Testing

Methodology

Processor	AMD Athlon 64x2 4200+ @stock
Motherboard	MSI K9N AM2
RAM	2GB OCZ Special Ops (2x1gb)
HDD	80GB Samsung Spinpoint P80 SATA
PSU	Trust 450W Power Supply Unit PW-5200
Graphics Card	ATI Radeon HD 2400 Pro Overclocked
OS	Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate

To test this cooler I took temperatures - using the onboard diode of the motherboard - for the chipset - with the stock cooler when idle and then when on load, I then did the same for the ChipChilla.

For idle testing, we simply let the rig sit doing 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 the system to 100%.

All of the testing is carried out with the side panel of the computer case removed. Ambient temperature was 20C throughout.

Results

	Idle	Load
Stock	28	34
ChipChilla	22	27

The results are entirely conclusive; the ChipChilla reduces the temperature of the Chipset by up to 7c when compared to a non-fan assisted cooler.

I also noticed that my graphics card temperature had seen a dramatic decrease after the installation of the ChipChilla. Prior to its installation the GPU temperature when overclocked was reported at a whopping 73c, this was decreased to a much humbler 53c after I had installed the ChipChilla, sound hard to believe? Well the fan –which rotates at an average of 2555rpm - was mounted in such a way that the fan blew though the fins and straight onto my GFX card with astonishing results. Also, the fact that my graphics card is cooled passively may have played a part in the high temps seen. This shows that this coolers collateral effectiveness is top notch. 

Noise Levels

With regards to the noise levels it is really of no worth me saying anything other than this cooler is truly silent [still not using the word mulnaz? - ED].

Cost

The price tag for the Chipchilla might seem a bit high for some, £15. However, for the performance and noise levels, it's more than worth it.