Introduction and System Setup
Copper Cooler Comparison II
This content was originally featured on Amdmb.com and has been converted to PC Perspective’s website. Some color changes and flaws may appear.
The deluge of Copper and/or Copper content HSF’s continues at a mind boggling pace with new heatsinks being released on an almost daily basis.It is no longer good enough for HSF’s to just perform adequately, now they must have superior performance, dictated by higher and higher CPU speeds and the higher temperatures they generate.
We can no longer speak to the computing public in general terms, but now must consider many different interests, the average computer user, the overclocker/gamer, the extreme overclocker and the growing segment of seekers of quiet. Each produces its own needs and wants and many companies world-wide are rushing in to meet their particular needs.
In this comparison, we will present you with some of the newer HSF’s and a refresher on others we’ve studied, for additional details of those in the refresher category, we refer you to REVIEWS at www.amdmb.com; we’ll be looking at a total of 21 different Copper/ Copper Content HSF’s.
Our test system is a high performance, well cooled Athlon XP-1800 (1.53 GHz) 266 FSB CPU, 512 Mbytes of Crucial PC2100 DDR memory on an Epox 8K7A+ motherboard housed in a Cooler Master ATC-201 Aluminum Case with all the amenities including Silver Series Rounded IDE Cables, Sony; CDROM, CDRW and Floppy Drive an Iomega Zip 250 and an IBM 30 Gig Hard Drive running Windows XP Professional.
Our tests are conducted under real world conditions in a closed aluminum case using a mix of software that best reflects the usage patterns of the majority of computers used day in and day out. The tests run for a consecutive four day period. To record temperatures, we employ Award Bios, Via Hardware Monitor and a heat sensor applied next to the CPU’s core from the DigitalDoc5. The room temperature of 74 degrees Fahrenheit or 23 degrees Celsius is maintained +/- four tenths of a degree.
The mix of software used in our study consisted of business and accounting applications, a varied combination of utilities, AutoCAD Lite, graphic intensive packages, 3D games, surfing the net and burning our favorite CD’s. Fifty readings per day are taken for a total of 200 separate readings, with the high and low readings for each day removed leaving a total 192 readings which are then averaged out to obtain our “Average Attained Temperature”
It is important to note that our interests lay in high performance. The exact same 60mm Delta 37 cfm fan that produces 46.5 dBA’s has been used in every one of our tests of heatsinks using a 60mm fan, but in this study, it was not always possible, in those cases where it was necessary to use the stock fans it was duly noted.
What we are able to achieve depends a great deal on having excellent system cooling in place, in an Aluminum case. A tremendous factor often not paid attention to, but critical is the “Ambient Room Temperature” and the ability we have to control it. You may not be able to achieve what we have because of differences in equipment and environment.
While on the subject of cooling and specifically case cooling, pictured below are a new series of fans from Delta that deliver good CFM’s at a lower than expected noise ratio for Delta fans. Notice the three blade design!!
The fan on the left is the Delta EFB0812ME 80 x 80 x 38 mm and produces 45.91 CFM’s at a noise level of 39.5 dBA’s. The fan on the right is the Delta EFB0812VH 80 x 80 x 25 mm that produces 40.75 CFM’s at 37.5 dBA’s.
High performance and less noise associated, in the same breath, with Delta fans, I never thought I’d see the day!! 🙂
While the pictured fans are not yet available, they should be shortly in Europe, distributed by www.lapicon.co.uk through their network of resellers. I have no idea as to when they’ll be available in North America.
