Testbed and Methods
The new Cooler Master Aquagate Max cooling system and its today’s competitor were tested in (almost) a system case with the removed side panel. The mainboard was in vertical position.
Our testbed was identical for all coolers and featured the following configuration:
- Mainboard: ASUSTek P5K Deluxe/WiFi-AP (Intel P35), LGA 775, BIOS 0812
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 (3.0GHz, 1.25V, 2x6MB L2 cache, 4x333MHz FSB, Yorkfield, C0)
- Thermal interface: Arctic Silver 5
- Graphics card: HIS Radeon HD 3870 512MB / 256bit, @850/2480MHz
- Graphics card cooler: Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 + Turbo Module
- Memory:
- 2 x 1024MB DDR2 Corsair Dominator TWIN2X2048-9136C5D (1142MHz / 5-5-5-18 / 2.1V);
- 2 x 1024MB DDR2 CSXO-XAC-1200-2GB-KIT DIABLO (1200MHz / 5-5-5-16 / 2.4V).
- Disk subsystem: Samsung HD501LJ (SATA-II, 500GB storage capacity, 7200rpm, 16MB cache, NCQ)
- Optical drive: Samsung SH-S183L SATA-II DVD RAM & DVD±R/RW & CD±RW
- System case: System case: ASUS ASCOT 6AR2-B Black&Silver (ATX) with 120mm ~960RPM Scythe Slip Stream fans for air intake and exhaust (the fans are installed on silicon spindles)
- Control and monitoring panel: Zalman ZM-MFC2
- Power supply: Enermax Galaxy EGA1000EWL 1000W (a default 135mm fan for intake; and 80mm fan for air exhaust)
All tests were performed under Windows XP Professional Edition SP2. SpeedFan 4.34 Beta 44 was used to monitor the temperature of the CPU, reading it directly from the CPU core sensor:
The mainboard’s automatic fan speed management feature was disabled for the time of the tests in the mainboard BIOS. The CPU thermal throttling was controlled with the RightMark CPU Clock Utility version 2.35.0:
The CPU was heated up with OCCT (OverClock Checking Tool) version 2.0.0a in a 30-minute test with maximum CPU utilization, during which the system remained idle in the first 1 and last 4 minutes of the test:
I performed at least two cycles of tests and waited for approximately 20~25 minutes for the temperature inside the system case to stabilize during each test cycle. Despite the stabilization period, the result of the second test cycle was usually 0.5-1°C higher. The maximum temperature of the hottest CPU core of the four in the two test cycles was considered the final result (if the difference was no bigger than 1°C – otherwise the test was performed at least once again).
The ambient temperature was checked next to the system case with an electronic thermometer that allows monitoring the temperature and humidity changes over the past 6 hours. During our test session room temperatures varied between 24.5 ~ 25°C. It is used as a staring point on the diagrams. Note that the fan rotation speeds as shown in the diagrams are the average readings reported by SpeedFan, and not the official claimed fan specifications.
We decided to compare the performance of Aquagate Max against that of ZEROtherm NV120 Premium cooler:
We tested this cooler in two modes: with the fan rotating at ~1360RPM and relatively moderate level of generated noise and at maximum fan rotation speed of ~2760RPM.
As for Aquagate Max, since its fans were always running at maximum ~2400RPM rotation speed, we replaced them with two high-performance 120-mm Scythe SlipStream 120 fans for additional tests in quiet mode:
Since the rotation speed of these fans could be adjusted manually, we tested Aquagate Max at ~1100RPM rotation speed and at maximum ~2630RPM rotation speed. We also tested the new liquid-cooling system with standard fans, but only in one mode (~2400RPM). Besides replacing the fans, we also tested Aquagate Max with Zalman ZM-WB5 water block in order to determine the efficiency of the default water block of this cooling system.
Well, let’s discuss the obtained results.
