OCZ Vindicator: Heatpipe Tower Cooling from OCZ
by Wesley Fink on April 5, 2007 4:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Cooling at Stock Speed
Some users will never overclock their CPU, but they still want to run the coolest CPU temperatures possible to enhance stability and extend CPU life. The OCZ Vindicator kit includes a moderate output low noise 120mm fan. We also tested the Vindicator with the 120mm SilenX IXTREMA 120 fan.
With the stock Vindicator fan the end user does get silence, but the cost is cooling among the poorest of the heatpipe towers tested at AnandTech. As soon as the switch is made to the SilenX fan you can see this cooler is starved for airflow with the stock fan. Idle temps with the SilenX drop to 29C, which is among the top tier of measured performance at stock idle in our cooler reviews
It is more difficult to effectively simulate a computer being stressed by all of the conditions it might be exposed to in different operating environments. For most home users CPU power is most taxed with contemporary gaming. Therefore our stress test simulates running a demanding contemporary game.
The Far Cry River demo is looped for 30 minutes and the CPU temperature is captured at 4 second intervals with the NVIDIA monitor "logging" option. The highest temperature during the stress test is then reported. Momentary spikes are ignored, as we report a sustained high-level temp that you would expect to find in this recording configuration.
Cooling efficiency of the OCZ Vindicator was tested under load conditions with both the stock fan and the SilenX at stock speed. Results are compared to the Intel retail HSF and other recently tested CPU coolers.
The OCZ Vindicator under load at stock speeds reached a maximum temperature of 43C with the stock cooler. Again this was among the worst load results at stock speed among the coolers tested at AnandTech. Switching to the SilenX fan improved the load temperature to 41C. This is still not a stellar result, but it is comparable to the Scythe Infinity under the same conditions. This compared to the Tuniq at 34C, the Cooler Master Hyper 6+ and Zalman 9700 at 36C, the Thermalright Ultra 120 at 33C , and the top Ultra 120 Extreme at 32C .
Some users will never overclock their CPU, but they still want to run the coolest CPU temperatures possible to enhance stability and extend CPU life. The OCZ Vindicator kit includes a moderate output low noise 120mm fan. We also tested the Vindicator with the 120mm SilenX IXTREMA 120 fan.
With the stock Vindicator fan the end user does get silence, but the cost is cooling among the poorest of the heatpipe towers tested at AnandTech. As soon as the switch is made to the SilenX fan you can see this cooler is starved for airflow with the stock fan. Idle temps with the SilenX drop to 29C, which is among the top tier of measured performance at stock idle in our cooler reviews
It is more difficult to effectively simulate a computer being stressed by all of the conditions it might be exposed to in different operating environments. For most home users CPU power is most taxed with contemporary gaming. Therefore our stress test simulates running a demanding contemporary game.
The Far Cry River demo is looped for 30 minutes and the CPU temperature is captured at 4 second intervals with the NVIDIA monitor "logging" option. The highest temperature during the stress test is then reported. Momentary spikes are ignored, as we report a sustained high-level temp that you would expect to find in this recording configuration.
Cooling efficiency of the OCZ Vindicator was tested under load conditions with both the stock fan and the SilenX at stock speed. Results are compared to the Intel retail HSF and other recently tested CPU coolers.
The OCZ Vindicator under load at stock speeds reached a maximum temperature of 43C with the stock cooler. Again this was among the worst load results at stock speed among the coolers tested at AnandTech. Switching to the SilenX fan improved the load temperature to 41C. This is still not a stellar result, but it is comparable to the Scythe Infinity under the same conditions. This compared to the Tuniq at 34C, the Cooler Master Hyper 6+ and Zalman 9700 at 36C, the Thermalright Ultra 120 at 33C , and the top Ultra 120 Extreme at 32C .
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Spoelie - Thursday, April 5, 2007 - link
I would also like to know a more quantifiable difference between the stock fan and this silenx fan. The noise measurements are kinda useless since they put everything on the same level. But do they actually sound all the same? Is the silenx really quiter?? Would be kinda strange.So even if it is like (this one sounds louder as that one, and when i put my hand before them i can feel more air move with this one than with this one) than we can at least confirm what each fan does, just not by how much. The only thing we know at this moment is that the silenx moves more air, judging by the temperatures.
silentpcreview is really good, but the focus on these articles is different, they're more geared to overclocking. So while some critique is valid, this article is not trying to be a definite one on the noise front or a competitor to what silentpcreview does.