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Today we are going to test the Xigmatek Dark Knight Night Hawk Edition CPU cooler with the AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition CPU. We recently tested a cooler from Akasa, and Titan which we will be using as a comparison during testing.
Each cooler tested today will be using its stock configuration of fans. The Akasa has 2x 120mm fans and the Titan has 1x 120mm and 1x 140mm fans. As discussed earlier in the review, the Xigmatek only has a single 120mm fan, although another can be added at extra cost.
We like to try and mirror ‘realistic’ conditions when possible, so instead of the ‘open bench concept’, we are mounting our test system inside the BitFenix Shinobi XL case that we recently reviewed, which does offer very impressive thermal performance in itself. As such our temperatures can't be compared directly to previous tests.
Room ambient temperatures were maintained at a steady 20c throughout testing and the coolers were all set to their maximum fan speed.
System Specs:
Processor: AMD Phenom X4 965 Black Edition @ 3.7 GHz.
Motherboard: ASUS M4A785TD- M Evo
Cooler (for comparisons): Akasa Venom Voodoo CPU Cooler & Titan Fenrir Siberia Edition CPU Cooler
Memory: 4GB Corsair DDR3 1600MHz
Graphics Cards: AMD Radeon 6450 HD (GPU @ 850 MHZ, Memory Clock @ 1000 MHz)
Power Supply: Akasa Venom Power 750W
Boot Drive: OCZ Vertex I 60GB SSD (OS only)
OS: Windows 7 Home Edition 64bit
Digital Sound Level Noise Decibel Meter Style 2
The Xigmatek managed to beat the Titan Fenrir Siberia Edition CPU by a degree or two throughout which is an impressive result. It also bested the much larger heatsink of the Akasa Venom with 2x 120mm fans. Clearly the stealth technology and ceramic coatings are helping improve overall results.
