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AMD Budget Coolers Shootout


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Part 2. Test Results, Summary Table


Part 1. Products from Arctic Cooling, Cooler Master, Foxconn, GlacialTech, Speeze, Thermaltake, and Titan

Test results

We use the same procedures for evaluating thermal efficiency of coolers for Socket 754/939/AM2 as for Socket 478 coolers and LGA775 coolers. The primary data used for the consequent calculation of thermal resistance are temperature readings of the thermal diode built into a processor. Only the thermal source (now it's Athlon 64 3700+ processor), the base platform (Fujitsu-Siemens D1607 motherboard), and a set of test applications are different.

Testbed configuration:

  • Fujitsu Siemens Computers D1607-G motherboard
  • AMD Athlon 64 3700+ CPU (Clawhammer)
  • OS: Microsoft Windows XP

We use the S&M utility to simulate maximum thermal load of a processor, and SystemGuard from Fujitsu-Siemens to monitor temperatures.

Diagram 1. CPU Core Temperature

Notes
Each cooler was tested with thermal paste Stars 420
The diagram contains complex results

Diagram 2. Thermal resistance, °C/W

Note
Thermal resistance θja is defined as the relation
θja = (Tj — Ta)/Ph, where Tj is the temperature of a CPU core, Ta is the environment temperature (it's 33°C in this case), Ph is the thermal capacity of a processor (in this case it's 80 Watts).

Finally, at the end of this article we publish the noise measurement results (the method of testing is described in the article Noise characteristics of coolers and the noise measurement method) as well as the efficiency/noise rating of coolers.

Diagram 3. Noise Levels, dBA

Note: Background noise level: 18 dBA


Diagram 4. Efficiency/Noise Ratio

Note
The efficiency/noise ratio (ENR) is calculated as:

ENR = DM*(Rt/P¢C)/(NL/Rn), where

Rt — reference temperature (the reference thermal resistance θja of the cooling system - 0.3°C/Watt), TC — the core temperature with the operating cooling system, Rn — reference noise (the reference noise level is 25 dBA), NL — noise level, generated by the cooling system, DM — denominate multiplier (10).

Summary table


Table 1. Summary test results of the cooling systems
Model Thermal resistance,
 °C/W
Noise, dBA Weight, g* Compatibility with Socket AM2
Arctic Cooling Alpine 64
0.48
33
485
Available
Cooler Master DK8-8I32A-99
0.55
35
410
Available
Cooler Master CK8-8JD2B-99
0.46
39
485
Available
Cooler Master X Dream K640
0.541
321
445
Available
Cooler Master X Dream K641
0.55
34
430
Available
Foxconn NBT-CMAK8-1CN
0.481
451
360
Available
Foxconn NBT-CMAK8-1T
0.66
32
320
Limited
Foxconn NBT-CMAK8-2T
0.63
33
345
Limited
GlacialTech Igloo 7300 Light
0.49
32
415
Available
GlacialTech Igloo 7300
0.45
38
415
Available
GlacialTech Igloo 7300 Pro
0.43
42
415
Available
GlacialTech Igloo 7210 Silent
0.58
30
310
Available
GlacialTech Igloo 7210 Light
0.51
33
310
Available
GlacialTech Igloo 7210
0.48
37
310
Available
GlacialTech Igloo 7220 Light (E)
0.51
33
290
Available
GlacialTech Igloo 7220 (E)
0.46
37
290
Available
GlacialTech Igloo 7220 Pro (E)
0.44
44
290
Available
Speeze DolphinReef III
0.50
36
3052
Available
Speeze KestrelKing I
0.50
48
290
Available
Speeze KestrelKing II
0.48
49
300
Available
Thermaltake TR2 M6 SE
0.58
33
425
Available
Thermaltake TR2 M14 SE
0.48
36
470
Available
Thermaltake TR2 M17 SE
0.46
36
505
Available
Thermaltake TR2 M19 SE
0.54
40
300
Available
Titan Data Cooler DC-K8A825Z
0.54
40
395
Available
Titan Data Cooler DC-K8A825Z/CU35
0.54
38
405
Available
Titan Data Cooler DC-K8D925Z
0.48
37
385
Available
Titan TTC-K8ETB/825
0.54
42
405
Available
Titan TTC-K8DTB/925
0.53
40
415
Available
Titan TTC-K8ATB/825/SC
0.533
503
560
Not available
Titan TTC-NK32TZ
0.41
41
550
Available
*Full weight, including a retention module
1This parameter varies depending on fan speed
2Ignoring a bundle of mounting accessories
3This parameter corresponds to maximum fan speed

There seems to be no need in any comments here. It's time to have a look at our Table of Ranks — technical ratings of our coolers!

Budget Coolers for AMD - Technical Ratings of Autumn-Winter Models

Methodological Addendum. Integrated Assessment of Usability of Cooling Systems



Vitali Crinitsin (vit@ixbt.com)
November 29, 2006

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