Test System

CPU Coolers
Alpenfφhn Matterhorn Pure(120mm Wingboost: 300-1200RPM)
Alpenfφhn K2 (120mm Wingboost: 500-1500RPM, 140mm Wingboost: 300-1100RPM)
Alpenfφhn Gotthard (140mm Wingboost: 300-1100RPM)
Noctua NH-D14 (120mm NF-P12 PWM + 140mm NF-P14 PWM: up to 1200RPM)
Thermalright SilverArrow SB-E Extreme (Dual TY-143 fans – 600-2500RPM)
Corsair Hydro H100 (Dual 120mm fans – low: 1300RPM, mid: 2000RPM, high: 2600RPM Push Config)
SilverStone HE01 (140mm PWM fan – 500RPM-1200RPM – 500RPM-2000RPM)
be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 2 (135mm + 120mm PWM Fans – up to 1500RPM and 1700RPM)
Thermaltake Water 2.0 Pro (Dual 120mm PWM fans – up to 2000RPM)
Corsair Hydro Series H100i (Dual 120mm fans – up to 2700RPM Push Config)
Be Quiet! Shadow Rock TopFlow(1x 135mm PWM fan – up to 1500RPM)
SilverStone HE02 (Passive – optional fan used: Noctua NF-F12 120mm PWM)
Corsair H55 (Single 120mm fan – 1700RPM Exhaust Push)
Cooler Master Seidon 120M (Single 120mm fan – Up to 2500RPM Exhaust Push)
Zalman CNPS11X Extreme (Single 120mm fan – Up to 1950RPM)
Phanteks PH-TC12DX (Dual 120mm fans – 600-1800RPM)
Noctua NH-U14S (Single 140mm cooling fan – 300-1500RPM)
SilverStone TD03 (Dual 120mm fans – 1500-2500RPM)
Thermaltake]Thermaltake NiC C5 (Dual 120mm fans – 1000RPM – 2000RPM)
Raijintek EreBoss (Single 140mm fan – 1100RPM – 1600RPM)
GamerStorm Lucifer (Single 140mm fan – 800-1500RPM)
Cooler Master V8 GTS (Dual 140mm fans – 600-1600RPM)
Antec KUHLER H2O 1250 (Dual 120mm cooling fans – 600-2400RPM)
Corsair H75 (Dual 120mm cooling fans - 600-2000RPM)
CRYORIG R1 Ultimate (Dual 140mm cooling fans – 700-1400RPM)
Corsair Hydro Series H105 - (Dual 120mm fans – up to 2700RPM Push Config)
Noctua NH-D15 (Dual 140mm cooling fans – 300-1500RPM)



Program Suite
Real Temp – Maximum temperature analysis
LinX 0.6.4 – Applies thorough stress test to CPU
CPU-Z – Confirmation of CPU frequency/voltage
AIDA64 Extreme Edition – Confirmation of temperatures/fan speeds

Testing methodology

Testing will be based on temperatures recorded by Real Temp after 20 passes of LinX stress test. The maximum absolute temperatures will be recorded after the test and averaged over the 6 cores. The delta is then calculated by subtracting the temperature recorded near the intake fans from the average temperature calculated. Tests are conducted with the Intel i7 3930K at its default 3.6GHz stock speed and overclocked to 4.6GHz @ 1.42V. The tests are done inside the Corsair Carbide 500R chassis to simulate real world conditions. To keep the tests standardised we are using Noctua's NT-H1 thermal paste on all coolers.

CPU coolers are reviewed as they come out of the box – with their factory cooling fans, as the manufacturer intended and as the consumer expects.

Additional tests include a passive test where the cooling fans are taken away from the heatsink and a comparison between the cooler used with stock thermal paste against our Noctua NT-H1 paste. Note: This test will be omitted from this review since the D15 already comes with Noctua NT-H1

A kind thank you to Noctua for supplying us with NT-H1 thermal compound.