Soundtest:


Right Click -> Save Target as..
to download a small .wmv file that lets you hear the difference between the two fans

Both fans are virtually silent when the rheostat is turned to its lowest position. However when we let the fans run at their maximum speed you will notice that the old 80mm style produces a low humming noise, while the new Aero7 is whining and pretty irritating.
If you combine this info with the data from the previous page then it is clear that this new design fan offers no improvements over the classic 80mm fan. It even performs worse by providing less cool air to the heat sink and to top it off it creates more decibels at maximum speed than a normal one.
So for now it's better to stick with that classic 80mm fan!


Conclusion:

The Aero7 and X-Dream SE are both very complete products and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone interested in higher performance air-cooling.

Both the Thermalright SLK800 and SLK900 outperform the X-DreamSE/Aero7 heat sink, but CoolerMaster has an Ace up its sleeve. PRICE!
For almost half of the retail price of the Thermalright product you get a full featured CPU cooler with PCI bracket and 3.5" cover, a high quality rheostat, a clear manual and to top it off: good overall performance.

This heat sink is aimed at the hardware enthusiast who likes to run his PC 24/7 next to his bed without having to suffer from hearing problems. At the same time you can use this CoolerMaster for benchmarking and pushing your CPU almost to the maximum when you slap a 80mm delta fan on top of this heat sink. It only trails the SLK800 with a few degrees and is on par with the SLK900!

The stats for the CoolerMaster X-Dream SE
Easy and quick installation thanks to the great clip system
Good overall performance with the included fan
Great cooling potential when combined with a high CFM output fan
Very complete set with clear manual and lots of extra's
High quality rheostat which allows perfect finetuning of the cfm/dba ratio
Very competitively priced
with the fan running at full speed there is a reasonable amount of noise created
the clipping system can obstruct the DDR slots on some motherboards


The stats for the CoolerMaster Aero7
Easy and quick installation thanks to the great clip system
Decent overall performance with the included fan
Great cooling potential when combined with a high CFM output fan
Very complete set with clear manual and lots of extra's
High quality rheostat which allows perfect finetuning of the cfm/dba ratio
Very competitively priced
with the fan running at full speed the noise created can become quite irritating
the clipping system can obstruct the DDR slots on some motherboards
the new design fan doesn't provide any improvements

I would like to thank Colorcase.be and CoolerMaster for providing us with these test-samples.



If you have questions or comments you can drop them @ this thread in our forums.