Thermalright vs Prolimatech vs Noctua

dev · Post by **dev** » Fri Mar 19, 2010 1:09 am

Our Venomous X, Cogage Arrow, Prolimatech Megashadow and Noctua NH-D14 review is up:

http://lab501.ro/racire/thermalright-pr ... -titanilor

Romanian, google translate required.

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Fri Mar 19, 2010 8:31 am

dev wrote:Our Venomous X, Cogage Arrow, Prolimatech Megashadow and Noctua NH-D14 review is up:

http://lab501.ro/racire/thermalright-pr ... -titanilor

Romanian, google translate required.

Oh, nice, thank you very much! It seems like Therlmaright Venomous X is very good low rpm heatsink in low RPM and defeating Noctua D-15 with single 500 rpm fan test, while Noctua D-14 gets pass of Venomous X in higher fan speeds. Thank you once again.

nyu3 · Post by **nyu3** » Fri Mar 19, 2010 11:11 am

Just note that the test seems to be open air. There are many cases where Noctua D14/Cogage Arrow's dual tower form-factor can be used advantageously.

ces · Post by **ces** » Sat Mar 20, 2010 6:14 am

dev wrote:Our Venomous X, Cogage Arrow, Prolimatech Megashadow and Noctua NH-D14 review is up:

http://lab501.ro/racire/thermalright-pr ... -titanilor

1. Is lab 501 your website?

2. Do you have anything to add here:
viewtopic.php?t=58124

ces · Post by **ces** » Sat Mar 20, 2010 6:24 am

nyu3 wrote:Just note that the test seems to be open air. There are many cases where Noctua D14/Cogage Arrow's dual tower form-factor can be used advantageously.

I think that is a problem. A CPU cooler may test out well in open air, but who a greater degradation in performance than others if you put it in a case with 15C higher air temps.

I would expect that some coolers that do well against the Noctua D14 in open air don't do as well against it as the ambient temperature goes up.

No one uses cpu coolers in open air. Almost everyone uses them inside stuffy and hot cases. That is probably the best testing environment to generate useful benchmark data.

dev · Post by **dev** » Sat Mar 20, 2010 8:08 am

I'm not going to argue about open air vs case testing because theres really no argument. Testing in case adds variables that are far harder to replicate given the sheer number of cases, fans and computer hardware available. Ramiro's testing is done to help someone decide between heatsinks. The previous article debated this issue and the conclusion was that a case favours large heatsinks when fanless or with a slow fan.

The thread you linked contains comments I don't necessarily agree because I'm not sure what are they based on.

Based on Ramiro's tests I'd say a 1156 cpu could fall under the TDP 1 category. There are many options and ones choice should be based on budget limits and personal preference.

http://lab501.ro/racire/studiu-privind- ... -ifx-14/47

nyu3 · Post by **nyu3** » Sat Mar 20, 2010 8:56 am

The second article you linked you is really long

Good work on covering all the bases.

p.s. Venomous X's mounting kit on the Cogage Arrow

I saw your pitures but don't know if it was successful or not.

ces · Post by **ces** » Sat Mar 20, 2010 12:52 pm

dev wrote:The thread you linked contains comments I don't necessarily agree because I'm not sure what are they based on.

That's why I invited to contribute your thoughts. I assumed they would add something different.

ces · Post by **ces** » Sat Mar 20, 2010 1:02 pm

dev wrote: Testing in case adds variables that are far harder to replicate given the sheer number of cases, fans and computer hardware available. Ramiro's testing is done to help someone decide between heatsinks. The previous article debated this issue and the conclusion was that a case favours large heatsinks when fanless or with a slow fan.

That by itself is useful info. So a case favors large heatsinks only when fanless or with a slow fan?

That sort of makes sense. At low thermal loads, the gating factor is how well the cooler can wick away the heat from the CPU. That is not size dependent.

At higher thermal loads the gating factor is how well the cooler can dump the heat into the ambient air. If the ambient air is very cold a small fin array can do well. If there is only a few degrees difference in the fins and the ambient air - you need a lot of surface area.

The air inside a case is generally about 15C hotter than external air.

So it appears that bench marks done in open air do have an inherent bias. It may make a smaller cooler look better than it may perform in a case.

That may explain my disappointment with the performance of of my Scythe Shuriken compared to its benchmarks.

Maybe the best way to test is to set up a testing chamber with a fixed air temperature say 35C representing typical in case air temps. Though whoever is doing the testing needs to find a business model to pay for the cost of doing this.

Seems like if the Romanian site were to have English, German, French and Spanish (and don't forget Chinese - the native language of many of the likely advertiser decision makers) translations they might be able to generate ad revenue from all over the world.

There is no one else doing any benchmarking that even comes close to what this site is doing. It could become a must visit site for anyone in the world thinking about buying a heat sink or even writing about a heat sink.

It could become the J.D. Powers of heatsinks. You would think that could attract some advertising money.

dev · Post by **dev** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 6:42 am

I know an English version of the articles would generate more traffic and a wider awareness. In the future I'm sure there will be an official English version of every article. Unfortunately atm its quite difficult to write and translate at the same time.

About the other issue, of course a hot box would be the best way to simulate a case but its quite impossible given the sheer amount of work involved because you'd have to test open stand also for extreme settings. I think the results from the link I gave you should answer a couple of questions. Knowing Ramiro's dedication I'm hoping for a grouping of the articles in some sort of encyclopedia.

To remove any confusion the website is not mine, but since I'm Romanian and I followed their growth from the start I consider it the reference hardware testing site in Romania.

danimal · Post by **danimal** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 5:21 pm

hard to tell without being able to read the site, but it looks like the noctua is the winner... nice pics of the coolers.

if you build the case right, with enough fans and such, the cpu temps should be the same with the case side panel off or on... but i can see the reasons for testing in open air, it provides a more recognizable standard to test against.

ces · Post by **ces** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 6:31 pm

dev wrote:To remove any confusion the website is not mine, but since I'm Romanian and I followed their growth from the start I consider it the reference hardware testing site in Romania.

If it isn't yet, if it keeps on its current trajectory it will soon become the reference heat sink testing site of the world.

I still think that it would be worthwhile doing some testing to determine whether or not their are certain design or physical characteristics which tend to either:
(a) enable certain heat sinks to do better, comparatively, when going from open air to case, and
(b) cause certain other heat sinks to do less well, comparitively, when going from open air to case.

Thermalright vs Prolimatech vs Noctua

Thermalright vs Prolimatech vs Noctua

Re: Thermalright vs Prolimatech vs Noctua

Re: Thermalright vs Prolimatech vs Noctua