[nextpage title=”Introduction”]
The Respire T40 is a CPU cooler from NZXT, with a tower heatsink, four 8 mm heatpipes, and a 120 mm fan. Let’s test it and check its performance.
The black and white cardboard box of the Respire T40 is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Package
Figure 2 shows the contents of the box: the cooler, a small bag of thermal compound, manual, and installation hardware. The cooler comes with only one fan, but it has the holder for a second optional fan.
Figure 2: Accessories
Figure 3 displays the Respire T40.
Figure 3: The NZXT Respire T40
This cooler is discussed in detail in the following pages.
[nextpage title=”The NZXT Respire T40″]
Figure 4 illustrates the front of the heatsink, where the 120 mm fan goes.
Figure 4: Front view
Figure 5 reveals the side of the cooler, where you can see that the heatpipes have no gap between them.
Figure 5: Side view
Figure 6 unveils the rear side of the cooler. You can see the “step” between the sides of the fins.
Figure 6: Rear view
In Figure 7, you can see the top of the cooler, where the tips of the heatpipes are visible.
Figure 7: Top view
[nextpage title=”The NZXT Respire T40 (Cont’d)”]
Figure 8 illustrates the base of the cooler. The heatpipes touch the CPU directly, and there is no gap between them. The surface is not polished enough for a mirror-like look.
Figure 8: Base
Figure 9 reveals the heatsink with the fan removed.
Figure 9: Fan removed
Figure 10 shows the 120 mm fan that comes with the cooler, mounted on its plastic holder. This fan has a three-pin connector, which means it is not compatible with PWM speed control.
Figure 10: Fan
[nextpage title=”Installation”]
Figure 11 shows the backplate and the four screws that must be installed on the solder side of the motherboard prior to installing the Respire T40. Figure 12 shows the tips of the screws on the component side, with the plastic spacers installed.
Figure 11: Backplate
Figure 12: Spacers
In Figure 13, you can see the two metal pieces wherein the cooler will be screwed.
Figure 13: Metal holders
Then put the heatsink in place, and attach it to the metal pieces using a third bar and two nuts.
Figure 14: Heatsink installed
The last step is to reinstall the fan.
Figure 15: Installation finished
[nextpage title=”How We Tested”]
We tested the cooler with a Core i5-2500K CPU (quad-core, 3.3 GHz), which is a socket LGA1155 processor with a 95 W TDP (Thermal Design Power). In order to get higher thermal dissipation, we overclocked it to 4.0 GHz (100 MHz base clock and x40 multiplier), with 1.3 V core voltage (Vcore). This CPU was able to reach 4.8 GHz with its default core voltage, but at this setting, the processor enters thermal throttling when using mainstream coolers, reducing the clock and thus the thermal dissipation. This could interfere with the temperature readings, so we chose to maintain a moderate overclocking.
We measured noise and temperature with the CPU under full load. In order to get 100% CPU usage in all cores, 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 other coolers we already tested, and to the stock cooler that comes with the Core i5-2500K CPU. Note that the results cannot be compared to measures taken on a different hardware configuration, so 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 on the next page. Every cooler was tested with the thermal compound that&n
bsp;comes with 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 panels of the computer case were closed. The front and rear case fans were spinning at minimum speed in order to simulate the “normal” cooler use on a well-ventilated case. We assume that is the common setup used by a cooling enthusiast or overclocker.
The sound pressure level (SPL) was measured with a digital noise meter, with its sensor placed near the top opening of the case. 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 is not the case here.
Hardware Configuration
- Processor: Core i5-2500K
- Motherboard: ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z
- Memory: 6 GB OCZ (DDR3-1600/PC3-12800), configured at 1,600 MHz and 8-8-8-18 timings
- Hard disk: Seagate Barracuda XT 2 TB
- Video card: Point of View GeForce GTX 460 1 GB
- Video resolution: 1920×1080
- Video monitor: Samsung SyncMaster P2470HN
- Power supply: Seventeam ST-550P-AM
- Case: Cooler Master HAF 922
Operating System Configuration
- Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit SP1
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 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 full speed.
