Enermax ETD-T60-VD CPU Cooler Review

[nextpage title=”Introduction”]

The Enermax ETD-T60-VD is a CPU cooler with a horizontal heatsink, six heatpipes and a 120 mm fancy fan with LEDs. Let’s test it and see how well it performs.

The ETD-T60-VD comes in a box with two transparent windows that allow you to see part of the cooler, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Package

Figure 2 shows the contents of the box: the cooler itself, a small tube of thermal compound, a manual, and installation hardware.

Figure 2: Accessories

Figure 3 displays the Enermax ETD-T60-VD.

Figure 3: The Enermax ETD-T60-VD

This cooler is discussed in detail in the following pages.

[nextpage title=”The Enermax ETD-T60-VD”]

Figure 4 illustrates the front of the cooler. Here you can see two heatpipes entering the heatsink, and the tips of four other heatpipes.

Figure 4: Front view

Figure 5 reveals the side of the cooler. Notice that the heatsink is shifted from the base; it is intended to stay over the voltage regulator circuit of the motherboard, helping to cool it.

Figure 5: Side view

The rear of the cooler is shown in Figure 6. Here, four heatpipes enter the heatsink; you can see the tips of the other two.

Figure 6: Rear view

In Figure 7, you can see the cooler from the top, where the T.B.VEGAS Duo 120 mm fan is located.

Figure 7: Top view

[nextpage title=”The Enermax ETD-T60-VD (Cont’d)”]

The bottom of the cooler is seen in Figure 8. Here you have an idea of the shape of the nickel-plated heatpipes.

Figure 8: Bottom view

In Figure 9, you can see the heatsink without the fan.

Figure 9: The heatsink

Figure 10 shows the fan that comes installed into a plastic frame. This fan has PWM control. Its most remarkable feature is the set of red and blue LEDs around the inner side. The button shown on the right side of the picture changes the LED mode between a solid color (red, blue or purple), flashing, and circulating lights. Casemodders will love this fan.

Figure 10: Fan

Figure 11 reveals the base of the cooler, which has a mirrored look.

Figure 11: Base

[nextpage title=”Installation”]

To install the ETD-T60-VD, first screw the metal clips to the base of the cooler, as shown in Figure 12.

Figure 12: Clips

Then put the cooler over the CPU, place the backplate on the solder side of the motherboard, and secure it with four nuts, as shown in Figure 13.

Figure 13: Backplate

Figure 14 shows the cooler installed, without the fan. Notice it doesn’t interfere with the memory sockets.

Figure 14: Heatsink installed

In Figure 15, you can see the cooler with the fan turned on. There are several “special effects” that you can achieve with the fan LEDs.

Figure 15: The CPU cooler turned on

[nextpage title=”How We Tested”]

We tested the cooler with a Core i7-860 CPU (quad-core, 2.8 GHz), which is a socket LGA1156 processor with a 95 W TDP (Thermal Design Power). In order to get higher thermal dissipation, we overclocked it to 3.3 GHz (150 MHz base clock and 22x multiplier), keeping the standard core voltage (Vcore), which was the maximum stable overclock we could make with the stock cooler. Keep in mind that we could have raised the CPU clock more, but to include the stock cooler in our comparison, we needed to use this moderate overclock.

We measured noise and temperature with the CPU idle and under full load. In order to get 100% CPU usage in all threads, we ran Prime 95 25.11 with the "In-place Large FFTs" option. (In this version, the software uses all available threads.)

We compared the tested cooler to the Intel stock cooler with a copper base (included with the CPU), as well as with other coolers. Note that in the past, we tested coolers with a socket
LGA775 CPU, and we retested some "old" coolers with this new methodology. This means you can find different values in older reviews than the values you will read in the next page. Every cooler was tested with the thermal compound that accompanies it.

Room temperature measurements were taken with a digital thermometer. The core temperature was read with the SpeedFan program (available from the CPU thermal sensors), using an arithmetic average of the core temperature readings. During the tests, the left panel of the case was open.

