Performance Results

Here we compare the performance of Intel Extreme Reference HSF with different fan speed setting. The data in a chart showing both maximum CPU temperatures obtained under load, as well as noise levels at those settings.

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 quieter should look at the results below 50dBA.

Quiet to Whispher Quiet: Any result under 44dBA is included here, you’ll have to focus to hear the fan running with these CPU coolers, on most you’ll be unable to do that unless you take the PC in very very quiet room and open the side panel and have no other actively cooled component inside the PC.

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.

We did not use the Zalman Fanmate2 with the Intel Extreme HSF, we hooked it up to 12v 3-pin connector and set the small dip-switch to “high” and “low” settings to obtain our results.



Results explained and conclusive thoughts on the next page ->