| Cooler | Room Temp. | Noise | Speed | Core Temp. | Temp. Diff. |
| Cooler Master Hyper TX3 | 18 °C | 50 dBA | 2850 rpm | 69 °C | 51 °C |
| Corsair A70 | 23 °C | 51 dBA | 2000 rpm | 66 °C | 43 °C |
| Corsair H100 | 26 °C | 62 dBA | 2000 rpm | 64 °C | 38 °C |
| EVGA Superclock | 26 °C | 57 dBA | 2550 rpm | 67 °C | 41 °C |
| NZXT HAVIK 140 | 20 °C | 46 dBA | 1250 rpm | 65 °C | 45 °C |
| Thermalright True Spirit 120 | 26 °C | 42 dBA | 1500 rpm | 82 °C | 56 °C |
| Zalman CNPS12X | 26 °C | 43 dBA | 1200 rpm | 71 °C | 45 °C |
| Zalman CNPS9900 Max | 20 °C | 51 dBA | 1700 rpm | 62 °C | 42 °C |
| Titan Fenrir Siberia Edition | 22 °C | 50 dBA | 2400 rpm | 65 °C | 43 °C |
| SilenX EFZ-120HA5 | 18 °C | 44 dBA | 1500 rpm | 70 °C | 52 °C |
| Noctua NH-L12 | 20 °C | 44 dBA | 1450 rpm | 70 °C | 50 °C |
| Zalman CNPS8900 Extreme | 21 °C | 53 dBA | 2550 rpm | 71 °C | 50 °C |
| Gamer Storm Assassin | 15 °C | 48 dBA | 1450 rpm | 58 °C | 43 °C |
| Deepcool Gammaxx 400 | 15 °C | 44 dBA | 1500 rpm | 60 °C | 45 °C |
| Cooler Master TPC 812 | 23 °C | 51 dBA | 2350 rpm | 66 °C | 43 °C |
| Deepcool Gammaxx 300 | 18 °C | 43 dBA | 1650 rpm | 74 °C | 56 °C |
| Intel stock cooler | 18 °C | 41 dBA | 2000 rpm | 97 °C | 79 °C |
| 19 °C | 52 dBA | 2900 rpm | 83 °C | 64 °C | |
| Noctua NH-U12P SE2 | 18 °C | 42 dBA | 1300 rpm | 69 °C | 51 °C |
| Deepcool Frostwin | 24 °C | 46 dBA | 1650 rpm | 78 °C | 54 °C |
| Thermaltake Frio Advanced | 13 °C | 56 dBA | 2000 rpm | 62 °C | 49 °C |
| Xigmatek Dark Knight Night Hawk Edition | 9 °C | 48 dBA | 2100 rpm | 53 °C | 44 °C |
| Thermaltake Frio Extreme | 21 °C | 53 dBA | 1750 rpm | 59 °C | 38 °C |
| Noctua NH-U9B SE2 | 12 °C | 44 dBA | 1700 rpm | 64 °C | 52 °C |
| Thermaltake WATER2.0 Pro | 15 °C | 54 dBA | 2000 rpm | 52 °C | 37 °C |
| Deepcool Fiend Shark | 18 °C | 45 dBA | 1500 rpm | 74 °C | 56 °C |
| Arctic Freezer i30 | 13 °C | 42 dBA | 1350 rpm | 63 °C | 50 °C |
| Spire TME III | 8 °C | 46 dBA | 1700 rpm | 70 °C | 62 °C |
| Thermaltake WATER2.0 Performer | 11 °C | 54 dBA | 2000 rpm | 49 °C | 38 °C |
| Arctic Alpine 11 PLUS | 11 °C | 45 dBA | 2000 rpm | 82 °C | 71 °C |
| be quiet! Dark Rock 2 | 10 °C | 41 dBA | 1300 rpm | 58 °C | 48 °C |
| Phanteks PH-TC14CS | 16 °C | 47 dBA | 1300 rpm | 58 °C | 42 °C |
| Phanteks PH-TC14PE | 16 °C | 48 dBA | 1300 rpm | 57 °C | 41 °C |
| SilverStone HE01 (Q) | 19 °C | 44 dBA | 1150 rpm | 63 °C | 44 °C |
| SilverStone HE01 (P) | 20 °C | 57 dBA | 2050 rpm | 62 °C | 42 °C |
| Thermaltake WATER2.0 Extreme (S) | 17 °C | 44 dBA | 1250 rpm | 52 °C | 35 °C |
| Thermaltake WATER2.0 Extreme (E) | 17 °C | 53 dBA | 1900 rpm | 50 °C | 33 °C |
| Deepcool Neptwin | 11 °C | 46 dBA | 1500 rpm | 56 °C | 45 °C |
| SilverStone HE02 | 19 °C | 49 dBA | 2000 rpm | 64 °C | 45 °C |
| Zalman CNPS9900DF | 23 °C | 45 dBA | 1400 rpm | 68 °C | 45 °C |
| Deepcool ICE BLADE PRO V2.0 | 22 °C | 43 dBA | 1500 rpm | 67 °C | 45 °C |
| Phanteks PH-TC90LS | 24 °C | 47 dBA | 2600 rpm | 95 °C | 71 °C |
| Rosewill AIOLOS | 20 °C | 40 dBA | 1600 rpm | 94 °C | 74 °C |
| Corsair H60 | 20 °C | 49 dBA | 2000 rpm | 64 °C | < font size="1">44 °C |
| Zalman LQ310 | 27 °C | 51 dBA | 2050 rpm | 65 °C | 38 °C |
| Noctua NH-L9i | 24 °C | 44 dBA | 2500 rpm | 95 °C | 71 °C |
| NZXT Respire T40 | 20 °C | 45 dBA | 1850 rpm | 76 °C | 56 °C |
In the graph below, 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.
In the graph below, you can see how many decibels of noise each cooler makes.
[nextpage title=”Main Specifications”]
The main specifications for the NZXT Respire T40 CPU cooler include:
- Application: Sockets AM2(+), AM3(+), FM1, LGA775, LGA1155, LGA1156, LGA1366, and LGA2011
- Dimensions: 5.3 x 3.3 x 6.3 inches (134 x 85 x 160 mm) (W x L x H)
- Fins: Aluminum
- Base: Direct-touch heatpipes
- Heat-pipes: Four 8-mm copper heatpipes
- Fan: 120 mm
- Nominal fan speed: 1,800 rpm
- Fan air flow: 68.8 cfm
- Power consumption: 2.4 W
- Nominal noise level: 34 dBA
- Weight: 1.65 lb (750 g)
- More information: https://www.nzxt.com/
- Average Price in the U.S.*: USD 40.00
* Researched at Amazon.com on the day we published this review.
[nextpage title=”Conclusions”]
The NZXT Respire T40 is a good value cooler, with decent performance and low noise level. However, we were expecting more from it, since the four 8 mm heatpipes with no gaps between them is a high-end configuration for air coolers.
Being a decent cooler with reasonable performance, the NZXT Respire T40 receives the Hardware Secrets Bronze Award.
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