The sound pressure level (SPL) was measured with a digital noise meter, with its sensor placed 4" (10 cm) from the fan. We turned off the case and video board cooler fans so they wouldn’t interfere with the results. This measurement is only for comparison purposes, because a precise SPL measurement needs to be made inside an acoustically insulated room with no other noise sources, which isn’t the case here.

Hardware Configuration

• Processor: Core i7-860
• Motherboard: Gigabyte P55A-UD6
• Memory: 2 GB Markvision (DDR3-1333/PC3-10700 with 9-9-9-22 timings), configured at 1,200 MHz
• Hard disk: Seagate Barracuda XT 2 TB
• Video card: Zotac GeForce GTS 250
• Video resolution: 1680×1050
• Video monitor: Samsung Syncmaster 2232BW Plus
• Power supply: Seventeam ST-550P-AM
• Case: 3RSystem L-1100 T.REX Cool

Operating System Configuration

• Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit SP1

Software Used

• Prime95
• SpeedFan

Error Margin

We adopted a 2 °C error margin, meaning temperature differences below 2 °C are considered irrelevant.

[nextpage title=”Our Tests”]

The table below presents the results of our measurements. We repeated the same test on all coolers listed below. Each measurement was taken with the CPU at idle and at full load. In the models with a fan supporting PWM, the motherboard controlled the fan speed according to core load and temperature. On coolers with an integrated fan controller, the fan was set at the minimum speed on the idle test and at full speed on the full load test.

