Testing

Installation

For Intel installation on a socket 775 motherboard - this is what I’ll be using for testing - you need to screw the two mounting clips to the heat sink base. The clips are held sturdy when the screws are tight enough.

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As the Xigmatek doesn’t have thermal paste already applied, you can either use the paste which comes with the cooler of an alternative paste such as Arctic Silver. I’m going to go use the default paste which comes with the cooler.

Once you’ve installed the clips you’ve just got to mount the fairly hefty HSF onto the motherboard this is done by pushing the clips into the mounting holes situated around the CPU. These clips work the same way as the default Intel ones where you push each clip in by opposite corners.

The installation is simple and doesn’t require the removal of your motherboard or the use of any particular tools.

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For AMD processors, it’s a fairly similar process although you have to install the normal AMD hook mechanism on the motherboard where the cooler attached onto the processor base at the two notches.

Methodology

All of the testing is carried out with the side panel of the computer case removed. Ambient temperature was 19C throughout.

To test we simply boot the PC up with a freshly installed copy of Windows Vista, and measure temperatures under idle and load states. The onboard temperature sensor is disregarded and instead the CPU’s own diode is used.

For idle testing, we simply let the rig sit doing absolutely nothing for 30 minutes and take the most representative temperature of the last 10 minutes. The same is used for the load testing, but instead of letting the PC do nothing, CPU Burn-In is used to load both cores to 100%.

As this motherboard also has a temperature sensor in the chipset, we will also measure the temperature of that in the same way as the CPU, in order to get an idea of how effective the ‘collateral’ cooling of the kit is. All testing was carried out with the 4pin motherboard connector being used.

Speedfan was used to take all temperatures.