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All Heatsink Tests Done By Madshrimps In One Place

Cooling/HSFDB by jmke @ 2009-12-07

Over the past years we have tested a few hundred kilos worth of heatsinks; in order to give you quick access to the massive amount of data we have entered all the test results (more than 400) into a database, grouped by test setup. Enjoy!

AMD S754 (2005~2007) - Antec Sonata 2

AMD S754 (2005-12) - Antec Sonata 2

JMke's Test Setup
CPU	A64 3200+
Mainboard	DFI NF3 Lanparty
Memory	1 * 256Mb PC3700 OCZ
Other	ATI R9000 Passive Cooling Chaintech FX5900XT with Arctic Cooling Silencer Silverstone EFN-300 300W Passive Cooled PSU Antec SmartBlue SL350P 350W Active Cooled PSU Maxtor 120GB IDE HDD

in-take temperature was measured at 22°C for all tests, but temp fluctuations, different mounting and user error can account up to 1-2°C of inaccuracy in the obtained results. Please keep this in mind when looking at the results. Each heatsink was tested repeatedly; if we got questionable results the test was restarted.

Noise level of each HSF combo was recorded with SmartSensor SL4001A, the sensor was placed ~50cm away from the case. The lowest dBA reading in the test room was 32.5dBA with everything turned off!

System was stressed by running K7 CPU Burn for 30min (after Thermal Compound’s burn-in); this application pushes the temperature higher then any other application or game we’ve yet encountered. Speedfan was used to log maximum obtained temperatures.

Arctic Silver kindly send us their “Lumière” thermal testing compound which has the same colour as Ceramique, but only a break in time of 30min!

Arctic Silver’s ArctiClean was used to clean off thermal paste of the CPU and heatsink between tests

Fans used for comparison

Delta NFB0912L 92mm: 42CFM

Vantec Tornado 92mm: 119CFM

Papst 120mm 4412 F/2GLL: 40CFM

Titan 120mm: 115CFM

The Case

In the past I always worked in a case-less setup, which allowed easy installation and removal of the heatsinks, the results obtained were valid when compared between the different heatsinks included in that particular roundup. However with the introduction of different Tower-like heatsinks the orientation of these heatsinks inside a case has been giving them a noticeable advantage over the conventional “fan blowing down onto the heatsink/motherboard” design.

So for this roundup I decided to use a case, not just a randomly selected one though, it has to have room for rear 120mm fan, as this offers the best cooling/noise balance. With the industry’s continuing obsession for silence the Antec Sonata II will make a perfect host for my test setup. It comes with 120mm rear fan which you can run at 5/7/12v by use of a small switch.

Since I’m only using an Athlon 3200+ for my tests, it would be interesting to overclock the CPU so its maximum heat output increases and it can simulate a higher clocked Athlon 64. At default it’s rated at 89W, increasing clock speed to 2400Mhz with 1.7v vcore it’s putting out ~125W according to this little calculator. In my days of Athlon XP HSF testing an increase of 0.1v vcore would result in 4-6°C higher CPU temps, so without much surprise the temperature results here with the 1.7v Athlon 64 were much higher.

Noise was recorded approx. 50cm away from the case at an angle, here’s a (very bad) drawing of how the dBA meter was position opposite the case and the test-room.

Madshrimps (c)

Green box = Sonata II – White Dot = dBA meter

Madshrimps (c)

- Antec Sonata II + Silverstone Passive PSU
- AcoustiFan DustPROOF 120mm @ 5v in the rear as outtake (mounted with Acousti Fan Gasket)
- Athlon 64 3200+ @ 2400 – 1.7v vcore
- nVidia TNT2 Passive cooled video card
- Noise produced with system running without HSF fan: 34dBA @ 50cm

Performance Results

Select the heatsink you want to compare and hit “select”. Click the name of the heatsink to be taken straight to the original review, with pictures, installation tips and more.

Comment from piotke @ 2009/01/28

Nicely done, but once you selected one or 2 coolers, and clicked next to see the graph, there is apparently no way to return to the selection menu ? (besides refreshing the page).

Comment from Massman @ 2009/01/28

Your life's work?

Comment from jmke @ 2009/01/28

Quote:

Originally Posted by piotke

Nicely done, but once you selected one or 2 coolers, and clicked next to see the graph, there is apparently no way to return to the selection menu ? (besides refreshing the page).

good point, will look into it

@Massman: trying to setup similar for fans & cases, than my work is complete

Comment from jmke @ 2009/01/29

return link added!

Comment from Rutar @ 2009/01/29

excellent work

Comment from geoffrey @ 2009/01/29

if you don't select anything, and choose select, then you get a nothing select error but no link back to the selection screen

Flash btw?

Comment from jmke @ 2009/01/29

no flash involved, Php image generation; you can directly link to generated charts from Madshrimps.be domain. Today so far 916 charts were generated

latest one:

http://www.madshrimps.be/images/rend...26,363,366.png

if you try to directly link from a site outside madshrimps domain you get this image:

Quote:

if you don't select anything, and choose select, then you get a nothing select error but no link back to the selection screen

fixed, thanks for testing

Comment from jmke @ 2009/01/29

added links to the Heatsink names, they now link to the original review, with pictures, installation tips and more.

Comment from geoffrey @ 2009/01/29

you're brilliant

Comment from jmke @ 2009/01/29

coolest would be now if you mouse-over the name, you see a small thumbnail of the heatsink? would that be useful ?

Comment from jmke @ 2009/02/01

latest chart generated can now be found: http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=stats
will need a better place for it though

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