Thermal Performance Test Procedures:
- Idle temperatures are obtained after sitting at the desktop for 15 minutes.
- Load temperatures are obtained after running Prime95 in the ‘Small FFTs’ mode for 15 minutes.
- We tested with our AMD FX-8350 CPU at stock voltages and at stock speeds.
- The cooler’s fan is set to 100% to eliminate any inaccuracies from dynamic PWM fan speed adjustments.
- We use HWMonitor to measure the CPU temperature.
- CPU temperature recording is accurate to +/- 0.5 °C. Ambient temperature recording is accurate to +/- 0.05 °C.
- Ambient temperature was maintained at 22 °C.
Acoustic Performance Test Procedures:
- We measure the noise output of our entire system from a distance of 1m while the CPU Cooler’s fan operates at 100%. This way indicates the maximum noise output possible.
- We unplug the case fans and avoid using a discrete GPU when possible in an effort to isolate CPU fan noise.
Test System:
- Processor: AMD FX-8350 Retail (4.0 GHz, 4.2 GHz Turbo)
- Motherboard: MSI 990FX GD-65.
- Memory: 8GB Crucial Ballistix 1600 MHz.
- Graphics Card: Reference design Nvidia GTX 780.
- System drive: 240GB Kingston V300 SSD .
- Secondary Drive: 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm.
- Case: Fractal Design Define R4.
- Power Supply: Seasonic G-750 80+ Gold.
- Thermal paste: Supplied Cooler Master branded thermal paste.