I employed all of the possible cooling combinations: fan type, blow or suck
air in relation to the XP-90, and, case oriented horizontally or vertically.
Thermalright utilizes heat pipe technology with the XP-90. So, I thought it
would be interesting to see if any of these various factors had a significant
impact or not. Due to all of the various testing scenarios I wasn't able to get
overclocked results in this review. I do plan on updating with overclocked
results in the coming weeks though.
NOTE: The results of my AMD Stock HSF cooling are present on every graph for
a base reference. Since the AMD reference cooler does not utilize heat pipes I
only tested it with the typical (fan blowing down, case oriented vertically).
Below, I'm only showing what will be the most common combination for most of
you. That is with the fan blowing down onto the XP-90 and with the case oriented
vertically. I've included links to the other 12 graphs (3 additional graphs per
graph shown below) for those interested. Or, you can download
this zip file (~1.7MB) containing all 16
graphs and a screenshot from the raw data.
I really like this particular Enermax fan because it moves an impressive
amount or air at a basically washed out noise level within the case. Clearly,
the Thermalright XP-90 has a dramatic impact on the CPU temperatures at both
idle and various load conditions.
Another metric—while not directly applicable
in a real world scenario—is to compare the overall average temperature. In
the tests above, that comes to a 56°C average temperature for the AMD Stock HSF and only
a 34°C average for the XP-90.
So, how much of this impressive cooling can be
attributed to the XP-90 and how much can be given to the fan? Let's find out.
Keep in mind that the lowest fan speed results above involve a
reduction of 1,000RPMs and 17CFMs versus the full speed setting. The greatest difference is that of only 4°C
(and only 2°C warmer on average).
This is all a pretty good indicator that the XP-90 shares the majority of the
accolades for the nice cooling job.
While the Sunon's CFM rating is apparently less than the Enermax at full
speed; it seems to
put out a more forceful stream of air than the Enermax. That seems to make a slight difference as
it never reaches anything higher than 35°C and is 1°C cooler on average
than the Enermax at full speed. Remember, we're only talking
about a degree or two here which is within the margin of error. The noisier Sunon's
very modest cooling gains are something to consider.
The results above likely have some of you rubbing your eyes. It
doesn't seem right for the dinky 80mm stock AMD fan to be neck and neck with a
92mm. This just continues to indicate, though, how much of the work is actually
being done by the Thermalright XP-90.
