| jmke | 18th March 2009 15:43 |
S1366 Core i7 CPU Cooler Roundup
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Prolimatech Megahalems 22.85°C over ambient
Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme 25.1°C over ambient
Xigmatek Thor's Hammer S126384 25.15°C over ambient
Titan FINRIR TTC-NK85TZ 25.45°C over ambient
Xigmatek all-copper S1284 Prototype 25.9°C over ambient
Cooler Master Hyper Z600 26.03°C over ambient
Xigmatek Dark Knight S1283V 26.35°C over ambient
Xigmatek HDT-S1284 26.48°C over ambient
OCZ Gladiator Max 26.95°C over ambient
Thermolab BARAM 27.03°C over ambient
CoolIt Domino ALC (high fan setting) 27.13°C over ambient
OCZ Vendetta 2 OCZTVEND2 28.25°C over ambient
Spire TherMax II SP679S1-PCI 28.5°C over ambient
Noctua NH-U12P 29.0°C over ambient
Cooler Master V8 29.25°C over ambient
Intel LGA1366 Stock Cooling Solution 53.07°C over ambient
It becomes evident that there's a point of diminishing returns for every CPU cooler, and when over-cooled the results collide closely together. Although the 2.66GHz Intel Core i7-920 processor does a decent job of separating the crowd, there's still only about 7°C between the fifteen coolers we tested. Tt's a good bet that any one of these well-designed products will cool an overclocked system extremely well, but these days only the very best will do. Much like the Thermal Interface Material testing we have done for our upcoming follow-up article, high-performance products are all beginning to perform at nearly the same levels. Eventually, I expect to see the same technology used in all cooling products with the difference being the application. This is where experience comes in handy, and we've shared some of this with you in our Best Thermal Paste Application Methods article. Remember, less is more when it comes to thermal paste, and soon CPU coolers may offer the same paradigm.
So far, the Prolimatech Megahalems has dominated both the stock and high-output fan tests, which certainly doesn't make two products tied for second-place very happy. The Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme and Xigmatek Thor's Hammer S126384 are neck and neck with each other, but still a few degrees behind the Megahalems cooler. Titan's FINRIR also makes it into the top of the list again, with the all-copper prototype of the HDT-S1284 coming in right behind it. Some coolers didn't move in relation to the previous tests, and keep the same order in the lineup. http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.ph...85&Item id=62 | 