Battle of the CPU Coolers
23. Results - Load
Review Pages
2. Akasa AK-965
3. Akasa AK-925 Revo
4. Asus Silent Knight II
5. Asus Triton 75
6. GlacialTech Igloo 5160
7. Noctua NH-U12F
8. OCZ Vendetta
9. Scythe Andy Samurai Master
10. Scythe Kama Cross
11. Scythe Infinity (Mugen)
12. Scythe Ninja Mini
13. SunbeamTech.com Silent Whisper
14. Titan Amanda Tec
15. Titan TTC-NK34TZ
16. Titan Vanessa L-Type
17. Tuniq Tower 120
18. Zalman CNPS8700NT
19. Zalman CNPS9700LED
20. Zaward VIVO
21. Test methodology
22. Results - Idle
23. Results - Load
24. Results - Noise
25. Summary
Apart from the idle mode, most of our systems work in full load. Intel's stock cooler had, as expected, the worst performance with 71 celcius. On the other hand, Titan's Amanda had a superb performance with 52 celcius at full load, with stock voltage. I assume that this kind of performance can be achieved only with a water cooling system, however Amanda makes it possible. The Asus Silent Knight II came second with 55 celcius, while Scythe Infinity/Mugen and Noctua NH-U12F came third, but with the additional fan installed. If we don't count those models, the Tuniq Tower 120 and Zalman CNPS9700LED came third, while Akasa AK-965 and Noctua NH-U12F fourth..
Overclocking our system to 3.60GHz, will unveil more interesting details about the behavior of each cooler. This time we have a tie at the first place, Titan's Amanda and Noctua's NH-U12F (with 2 fans), came first. In the second place we find Asus Silent Knight II, Tuniq Tower 120 and Zalman's CNPS9700LED. The Noctua NH-U12F and Zaward's Vivo (2 fans) came third.
Lastly, lowering the cooler's rotation speed, we can see which cooler performed the best with the lowest produced noise. This time, the Noctua NH-U12F came first, while the Asus Silent Knight II and Zalman's CNPS9700LED second. Again coolers with PWM and Titan's Amanda results are not posted, due to reasons explained earlier.