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TEST RESULTS
Each heatsink was cleaned and installed in turn on the test system as per the manufacturers' and Arctic Silver's instructions. The system was allowed to cool between tests for ~5 minutes with a large AC domestic room cooling fan running at full speed, the airflow directed over the entire test setup. For details of the test platform, please refer to our HS Test Methodology article.
The tests were conducted twice a few days apart to check for consistency. The worst variance for the diode readings at maximum CPU load was within 2° C. It is not possible to determine the precise cause of this variance, which may be cumulative. It is under 5% in the worst case. The numbers shown here are the averaged results.
The commentary below refers mostly to the diode temperatures with BURNK7, as core temperature under long term 100% load is the most critical data. Note that 20+ minutes of BURNK7 by itself is far more stress than most user subject their system to in normal circumstances.
NOTE: Prime95 was replaced with CPUBurn for CPU stress testing in this review, on the recommendation of SPCR author and forum member LeoV, who reported seeing higher CPU temps with the latter software. While no increased temperature was seen, the CPU temperature stays steady at mximum with CPUBurn while it flutters up and down about 3° C with Prime95 as the CPU cycles through the calculations. In the test platform, the peak reached with Prime95 is the same as the steady maximum reached with CPUBurn. With MBM5 set to refresh every second, the steady temperature reached with CPUBurn is easier to work with. BURNK7 is the CPUBurn algorithm intended for the AMD K7 processor family.
- Diode: reading from XP1600+ Palomino core CPU internal thermal diode with an external Maxim IC circuit feeding back into the motherboard's SMBus and read by Motherboard Monitor 5.
- dBA @ 1 cm: noise measured with the microphone of the sound level meter at 1 cm distance from the edge of the fan frame, not in the airflow path. The 1 cm distance is a nearfield reading to compensate for the inability of the SLM to measure accurately below 30 dBA at 1 meter distance, and to eliminate background noise intrusion.
- Temp rise refers to the difference between maximum Diode temperature reading and the ambient temperature.
- Ambient temperature during all testing: 21° C, at ~15 cm above CPU HS and fan.
- ° C/W refers to the number of degrees in Centigrade rise for each watt of heat in the thing to be cooled. The lower the better. The calculation is based on Temp rise divided by 65W, the calculated maximum heat generated by the AMD XP1600+ Palomino on the test platform. See HS Test Methodology article for more details.
Temp rise is probably the simplest, most useful data presented here. If you're considering using one of these HS with a similar CPU, just add the appropriate temp rise number to your case ambient temp and you'll get a reasonable prediction of performance in your setup. Temp rise refers to the temperature rise in ° C over ambient temperature - the difference between diode temp readings and the room ambient.
The relationship between temperature and fan RPM was examined by taping a thermal sensor from DigiDoc next to the fan thermal sensor. DigiDoc then showed the temperature of the fan sensor. The temperature of the sensor was varied by holding it between finger and thumb, holding a lit lighter a few inches below the sensor, and by using a hair dryer. The fan was plugged into a motherboard header and its RPM reported by Motherboard Monitor.
Results at 12V
| Model |
° C at Idle
|
dBA @ 1 cm
|
° C with BURNK7, 20+ mins
|
dBA @ 1 cm
|
|
Diode
|
Diode
|
Temp rise
|
° C/W
|
| 5U213C1H3G |
38
|
70
|
48
|
27
|
0.41
|
70
|
| SS Pro TC |
48
|
42
|
58
|
37
|
0.57
|
53
|
The Spire provides good cooling performance, and its fan speed does not change from idle to maximum load in our setup. The thermistor on the fan varies the speed only from 3000 RPM to 4000 RPM. The thermistor appears to start speeding the fan up around 25° C. By about 32° C, the fan is at top speed, where its noise is at ~75 dBA @ 1 cm. Inside a case in normal operation, the fan will probably be running at close to full RPM almost all the time. Subjectively, the fan produces a fair amount of whine and noise. It is nowhere near quiet. The Spire would be not accepted by SPCR at this noise level as suitable for a quiet PC.
The Arctic Cooling SST TC fan behaves very differently. The thermal control here is optimized for low noise. Upon startup in the cool testing room (~20° C away from the monitors and computers), the fan barely spins. It makes no noise. It is not until a minute or two later when the diode temperature goes past 32° C that it begins to spin with any consistency, at 250~300 RPM, with no noise. At around 40° C, the motherboard monitor indicated 800 RPM, and at 50° C, 1600 RPM. At the 58° C maximum reached in the CPU under load, it may have been close to 2500 RPM, but I doubt it. With the thermistor heated to around 80° C under the influence of a hot hair dryer, a speed of 3000 RPM was indicated. Mind you, this fan is only rated for 2500 RPM. (So take all these measurements with a big dose of salt -- both the temp measurements and the motherboard's RPM monitor are a bit suspect.)
