The Fans

All heatsinks were tested with both of the following fans, along with their stock fans, if any, in order to accurately measure the heatsinks capability to dissipate heat.

The YS-TECH FD1260257B-2A This fan is 60x60x25mm in dimensions, and pushes 26cfm at 4500rpm measuring at 36dB noise wise. This fan represents an acceptable lever of performance and noise for home use and wont break the budget.

The DELTA black label This is the pick of the crop for overclockers, as it pushes a whopping 37.61cfm albeit at 6800rpm with a 46.5dba noise level. This fan is definately not for the light hearted as its noise can be extremely irritating. On a personal level I have managed to get used to its whine, but dont be surprised if you cant.

The Test

The testing of these heatsinks was performed on a Duron 800 (1.6v) on an MSI K7t-Turbo-R motherboard. The case was closed in all cases to simulate real performace levels in real situations. The coolers were tested with the cpu at 800 (8 x 100 / 1.6v) and also at 1000 (10 x 100 / 1.85v) in order to test how well these coolers perform both on stock clocked CPU's and overclocked CPU's.

The temerature was monitored using the motherboards onboard sensor, and while it may not be 100% accurate, it does allow for accurate cooer rankings as the error in temperature reading will be constant at all times on all coolers. In order to gain maximum load temperatures, Folding at Home was run in conjunction with a Sisoft Sandra Burn In test, and also Quake 3 Demo Loop. The maximum temperatures were recorded after 30 minutes of this vicious grueling loop, and before antoher test was started, the system was shut down and left to cool for 15 minutes. The ambient temperature throughout these tests was 21c. Onto the results...