Value Cooling: Two Towers for under $30
by Wesley Fink on January 23, 2007 3:50 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Overclocking
When cooling solutions do a better job of keeping the CPU at a lower temperature, it is reasonable to expect the overclocking capabilities of the CPU will increase. In each test of a cooler we measure the highest stable overclock of our standard X6800 processor under the following conditions:
Memory is set to Auto timings on the 680i and memory speed is linked to the FSB for the overclocking tests. This removes memory as any kind of impediment to the maximum stable overclock. Linked settings on the 680i are a 1066FSB to a DDR2 memory speed of DDR2-800. As FSB is raised the linked memory speed increases in proportion. The same processor is used in all cooling tests to ensure comparable results.
Both the Thermalright MST-9775 and the Scythe Katana enable higher overclocks than the stock Intel cooler. Neither of the coolers under test, however, comes close to the overclocking performance of the Tuniq Tower 120. Where the stock cooler reached 3.73GHz with this CPU, the Thermalright extends this to 3.78GHz, the Scythe Katana allows a stable 3.81GHz, and the same processor reached a stable 3.90GHz with the Tuniq Tower.
When cooling solutions do a better job of keeping the CPU at a lower temperature, it is reasonable to expect the overclocking capabilities of the CPU will increase. In each test of a cooler we measure the highest stable overclock of our standard X6800 processor under the following conditions:
CPU Multiplier: 14x (Stock 11x)
CPU voltage: 1.5875V
FSB Voltage: 1.30V
Memory Voltage: 2.20V
nForce SPP Voltage: 1.5V
nForce MCP Voltage: 1.7V
HT nForce SPP <-> MCP: Auto
Memory is set to Auto timings on the 680i and memory speed is linked to the FSB for the overclocking tests. This removes memory as any kind of impediment to the maximum stable overclock. Linked settings on the 680i are a 1066FSB to a DDR2 memory speed of DDR2-800. As FSB is raised the linked memory speed increases in proportion. The same processor is used in all cooling tests to ensure comparable results.
Both the Thermalright MST-9775 and the Scythe Katana enable higher overclocks than the stock Intel cooler. Neither of the coolers under test, however, comes close to the overclocking performance of the Tuniq Tower 120. Where the stock cooler reached 3.73GHz with this CPU, the Thermalright extends this to 3.78GHz, the Scythe Katana allows a stable 3.81GHz, and the same processor reached a stable 3.90GHz with the Tuniq Tower.
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Vidmar - Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - link
Thanks for the info. Now I wonder if someone is making a CPU cooler where the heatpipes are setup to be in a somewhat vertical orientation when the case is vertical?If you look at some GPU and chipset heatpipe coolers they obviously had that in mind with their design. Hot gas will flow up, gravity will pull the cool liquid down.
I would be willing to bet (based upon the heatpipe design) that Thermalright MST-9775 would have done better in a horizontal orientation than when in a vertical orientation. Can you re-test the Thermalright MST-9775 in a vertical orientation and see if it made any difference?
Thanks!
Vidmar - Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - link
That should have been "Can you re-test the Thermalright MST-9775 in a horizontal orientation and see if it made any difference?"anandtech02148 - Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - link
just curious, with a 520wtt psu, does psu fan spin constantly?the hardwares you have seems to indicate this will utilized 80% of the psu, what's the total load power for this?
will this run stable if you put a 8800gtx instead of 7900gtx?
now i can visit Anandtech too for cooler reviews instead of Frostytech.com, great start with the under $30 coolers
Wesley Fink - Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - link
The OCZ 520w PS handles a pair of overclocked 7900GTX in SLI mode just fine. We have destoyed power supplies with higher wattage ratings with this same configuration. It is also quiet for a PS, which is why it is also used in the hard drive test bed. We had no problem with a single 8800GTX in this test rig, but we have not yet tried 8800GTX SLI in this rig.ninethirty - Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - link
Wondering -- for those of us with space-challenged cases, could you mention the height of the coolers in question? For people who can't fit a Tuniq Tower, the limitation is likely to be height.If it's already mentioned somewhere, then I apologize for missing it.
Wesley Fink - Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - link
The Katana is 130mm tall (5.11") and the standard Thermalright MST-9775 is 71mm (2.8"). Thermalright also makes a shorter OEM version of the MST-9775 called the MST-9775 LE that is said to fit any case configuration available.The Tuniq Tower 120 in contrast is 155mm tall and mid-tower cases are said to be 190mm on average in the heatsink height dimension.
yyrkoon - Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - link
I second that motion. I have an Lian Li PC-G50, and the PSU sits right above the CPU, only aftermarket cooler I can think of that may fit, would be the Ole Gigabyte one (which if memory serves, it was a pretty good cooler).banshee164 - Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - link
No offense guys, but aren't you just a little behind with the heatsinks here? The Katana has been out for a year & a half now, and the MST-9775 has been around since the summer...Wesley Fink - Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - link
While the Katana has been out for a year and a half, most earlier reviews tested it on the hot Pressler or a Socket 939 AMD. Performance on the Core 2 Duo is quite different, and C2D has only been available about 6 months.We are testing some of the older and more popular coolers that are still available because what was true of the Katana on Pressler or AMD is certainly NOT the case on Core 2 Duo.
JarredWalton - Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - link
If you've been around AnandTech for a while, you know we haven't done cooling reviews in quite some time. The idea is to establish a baseline of testing results for some of the popular coolers, even if they've been out a while and over time we will be adding more cooler results. Basically, we have to start somewhere and move forward. Luckily, unlike motherboards, GPUs, and some other components, HSFs tend to have a pretty long shelf-life (at least for the effective solutions).