		Idle Processor			Processor at Full Load
Cooler	Room Temp.	Noise	Speed	Core Temp.	Noise	Speed	Core Temp.
Intel stock (socket LGA1156)	14 °C	44 dBA	1700 rpm	46 °C	54 dBA	2500 rpm	90 °C
Cooler Master Hyper TX3 G1	14 °C	47 dBA	2050 rpm	33 °C	56 dBA	2900 rpm	62 °C
Zalman CNPS10X Extreme	14 °C	45 dBA	1400 rpm	27 °C	53 dBA	1950 rpm	51 °C
Thermaltake Silent 1156	14 °C	44 dBA	1200 rpm	38 °C	49 dBA	1750 rpm	69 °C
Noctua NH-D14	14 °C	49 dBA	1250 rpm	27 °C	49 dBA	1250 rpm	53 °C
Zalman CNPS10X Performa	14 °C	46 dBA	1500 rpm	28 °C	52 dBA	1950 rpm	54 °C
Prolimatech Megahalems	14 °C	40 dBA	750 rpm	27 °C	60 dBA	2550 rpm	50 °C
Thermaltake Frio	14 °C	46 dBA	1450 rpm	27 °C	60 dBA	2500 rpm	50 °C
Prolimatech Samuel 17	14 °C	40 dBA	750 rpm	40 °C	60 dBA	2550 rpm	63 °C
Zalman CNPS8000A	18 °C	43 dBA	1400 rpm	39 °C	54 dBA	2500 rpm	70 °C
Spire TherMax Eclipse II	14 °C	55 dBA	2200 rpm	28 °C	55 dBA	2200 rpm	53 °C
Scythe Ninja3	17 °C	39 dBA	700 rpm	32 °C	55 dBA	1800 rpm	57 °C
Corsair A50	18 °C	52 dBA	1900 rpm	33 °C	52 dBA	1900 rpm	60 °C
Thermaltake Jing	18 °C	44 dBA	850 rpm	34 °C	49 dBA	1300 rpm	60 °C
GlacialTech Alaska	18 °C	43 dBA	1150 rpm	36 °C	51 dBA	1600 rpm	60 °C
Deepcool Gamer Storm	18 °C	43 dBA	1100 rpm	35 °C	48 dBA	1600 rpm	62 °C
Corsair A70	26 °C	56 dBA	1900 rpm	40 °C	56 dBA	1900 rpm	65 °C
Deepcool Ice Blade Pro	23 °C	45 dBA	1200 rpm	38 °C	52 dBA	1500 rpm	64 °C
AC Freezer 7 Pro Rev. 2	23 °C	47 dBA	1750 rpm	44 °C	51 dBA	2100 rpm	77 °C
Corsair H70	27 °C	60 dBA	1900 rpm	37 °C	60 dBA	1900 rpm	61 °C
Zalman CNPS9900 Max	27 °C	55 dBA	1600 rpm	38 °C	58 dBA	1750 rpm	63 °C
Arctic Cooling Freezer 11 LP	25 °C	45 dBA	1700 rpm	51 °C	49 dBA	1950 rpm	91 °C
CoolIT Vantage	26 °C	60 dBA	2500 rpm	37 °C	60 dBA	2500 rpm	62 °C
Deepcool Ice Matrix 600	25 °C	46 dBA	1100 rpm	41 °C	53 dBA	1300 rpm	69 °C
Titan Hati	26 °C	46 dBA	1500 rpm	40 °C	57 dBA	2450 rpm	68 °C
Arctic Cooling Freezer 13	27 °C	49 dBA	1950 rpm	41 °C	53 dBA	2300 rpm	70 °C
Noctua NH-C14	26 °C	52 dBA	1300 rpm	37 °C	52 dBA	1300 rpm	61 °C
Intel XTS100H	26 °C	49 dBA	1200 rpm	42 °C	64 dBA	2600 rpm	68 °C
Zalman CNPS5X SZ	23 °C	52 dBA	2250 rpm	38 °C	57 dBA	2950 rpm	69 °C
Thermaltake SlimX3	21 °C	50 dBA	2700 rpm	46 °C	50 dBA	2750 rpm	99 °C
Cooler Master Hyper 101	21 °C	50 dBA	2600 rpm	38 °C	57 dBA	3300 rpm	71 °C
Antec Kühler H2O 620	19 °C	52 dBA	1400 rpm	34 °C	55 dBA	1400 rpm	58 °C
Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 Pro	20 °C	46 dBA	1100 rpm	36 °C	49 dBA	1300 rpm	62 °C
GlacialTech Siberia	22 °C	49 dBA	1400 rpm	34 °C	49 dBA	1400 rpm	61 °C
Evercool Transformer 3	18 °C	46 dBA	1800 rpm	33 °C	51 dBA	2250 rpm	65 °C
Zalman CNPS11X Extreme	20 °C	51 dBA	1850 rpm	34 °C	56 dBA	2050 rpm	61 °C
Thermaltake Frio OCK	15 °C	44 dBA	1000 rpm	27 °C	64 dBA	2200 rpm	51 °C
Prolimatech Genesis	18 °C	49 dBA	1050 rpm	30 °C	49 dBA	1050 rpm	54 °C
Arctic Cooling Freezer XTREME Rev. 2	15 °C	41 dBA	1050 rpm	32 °C	44 dBA	1400 rpm	60 °C
NZXT HAVIK 140	16 °C	48 dBA	1250 rpm	29 °C	49 dBA	1250 rpm	55 °C
Antec Kühler H2O 920	18 °C	41 dBA	650 rpm	29 °C	64 dBA	2500 rpm	49 °C
Zalman CNP7X LED	18 °C	45 dBA	1950 rpm	33 °C	48 dBA	2150 rpm	58 °C
EVGA Superclock	14 °C	43 dBA	1300 rpm	27 °C	58 dBA	2350 rpm	47 °C
Evercool Transformer 4	15 °C	46 dBA	1500 rpm	26 °C	53 dBA	1950 rpm	52 °C
Xigmatek Dark Knight	18 °C	47 dBA	1700 rpm	30 °C	53 dBA	2150 rpm	57 °C
Xigmatek Aegir	15 °C	44 dBA	1500 rpm	27 °C	50 dBA	1950 rpm	52 °C
Cooler Master GeminII S524	16 °C	45 dBA	1300 rpm	29 °C	53 dBA	1800 rpm	58 °C
Enermax ETS-T40-TA	16 °C	40 dBA	1050 rpm	28 °C	48 dBA	1800 rpm	55 °C
Corsair H80	14 °C	42 dBA	2150 rpm	25 °C	52 dBA	2150 rpm	47 °C
Akasa Venom Voodoo	13 °C	40 dBA	1000 rpm	26 °C	48 dBA	1500 rpm	51 °C
Xigmatek Thor’s Hammer	15 °C	44 dBA	1500 rpm	30 °C	50 dBA	2000 rpm	55 °C
Cooler Master Hyper 612 PWM	19 °C	45 dBA	1400 rpm	30 °C	52 dBA	1900 rpm	54 °C
Xigmatek Loki	17 °C	44 dBA	1850 rpm	34 °C	55 dBA	2750 rpm	60 °C
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO	14 °C	44 dBA	1250 rpm	26 °C	50 dBA	1750 rpm	50 °C
Xigmatek Gaia	17 °C	44 dBA	1250 rpm	32 °C	46 dBA	1500 rpm	61 °C
Rosewill RCX-ZAIO-92	21 °C	48 dBA	2050 rpm	37 °C	54 dBA	2600 rpm	68 °C
Thermalright True Spirit 120	16 °C	41 dBA	1000 rpm	30 °C	46 dBA	1400 rpm	55 °C
Corsair H100	20 °C	55 dBA	2000 rpm	29 °C	59 dBA	2000 rpm	50 °C
Zalman CNPS12X	20 °C	47 dBA	1200 rpm	31 °C	47 dBA	1200 rpm	58 °C
Thermalright Macho	23 °C	41 dBA	1100 rpm	36 ° C	44 dBA	1300 rpm	61 °C
NZXT HAVIK 120	21 °C	55 dBA	1800 rpm	37 °C	55 dBA	1800 rpm	66 °C
Zalman CNPS11X Performa	19 °C	44 dBA	1450 rpm	30 °C	48 dBA	1600 rpm	57 °C
Enermax ETD-T60-VD	24 °C	46 dBA	1400 rpm	37 °C	54 dBA	1900 rpm	63 °C

