3 Test Setups for the price on one!

To provide as much real world data as possible I compared the performance of the Apex Ultima kit to a high end air cooling from Thermalright (Ultra-120 Extreme) and tested the older Apogee GT block with the Apex kit.

I tried to cover all bases of the current hardware enthusiast, one Intel E8500 dual core, one Intel QX9650 Quad core and one recently released Intel Core i7 920 quad core. Of course we overclocked each CPU to see how the extra generated heat changed the outcome.

Leeghoofd's E8500 Test Setup
CPU	Intel E8500 @ 3.5 1.18v & 4Ghz 1.21v vcore
Cooling	Thermalright Ultra-120 + 1000rpm boxed fan Swiftech Apex Ultima Swiftech Apex Ultima with Apogee Block
Mainboard	Gigabyte EP45T UD3P
Memory	4Gb Excelleram PC12800 C9-9-9-24 2T
PSU	OCZ ModStream 700W

Leeghoofd's Qx9650 Test Setup
CPU	Intel QX9650 @ 3.6 1.18v & 4Ghz 1.26v vcore
Cooling	Thermalright Ultra-120 + 1000rpm boxed fan Swiftech Apex Ultima
Mainboard	Gigabyte EP35DS4
Memory	4Gb Mushkin Ram PC8000 C5-5-5-12 2T
PSU	OCZ ModStream 700W

Leeghoofd's I7 920 Test Setup
CPU	Intel I7 920 @ 3.6 1.21v & 3.8Ghz 1.28 & 4Ghz 1.42v vcore HT ON
Cooling	Thermalright Ultra-120 + 1600rpm boxed fan Swiftech Apex Ultima
Mainboard	Gigabyte X58 UD5
Memory	4Gb Excelleram PC12800 C9-9-9-24 2T
PSU	OCZ ModStream 700W

Test Methodology

Thermal paste used: Arctic Ceramique (from the swiftech kit). Temperatures were monitored with the Realtemp

Socket 775 systems (Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad)

I used prime with small FFT 20k for the CPU load test for 2 hours for the Apex Ultimate with GTZ and GT WB Block; the fan on the radiator was run at 12v as well as 7v (at 5v it was inaudible, quieter than the already dead silent pump). For the air cooled test with the Thermalright HSF we used a 1000rpm 120mm fan and ran the load test for approximately 1 hour until temperatures stabilized.

Socket 1366 system (Core i7)

Same setup as for the S775 systems, except for the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme which I now paired with a 1600rpm 120mm fan.