[nextpage title=”Introduction”]Today we are reviewing the Superclock, the first CPU cooler from EVGA, a traditional video card manufacturer. It has a tower heatsink with five heatpipes and a 120 mm fan. Check it out!
The EVGA Superclock comes in a cardboard box with a front window where you can see the transparent fan, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Package
Figure 2 shows what the box contains: the heatsink, fan, manual, installation hardware, and a small tube of thermal compound.
Figure 2: Accessories
Figure 3 presents the EVGA Superclock CPU cooler.
Figure 3: The EVGA Superclock
This cooler is discussed in detail in the following pages.
[nextpage title=”The EVGA Superclock”]
Figure 4 reveals the front of the heatsink, where the 120 mm fan will be installed.
Figure 4: Front view
Figure 5 presents the side of the heatsink. Notice that the fins are folded, creating a closed panel.
Figure 5: Side view
Figure 6 shows the back of the heatsink. Due to the shape of the fins and the extended closed surface, the area for airflow exit is smaller than the front intake area.
Figure 6: Rear view
The top of the heatsink is shown in Figure 7. Note that the fins have a texture in order to create turbulence that improves the heat transfer.
Figure 7: Top view
[nextpage title=”The EVGA Superclock (Cont’d)”]
Figure 8 shows the shape of the black-painted heatpipes. They are not in a single line, so they can receive more direct airflow.
Figure 8: Heatpipes
In Figure 9, you can see the base of the cooler. The heatpipes touch the CPU directly; they are not polished enough for a mirror-like look.
Figure 9: Base
The 120 mm fan, which has red LEDs, is shown in Figure 10. It has a four-pin connector, which means it is compatible with PWM speed control.
Figure 10: Fan
[nextpage title=”Installation”]
Figure 11 shows the backplate used to install the Superclock. The same plate can be used with any Intel or AMD supported processor; you just need to install the screws in the appropriate holes.
Figure 11: Backplate with screws
Figure 12 illustrates the backplate installed on our motherboard.
Figure 12: Holding system installed
In Figure 13, you can see the heatsink installed on your computer. Now you merely have to install the fan.
Figure 13: Heatsink installed
Figure 14 reveals the EVGA Superclock installed in our computer.
Figure 14: Installed in our system
[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
Software Used
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 |
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 EVGA Superclock CPU cooler include:
- Application: Sockets 775, 1155, 1156, 1366, 754, 939, F, AM2, AM2+, and AM3 processors
- Dimensions: 5.3 x 3.6 x 6.0 inches (135 x 91 x 152 mm) (W x L x H)
- Fins: Aluminum
- Base: Aluminum, with heatpipes directly touching the CPU
- Heat-pipes: Five 8 mm copper heat-pipes
- Fan: 120 mm
- Nominal fan speed: 2500 rpm
- Fan air flow: 84 cfm
- Maximum power consumption: 3.84 W
- Nominal noise level: 41.5 dBA
- Weight: 1.14 lbs (510 g)
- More information: https://www.evga.com
- Average Price in the US*: USD 53.00
* Researched at Newegg.com on the day we published this review.
[nextpage title=”Conclusions”]
EVGA made quite an impression with its debut in the CPU cooler market. They took the concepts found on all high-end coolers and combined them in the Superclock. A quiet yet powerful fan, five eight-mm direct-touch heatpipes, textured fins, closed sides, and irregular fin borders – all those features seem to be the recipe for a winner air cooler.
We thought it was impossible to achieve such a performance level without being a giant, loud, and expensive cooler. But the Superclock beats all the air coolers we’ve already tested, being relatively inexpensive, quiet, and small.
The EVGA Superclock is the best air cooler we tested so far, so it receives the Hardware Secrets Golden Award. And we have to rethink our standards.
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