In the graph below, at full load you can see how many degrees Celsius hotter the CPU core is than the air outside the case. The lower this difference, the better is the performance of the cooler.

[nextpage title=”Main Specifications”]

The main specifications for the Enermax ETD-T60-VD CPU cooler include:

• Application: Sockets 775, 1155, 1156, 1366, AM2, AM2+, AM3, AM3+, and FM1 processors
• Dimensions: 5.9 x 5.2 x 4.5 inches (151 x 131 x 115 mm) (W x L x H)
• Fins: Aluminum
• Base: Nickel-plated copper
• Heat-pipes: Six 6-mm copper heatpipes
• Fan: 120 mm
• Nominal fan speed: 1,800 rpm
• Fan air flow: 76 cfm
• Maximum power consumption: 5.4 W
• Nominal noise level: 26 dBA
• Weight: 1.2 lb (540 g)
• Extra features: LED fan with seven lightning modes
• More information: https://www.enermax.com
• Average price in the US*: USD 55.00

* Researched at Newegg.com in the day we published this review.

[nextpage title=”Conclusions”]

For a horizontal CPU cooler, the Enermax ETD-T60-VD is a great product with excellent cooling performance. It also has a great look, especially if you are adept at casemodding or if you like fancy flashing lights inside your computer.

It is great to see that there are horizontal coolers with good performance, since most tower coolers are about 6.3 inches (160 mm) high, and the ETD-T60-VD is only 4.5 inches (115 mm), for instance. Users with slim cases have now a high-performing choice.

If you prefer a more sober look inside your computer, you may pick the Enermax ETD-T60-TB, which has the same heatsink, but comes with a solid black fan.

Due to its great look and performance, the Enermax ETD-T60-VD receives the Hardware Secrets Golden Award.