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"Water Cooling KITS DIE Simulator C/W TEST RESULTS"
The following table ranks CPU cooling performance based on CPU Die Simulator Test Results¹. The Die Simulator is a pure performance test which excludes secondary heatpath effects found on motherboards.
Comparing water cooling kits and cases are system specific - by that I mean you can not infer from these tests that waterblock A is better than the waterblock B. You CAN conclude that the components in kit/case A perform better than the kit/case B based on test C/Ws.
However, especially with a kit, performance in a consumer's case can vary from these results. For example, if you place the radiator in a case with restricted airflow, you will not achieve the performance levels shown below. Note also that changing components will impact results - if you substitute an inferior (or better) waterpump for an EHEIM, you will not see these results.
The relative rankings in this table indicate the difference, in degrees Centigrade, among the kits tested. For example, at 100 watts, the difference between Swiftech's MCX462 and the Millennium Glaciator is three degrees C; at 50 watts, 1 ½ C, and so on. Closely ranked heatsinks may, in fact, show little or no difference, or even reverse positions, when compared in a specific system and especially at heat loadings of 50 watts or less.
Viewing results as +/- 5% is more indicative of what a user may find than relying on the absolute number.
First, understand what C/Ws are telling you: The difference between a kit with a C/W of 0.30 and 0.35 is 5 C at 100 watts under stress. At 50 watts, it's half that. Closely ranked kits may show little or no difference at the desktop.
Second, I get emails from some readers who buy kits and find performance does not match what they read in our and other reviews. The first question I ask is "What is the temp inside your case??" Invariably the answer is something like "30/35/40 C" - sometimes higher!
The air temp going INTO the radiator fan is the floor - all other temps you see are added onto this temp. If the air temp is 35 or 40C going into the fan, then there is NO WAY this kit will give you 40C at the CPU. The following table lays out what to expect for a 100 watt CPU:
As the table shows, the higher your case temp (and fan inlet temp), the hotter the CPU temp. Effective CPU cooling requires BOTH a good kit and airflow through the case.
Note that AMD's guideline max temp for CPUs is about 70 C! (Go HERE for details)
To test out how much case temp impacts your system, open the side of the case, aim a house fan at the motherboard and record temps under stress. This is "best case" for airflow through the case.
To calculate what to expect for other CPUs, for every watt the CPU radiates, the kit will cool the core by the (C/W x watts) plus ambient temp. For example, at a fan inlet temp of 25 C, a C/W of 0.25 with a CPU radiating 50 watts means that the CPU temp will be 50 x 0.25 = 12.5 C over ambient temp, or 37.5 C.
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