First test case of the day is Alpenföhns Matterhorn Pure CPU cooler, a well balanced single fan air cooler, available at a very affordable price. Even though the Alpenföhn company is known for favorising the silent treatment then the performance aspect it is still interesting to see if we can improve this tower CPU cooler by adding one or two of our Corsair Static Pressure fans.

The fan Alpenföhn uses is from their own WingBoost PWM controlled series, spinning at a minimum of 500 and max up to 1500rpm. The results of the boxed fan are reflected by the stock fan results in the below chart.

Once we replace the WingBoost fan with the Quiet Edition ( QE ) of the Static Pressure series we can spot that the Corsair claims result in 2° Celsius lower loaded temperatures. If we add a 2nd QE fan the loaded temperatures drop even more. Take note that the Corsair fan is spinning at max rpm on the ASUS Sabretooth at a mere 1360rpm ( claimed 1450rpm by Corsair ). Swapping the QE fan for the High Performance ( PE ) version spinning at 2230rpm we see that one fan is enough to nibble of 5°C from the boxed version.  

Test case number two, the Croation Zalman XPS14 twin tower cooler. Equipped with one central 140mm silent type fan, running at max 1350 rpm. However has the ability to house two extra 120/140mm fans, for improved cooling performance.

Once we added the two Quiet Edition Static 120mm pressure fans, we see this cooler kicking some serious butt. The i7-3960X operating temperatures remain 3 degrees lower then when just running the XPS14 with it's stock cooler. With the QE fans the cooling setup remains at an acceptable noise level. Though for those that look for maximum performance, the High Performance fans spinning at 2230rpm, cool close to 6°C better when stress testing our testbed. So far for the air coolers. Let's find out if Corsair's own Hydro 80, equipped out of the box with two high speed fans, get's a cooling performance bump, if we swap them noisy fans with the brand new Air Series.

The Hydro80 is one of Corsairs' most popular all in one liquid solution cooling kits, ssporting good performance and great case compatibility. However when running the included fans at full blast, the noise level generated gets housewife unfriendly. The pump unit has got a speed control button, which has three preset settings: low, balanced and maximum performance. Thus adjusting the fan speed accordingly. We test the H80 unit at the Balanced and High Performance preset. This as the Low preset is out of the comfortable zone with our 3960X hexacore based testbed.

First up the Balanced results:

Equipped with the two stock fans the Hydro 80 can keep up with a good air cooler, but once we installed the two Quiet Edition fans we observed a serious cooling performance drop. Cooling 6°C worse then the two included fans was not really living up to our expectations. Quickly swapping them with the High Speed Performance fans showed that these are where the Air fan series show their true colours. A 4° Celcius gain at a lower noise level, now that is what we call technological progress. It seems clear that the far slower QE fans don't cut it with our test setup, the fan speed is too low to beat the performance of the older, but far more noisier fans. Let's dial in Perfomance mode and recheck what happens.

Even at the H80's performance setting, the Quiet Edition fans are far from a perfect match with the Hydro 80 all-in-one cooling unit. The Performance Editon fans stay in front of the boxed fans with a 3°C gap. Take note that the boxed and PE fans are running at a similar rpm level (2230rpm region). The new housing and fan blade design seems to pay off, better cooling and less noise generated.