![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Friday , February 05, 2010
- Author:
- Marc Adams
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
Tuniq Propeller vs. Thermalright Venemous X
Thermalright has been a company name that is synonymous with high end CPU air cooling for years now. Tuniq is one of the newer guys on the block when it comes to the elite heatsink and fan unit. Today we have a showdown of epic proportions, at least to the computer hardware cooling enthusiast. Propeller vs. Venemous X.
Introduction
Today we are going to look at two big players in the realm of CPU cooling, Tuniq and Thermalright. They have both made a name for themselves over the years by producing some of the best heatsinks available at the time. Both companies have come out with new coolers they hope will continue to push the industry forward while driving sales. That is where the similarities end. Each company takes a different approach to the respective cooler’s design right down to the mounting system employed.
Let’s see what these contenders bring to the table and if they deserve a spot in your PC.
System Setup
All testing of the coolers will occur on our Intel Core i7 test bed. Consisting of the GIGABYTE X58-Extreme motherboard, six gigabytes of Corsair DDR3 RAM and paired with the Intel Core i7 920. With four cores and triple channel memory populated expect to see lots of heat. The video card of choice is the NVIDIA 9500 GT thanks to its low heat output and silent fan.
Test Methods
CPU
In keeping with the spirit of the [H] we are once again doing hardware testing of all heat sinks. This means milling a very small path into an expensive CPU to place our thermocouple into. This is by far the best way to test coolers and the only way here at the HardOCP. This method has been employed by Intel for years in order to test heatsinks as well.
Temperatures for the CPU will continue to be measured using our Sperry Digital 4 Point thermometer.
GPU
For this article the GPU will be kept at stock speed to keep any excess heat away from the CPU that could impact the results. In 2D mode the 9500 GT generates very little heat and to further isolate it from the rest of the system we will install it in the secondary PCIE slot.
Thermal Paste
Noctua's NT-H1 thermal paste was selected as the paste of choice for a few key reasons. The thermal paste has been shown to provide excellent thermal conductivity allowing the heat sinks to better do their job. There is no observed curing time. That is, performance does not get any better over time. Any curing time could have introduced variables into the equation causing at best dubious results and at worst unreliable ones. Our channel milled CPU also requires a compound that is more viscous so the mating compound will not seep into the channel and run off.
Temperatures
Ambient temperature will be kept at 25C for the duration of the tests and measured with a MicroTemp EXP non-contact infrared thermometer and cross referenced with the Sperry Digital 4 Point thermometer. Any variance greater then 0.2C will halt the testing until temperatures return within spec for fifteen minutes.
Idle
Idle temperatures will be recorded after a fifteen minute period of inactivity. Any fluctuation during the last sixty seconds will reset the timer for an additional five minutes..
Load
Load temperatures will be recorded after a fifteen minute period of 100% load. To obtain this load we will be using Prime95 v25.3 set to blend mode. In this way we can heat up the CPU as well as the memory controller which is now integrated into the die. Any fluctuation during the last sixty seconds will reset the timer for an additional five minutes.
Sound
Sound levels will be measured with a Reliability Direct AR824 sound meter from a distance of four feet away. With everything turned off and the room completely silent the meter registered a sound level of 38dB(A). This is a very quiet room where a simple pin drop could be heard. All sound measurements are recorded in the very late evening to further reduce any ambient noise.