Our Tests
Contents
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 |
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| 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 d BA |
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 Fre ezer 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 |
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.
