Test Setup

Test Platform
Processor Intel Core i5-6600K
Motherboard MSI B150A Gaming Pro (ATX)
Memory Crucial Ballistix Sport 8 GB 2400 MHz DDR4
Graphics Card XFX AMD Radeon R9 290X Double Dissipation Edition
Storage OCZ Vertex 460 120GB SSD
Cooling Corsair H75 Liquid CPU Cooler
Power Supply SilverStone Strider ST1000-P 1000 W Modular PSU
OS Windows 8.1 64-bit

The testing process I have adopted is as follows:

  • CPU Temperatures
    • Temps generated using a closed-loop liquid cooler (Corsair H75) in each enclosure
    • Temps measured at idle, load, and "stress". Load temps created using the video transcoder benchmark x264, with stress results from prime95 (large FFT torture test)
    • Temperatures defined as the hottest core as recorded at the 5-minute mark using HWMonitor software
    • A custom fan profile is used to provide linear results for both liquid and air cooling
  • GPU Temperatures
    • Load temps (XFX Radeon R9 290X) created using the Unigine Valley benchmark (Extreme HD preset), with the highest temp recorded after two successive benchmark runs
    • A custom fan profile is used to provide linear results
  • Noise Levels
    • Measured using a digital sound pressure meter positioned 24 inches from the front of the enclosure (system fully assembled with side panels in place)
    • A fixed speed for load noise will be used for consistency, based on observed average max fan speeds under load for both CPU and GPU

I employed the ASUS motherboard software MSI motherboard settings to create a custom fan profile for the CPU, and both the Deepcool Gabriel air cooler and Corsair H75 liquid cooler used this profile for their PWM fans.

cpu-fan-profile-0-0-3.png

The XFX R9 290X DD graphics card was also setup with a custom fan profile using MSI's Afterburner software, with a linear rise in fan speed beginning at 20%.

gpu-fan-profile-0-0-3.png

The reason for the custom fan profiles is simple: default fan profiles flatten out during certain temperature ranges, which results in uneven results between tests and enclosures as a given temp will often fall below the threshold to increase fan speed. In my quest to provide consistent results I didn't like the position where a single degree often determined whether the cooler was placed into a louder, but more effective, state.

Add to this the complication of testing without complete control over ambient temperature and you can understand why noise testing was done at a fixed fan speed. Ambient temps can produce very misleading results with regard to fan noise as a colder room requires less fan speed to keep the system cool, with the opposite true for warm rooms. The adjusted delta temps are the same in either case, but for a neutral look at noise output a fixed speed was chosen for both CPU and GPU noise testing.

Next we will look at temperature and noise results with the Air 740.

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