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Thermalright IFX-14 CPU Cooler Review

Cooling/CPU Cooling by jmke @ 2008-02-11

CPU coolers keep growing in size, this monster from Thermalright is proof of that. The Inferno Fire eXtinguisher is a heatsink large enough to accommodate up to three 140mm fans! Furthermore it comes with a separate smaller heatsink which sole purpose is to keep the backside of the CPU socket cool. Will this powerhouse CPU cooler grab first spot in our performance charts? Time to find out!

Performance Results

Performance Results

Here we compare the performance of IFX-14 with different fans, fan speeds and display the data in a chart showing both maximum CPU temperatures obtained under load, as well as noise levels at those settings.

If you are interested in the best results, no matter what the noise, please consult this chart. However if you are looking for a balance between noise and cooling the chart below will be of more use.

We sorted the obtained data by Noise level ranges, then by lowest CPU temp. Since we measure our dBA level from very close distance, the numbers by themselves have little value without some information. Ambient noise in the room was 36dBA, so we used the following “categories”:

Extremely Noisy: >57dBA. These heatsinks can be heard from the room next door, if you are into overclocking the results obtained here will be most interesting if you don’t care about becoming deaf.

Moderately Noisy to “Not so bothersome”: All results between >44-56< dBA, while the difference between the two extremes is “twice as loud” the loudest reading at 56dBA will be do-able for most, while those who want it more quiet still should look towards resulst below 50dBA.

Quiet to Whispher Quiet: Any result under 44dBA is included here, you’ll have to focus to hear the fan running on these CPU coolers, on most you’ll be unable to do that unless you take the PC in very very quiet room.

In the chart below we have added a few descriptions after each heatsink’s name to tell you how we tested them.

We hooked the fan up to a Zalman Fanmate2 which gives 11V at “@ High” and 5V at “@ Low”.

Some heatsinks did not allow manual fan speed regulation, those are marked with “@ Auto”

While testing some of the heatsinks with their fan "@ Low" the system overheated, instead of reporting no data, we decided to measure the fan noise and stop fiddling with the fan controller when the dBA meter read 45dBA. These results are marked “@ Low(er)” in the chart.

“+Stock” means tested with the fan included with the heatsink, “+Papst” or “+NCB” or “+Delta” or “+Delta 3200rpm” means respectively that the heatsink is tested with a 120mm Papst fan, 120mm NCB Globalwin fan, Delta 92mm or Delta 120mm High Speed fan.

Madshrimps (c)

Results explained and conclusive thoughts on the next page ->

Comment from Rutar @ 2008/02/11

A Q6600 at 1.6V above 3 Ghz would be bette to test, 138W isn't that much for todays quadcore standards. I like those passive results tought.

Comment from geoffrey @ 2008/02/11

Jmke has been using Prescott all the way, it's not easy repeating every test, again and again, whenever a new generation of CPU's hit your local retailer. The Prescott is off the older generation Prescott CPU's and does produce quite an amount of heat for heatsinks to deal with, heck the high differences in our chart. Why would you want to use 1,6V with your air cooled Q6600, do you really want that extra clock in favor of such high voltage?

Comment from jmke @ 2008/02/11

what's the TDP of Intel's highest end Quad Core?

Comment from Rutar @ 2008/02/11

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmke

what's the TDP of Intel's highest end Quad Core?

125W stock, Overclocked and overvoltet, a lot more is possible.

Comment from jmke @ 2008/02/11

125W for Q6600? the QX6750 scores lower? what about QX9750 and QX9770 ?

Comment from Rutar @ 2008/02/11

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmke

125W for Q6600? the QX6750 scores lower? what about QX9750 and QX9770 ?

http://www.golem.de/0710/55669.html

130W

Comment from Faiakes @ 2008/02/11

Nice!
But I think if one has the Ultra 120 Extreme there is no real need to upgrade to the IFX, is there?

Comment from jmke @ 2008/02/11

will be testing the Ultra-120 eXtreme soon, not sure if the IFX-14 is an upgrade

Comment from Kougar @ 2008/02/12

Argh, was thinking that was the Extreme in those results. Was a shocking difference between the regular and the Extreme versions, so I suspect the IFX-14 isn't going to last very long at the top of those results....

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