Sonically, even at maximum load, the fan only reaches about the same sound level as the reference Panaflo at 12V. It is a little rougher sounding because of higher chatter and broadband noise from the bearing, but the overall noise level may actually be a bit less than the Panaflo. At the measured 58° C and 53 dBA, it appears to be spinning slower than the Panaflo.
At idle, the noise level drops to about the same level as the Panaflo at 7V, again with a bit more roughness. It is very quiet. While the cooling performance is not great, it is not that bad, either. With reasonable case cooling, the test CPU could easily be held to around 65° C maximum core temperature in a closed PC case, which is a perfectly safe result. At least from a noise point of view, this is very good performance at idle and still quiet at maximum speed.
The cooling effectiveness of the Super Silent Pro TC is quite good, considering its low noise. It performs about 3° C worse than a Thermalright AX7 with a Panaflo at 7V, but that combo is at least double the price of the SST TC.
Results at 7V
| Model |
° C at Idle
|
dBA @ 1 cm
|
° C with BURNK7, 20+ mins
|
dBA @ 1 cm
|
|
Diode
|
Diode
|
Temp rise
|
° C/W
|
| 5U213C1H3G |
41
|
58
|
52
|
31
|
0.48
|
58
|
| SS Pro TC |
54
|
40
|
64
|
43
|
0.66
|
44
|
The Spire noise at 7V drops into the just barely acceptable range. It's cooling performance is decent still. This noise level would be considered by many quiet computing newbies as very quiet. The good thing is that there is still quite a lot of cooling headroom.
The Arctic Cooling SSP TC is now reaching its limits: cooling performance with the XP1600+ has slipped to borderline. At idle, the noise level is lower than the Panaflo at 7V and on par with it at maximum: very quiet, indeed. It may still be safe to use in a well ventilated case.
Results at 5V
| Model |
° C at Idle, 10 mins
|
dBA @ 1 cm
|
° C with BURNK7, 20+ mins
|
dBA @ 1 cm
|
|
Diode
|
Temp rise
|
Diode
|
Temp rise
|
| Spire |
44
|
23
|
48
|
59
|
37
|
48
|
The Spire shows surprisingly good performance at 5V. The noise level is still higher than a Panaflo or the Arctic Cooling HSF at 7V, but is subjectively fairly quiet. Cooling performance is good enough; there is still good headroom for safety.
No 5V tests were run with the Arctic Cooler, as it was already pretty marginal for cooling performance at 7V. There did not seem to be much point. At 7V, its performance is amazingly quiet and admirably cool for the money anyway.
CONCLUSIONS
Real world conditions are tougher than those in our lab. When a system is installed in an enclosed case, the ambient temperature is sure to rise at least 5° C, sometimes 10° C or more, depending on particulars. Many quiet PC enthusiasts run systems with no case fan or just one low airflow fan. In consideration of these factors, low noise enthusiasts are urged to add 10° C to the results above when trying to guesstimate what their temperatures would be. Note too, that the results here are specific to the XP1600+ Palomino.
It is best to regard the test results not in an absolute way, but rather, as comparative guidelines. The result obtained with any of these heatsinks will vary greatly on the particulars for each system.
Spire 5U213C1H3G: In combination with its louder fan, the Spire is a better cooler than its competitor here. However, because of its noisier fan, it is difficult to recommend for a quiet system except at the reduced 5V voltage, at which point its performance is similar to the Arctic Cooling but still noticeably louder. Considering that most buyers of a heatsink like this one will simply want to plop it in and have it work well without fuss, it is not recommended for a quiet PC. It will do fine for those who don't mind the usual noise. It is still considerably quieter than Deltas or the 53 CFM Sanyo-Denki brought out in our last review.
Arctic Cooling SSP TC: It performs fairly well at a quiet level straight out of the box, without mess or fuss. In normal use with a CPU similar or lower in heat dissipation to the 65W Palomino XP1600+, the fan will rarely speed up to full and thus be essentially inaudible within the context of a fairly quiet computer. The noises of hard drives and PSU fans will tend to make changes in its speed pretty much inaudible inside a decent case.
With tweaking of the fan speed vs. cooling vs. noise relationships in a system using a voltage controller such as a Zalman Fanmate, it makes for a cost-effective, very quiet solution to satisfy anyone who does not have a need for bleeding edge performance or low-temperature nervosa (a condition sometimes suffered by deaf overclockers). The Arctic Cooling SSP TC is also a good candidate for systems integrators looking for a simple way to offer reduced-noise systems. For the price, well worth a try. Recommended.
Much thanks to Silicon Valley Compucycle (SVC) for the review sample of the Arctic Cooling Super Silent Pro TC, and to the Fanner Group for the Spire 5U213C1H3G review sample.
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