NZXT Havik 120 Review

1. Introduction2. Packaging and Unboxing3. NZXT HAVIK 1204. Installation5. Testing methodology and performance6. Final Thoughts7. View All Pages

Today we are going to test the NZXT Havik 120 with the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition CPU. The AMD PII X6 1090T Black Edition ships at 3.2ghz but can hit 4.0 GHz (and above) when paired with the right cooling system.

We like to try and mirror ‘realistic’ conditions when possible, so instead of the ‘open bench concept', we are mounting the build inside the NZXT Phantom Chassis.

Room ambient temperatures were maintained at a steady 22c throughout testing.

AMD System:

Processor: AMD PII X6 1090T Black Edition
Coolers: NZXT Havik 120, Evercool Transformer 4 Plus, NZXT Havik 140, Noctua NH-C12P SE 14
Motherboard: MSI 990FXA-GD80
Thermal Paste: NZXT Thermal paste
Power Supply: Corsair HX 850W
Chassis: NZXT Phantom
Memory: 16GB Mushkin Enhanced Silverline Stiletto DDR3 1333mhz Cas 9-9-9-24- 1T
Graphics Card: Sapphire 6950 2 GB (1536 unified shaders)

There are several different applications available that will load a processor to the limit while running through a series of complicated calculations. For today’s testing we are going to use the latest version of Prime 95.

Prime95 is a popular freeware application that can be used to stress test the CPU.

Validation Link

The NZXT Havik 120 performed admirably, maintaining the temperature of the Phenom II X6 1090T @ <48c at all times.  With the low speed fan adapter installed @ 3.2 GHz we peaked at 47c during Prime 95 testing. This is an excellent result and when using the high speed adapter this drops by a further 2C.

These numbers pleasantly surprised us, beating the Havik 140 in both situations. The Havik 120 also managed to outperform the Evercool Transformer 4, with the fans configured at full speed. This is worth pointing out as the Transformer 4 has dual fans operating @ 2200 RPM (or 400 RPM higher) than the maximum speed of the fans on the Havik 120. The thicker 8mm heatpipes clearly do improve overall performance.

After overclocking the processor to 4.0 GHz we record similar results. At idle, the Havik 140 slightly outperforms the Havik 120, but when loaded, the variable swings the other way as the 8mm pipes can transfer more heat efficiently.

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