalWin NCB the temperature only climbs by ~3°C. When we go the other way and add the high end 120mm fans the performance increases marginally, only 2°C better with the Delta 3200rpm while the noise is unbearable. The Hyper TX3 is struggling on the S1336 platform, with the stock fan you do get a better performance/noise ratio than the stock Intel cooler, which is a good thing, but there's not much performance to be gained here, even with a 4800rpm 92mm fan the TX3 is barely better than the Hyper 212 Plus. Overall here a good showing, with performance numbers falling in the "mid-range".

Adding 50W to the system is almost too much for the stock Intel cooler, luckily the same cannot be said for the Cooler Master units, they keep the system running stable. The Hyper 212 Plus with its stock fan has a nice 16°C lead over the Intel cooler, the TX3 an impressive 12°C. Swapping the fans on the heatsinks makes more of a difference here, the TX3/Tornado combo drops temps by 4°C, while the Hyper 212 Plus and Delta fan are at the top of the performance board.

This last bump in CPU Mhz and especially vcore pushes total system usage over 360W, or +160W compared to the stock configuration. That extra heat takes its toll, the stock Intel cooler and Hyper TX3 throw in the towel, while the Hyper 212 Plus with stock fan barely manages to remain under the 100°C limit. Swapping the fan on the TX3 with the insanely loud Vantec Tornado does prevent the CPU from throttling, and the same goes for the Hyper 212 Plus with the 2900rpm Titan fan. Coupled with the Delta screamer the Hyper 212 Plus manages a bit better, but when compared to the high end Megahalems there is a noticeable chasm of 11°C, and you can see that the Megahalems manages to keep the CPU below 90°C with a silent 120mm fan, quite a performance feat!