Inside AI4 there are three 120mm cooling fans – two intakes at the front and an exhaust positioned at the back. Push/pull configurations usually present good results.
To discover the thermal performance of the AI4 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 30 minutes have elapsed.
For the purpose of accurate analysis the idle and load temperatures for CPU and motherboard will be recorded and the range between idle and load will be calculated to determine how efficient cooling is.
Fan controller is set to low.
NOTE: Ambient temperature is 20C
System Components
CPU Intel Core i5 3570K
CPU Cooler Noctua NH-L12
Motherboard GIGABYTE G1 Sniper M3
Graphics XFX HD7970 Black Edition
Memory 4GB Kingston HyperX 1600MHz
HDD Kingston HyperX 240GB
PSU FSP Aurum 650M
CPU Cooler Noctua NH-L12
Motherboard GIGABYTE G1 Sniper M3
Graphics XFX HD7970 Black Edition
Memory 4GB Kingston HyperX 1600MHz
HDD Kingston HyperX 240GB
PSU FSP Aurum 650M
Noise
Noise can be heard from the cooling fans inside AI4 but they are only faint and can be deemed quiet – this is thanks to the closed off panels and noise damping material. There is also a handy fan controller which helps to manage noise levels emitted from the fans too.