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Testing:
Finding out how the FRIO performs is the object of this exercise so I will be making a comparison of the CPU temperatures in both an idle and loaded state. Both will be made while the CPU is at the stock voltages and clock speeds, as well as when the CPU is overclocked and 'over-volted'. This will help to show what kind of cooling performance that this cooling solution from Thermaltake has to offer, when compared to other socket 1366 compatible high-performance cooling solutions. These cooling systems will be tested head-to-head as they are delivered from the manufacturer. I could throw in a bunch of testing variables, but it is not what the products are capable of as delivered. To test the idle temperatures, I will allow the computer to stay in an idle state for 30 minutes and take the idle temperature at this point. For the load testing, I will use Prime95 version 25.11 and choose the blend testing and allow the processor and memory controller to heat up to the maximum temperatures. The time frame is a four-hour run, to allow the temperature to peak - usually at or around the 14K test. I will use Real temp 3.0 to take the high and low temperatures and average the temperatures generated over the four cores as my reported temperatures.
Testing Setup:
- CPU: Intel Core i7 920 133x20(Stock) 166x20 Overclocked
- Motherboard: MSI X58 Eclipse
- Memory: Mushkin Redline PC3 12800 990805 6-8-6-24
- Video Card(s): Nvidia GTX 260-216
- Power Supply: Mushkin 800 watt Modular Power Supply
- Hard Drive: 1 x Seagate 1TB SATA
- Optical Drive: Asus DVD-R
- OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit SP1
- Chassis: ThermalTake Armour +
Comparison Heat sinks:
- Coolink Corator DS
- Noctua NH-U12P SE 1366
- Thermalright TRUE
- Noctua NH-D14
- Noctua NH-U9B SE
The cooling performance of the Thermaltake FRIO was not what I was expecting - it was in fact better! When compared to other heatsinks in its class, it delivers performance similar to the Noctua NH-U12P SE 1366 and Thermalright TRUE, both of which are single tower-style heatsinks, but with one more heatpipe than the Noctua and one less than the TRUE revisions. The dual fans help it achieve these numbers. In both stock and overclocked tests, the low fan speed setting was four degrees warmer than the full-bore setting on the fans. Not a bad result for a low noise solution.
