Test Bench
Motherboard: MSI X79 Big Bang X-Power II
CPU: Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition
RAM - 32GB (4x8GB) Kingston HyperX Beast 2400Mhz @ 1866MHz 11-11-11-30
Power Supply – ANTEC High Current Pro 1200W
Hard Drive – Kingston HyperX 240GB SSD
GPU 1 - ZOTAC GTX680 2GB GDDR5
GPU 1 - EVGA SC Signature GTX680 2GB GDDR5
Temperature monitoring & recording
To accurately measure a coolers' performance we use the 'delta' temperature. This is worked out by taking the ambient temperature away from the resultant temperature. So for example if a core temperature reading was 80c and the ambient temperature is 22c, the delta temp would be 80-22 = 58c. Delta temperature readings are used as this will eradicate (for the most part) the impact of ambient temperatures. An accurate thermometer is required to measure ambient (room) temp by which delta temperatures are calculated. The test room is cooled by air conditioning set to 20c however, room temperatures can still vary by up to a couple of degrees so a recording is taken at the beginning, middle and end of testing with an average reading calculated.
Idle temperatures are recorded with the system fully booted after a 20 minute idle time (no programs running save for identical background programs and processes). The max recorded temperature is then recorded using EVGA Precision X.
Load temperatures are recorded by using Unigine Heaven infinte loops. Heaven will be run at the maximum resolution for our monitor (2560x1600) with 8xAA to fully load up the GPU. Once the temperature curve flat lines as viewed via EVGA Precision, a final temperature reading minus the ambient temperature to give us the delta load temperature will be taken.
Motherboard: MSI X79 Big Bang X-Power II
CPU: Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition
RAM - 32GB (4x8GB) Kingston HyperX Beast 2400Mhz @ 1866MHz 11-11-11-30
Power Supply – ANTEC High Current Pro 1200W
Hard Drive – Kingston HyperX 240GB SSD
GPU 1 - ZOTAC GTX680 2GB GDDR5
GPU 1 - EVGA SC Signature GTX680 2GB GDDR5
Temperature monitoring & recording
To accurately measure a coolers' performance we use the 'delta' temperature. This is worked out by taking the ambient temperature away from the resultant temperature. So for example if a core temperature reading was 80c and the ambient temperature is 22c, the delta temp would be 80-22 = 58c. Delta temperature readings are used as this will eradicate (for the most part) the impact of ambient temperatures. An accurate thermometer is required to measure ambient (room) temp by which delta temperatures are calculated. The test room is cooled by air conditioning set to 20c however, room temperatures can still vary by up to a couple of degrees so a recording is taken at the beginning, middle and end of testing with an average reading calculated.
Idle temperatures are recorded with the system fully booted after a 20 minute idle time (no programs running save for identical background programs and processes). The max recorded temperature is then recorded using EVGA Precision X.
Load temperatures are recorded by using Unigine Heaven infinte loops. Heaven will be run at the maximum resolution for our monitor (2560x1600) with 8xAA to fully load up the GPU. Once the temperature curve flat lines as viewed via EVGA Precision, a final temperature reading minus the ambient temperature to give us the delta load temperature will be taken.
