Within SPEC-ALPHA there three cooling fans included which are all 120mm. There are two at the front as intakes and one at the rear which is positioned as an exhaust. This arrangement follows a traditional cooling methodology so we should therefore expect good results.

To discover the thermal performance of SPEC-ALPHA we will record idle temperatures after 20 minutes from a cold boot. We will then stress the system and temperatures will again be monitored after 20 minutes have elapsed.

The delta temperatures are recorded for the test with the ambient being subtracted from the reported maximum core temperatures from the test. The cooling fans will be connected to the fan controller and set to “high” for the purpose of testing.

System Components


Noise

Since SPEC-ALPHA uses a fan controller we can manage the noise/performance of the fans within the case. On the low-mid settings the cooling fans are whisper quiet but moving up to high is distinctly noticeable and could be deemed disruptive.