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To test the performance of the Fractal Design Kelvin S36, we built a powerful X79 based system on an open test bench to push the cooler to the limits. As we were testing on an open test bench, we directed a Be Quiet! Shadow Wings 120 mm fan at the VRM circuitry to better simulate the airflow generated in a case.
For our extreme tests, we manually overclocked the i7-3930K to 4.7 GHz by increasing the multiplier to 47x, leaving the baseclock set at 100 MHz.
We set Load Line Calibration to ‘High', and increased the CPU Current Capability to 120% with a minor voltage increase. Speed stepping was disabled for both stock and overclocked tests.
We tested the Kelvin with the fans connected to a 12V header on our motherboard.
Coolers Tested
- Fractal Design Kelvin S36 (fans at 12V)
- Cooler Master Nepton 240M (fans at 12V)
- Corsair H105
- Corsair H110 (fans at 12V)
- Corsair H90 (fan at 12V)
- Phanteks PH-TC14PE (fans at 12V)
- Noctua NH-D14 (fans at 12V)
Test System
- Processor: Intel Core i7-3930K
- Motherboard: Asus P9X79
- Memory: 16 GB (4 x 4 GB) Mushkin Blackline 1600 MHz
- Thermal Paste: Arctic Cooling MX-2
- Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 7950
- Graphics Card (noise tests): HIS Radeon HD 5550 Silence
- Power Supply: Seasonic Platinum P1000W
Software
- Prime 95 (64-bit)
- CPUID Hardware Monitor
Nice review. It will be great if you can make a review of S24. 🙂 This one is really nice product, only thing that i notice is that bracket does not have holes for a different sockets, just slider like hole where you can move screws to fit. Does the block tend to move a lot during instalation? Particulary interested in mounting it on a 1150 socket.