Testing

To test the CF series, I’ll be using an Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 with Arctic Silver 5 between (300 hour curing time elapsed) sat in a Lian Li PCA-12 case. To test, I’ll use the following process:

Let the core idle for 30 minutes with nothing running, and record the end temperature.
Start both StressPrime on both cores and a single instance of folding@home.
Let the testing run for 30 minutes and record the end temperature.

Ambient was a constant 19C.

Running at stock speeds of 2.4ghz and 1.3V, the CF800 is able to stop the CPU rising above 44C which is nice to see. At idle, the cooler manages 33C while maintaining a low noise footprint. The CF900 manages even better with the load temperatures keeping below 42C. However, compared to the Scythe Andy, these coolers are eclipsed in regards to cooling, but they are nearly silent which is one point the Scythe can't claim.

Neither of the coolers fully used their included thermistors. They didn’t hit their top RPM and the only way to test what the noise level was like was to use a lighter on the thermistor itself (not advised). The thermistors have to reach between 40-50C before they begin to increase the fan RPM which the heatsink blades are unlikely to do. If the thermistor was located closer to the base, they would be able to measure the input temperature rather than how good the heatpipes are at transferring heat as they are now.

While testing, the coolers were never obtrusive regarding their noise, however at full pelt (lighter test) they are audible; barely.

It’s strange that the thermistors have to reach such a high temperature before they begin to speed up the fan, however it does mean that there is extra cooling headroom that can be called on if the CPU does begin to heat up further. This shows that it can be used with more powerful processors but you’ll lose the silent aspect that makes this cooler better than the rest.

Ordinarily, if you are word processing, browsing the web or watching a DVD, you won’t see the fan RPM increase, it’s only when you game or put the CPU in a position where it’s at full load will the fan speed increase.