ASUS Silent Square Pro: Compact Embedded-Fan Heatpipe Tower
by Wesley Fink on April 16, 2007 2:30 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 ASUS Silent Square Pro kit includes a moderate output low noise 90mm fan. This is an unusual fan size which makes it difficult to find a fan to replace the stock fan.
Initial test with the Silent Square showed extremely poor results at idle at 3.73GHz. We have seen several Silent Square reviews that reported poorer performance with socket 775 than with socket AM2. This led us to suspect that the mounting plate was not flat or the mounting method did not provide enough CPU contact for effective cooling. The cooler was removed and thermal paste was spread evenly on both mounting surfaces indicating good contact. However the thickness of the paste indicated more pressure was needed on the cooler mount. After experimenting we found that adding two thicknesses of plastic credit card under the clip that holds the cooler against the CPU was most effective in cooling the CPU. Temperatures dropped from 55C idle with a stock install to a more reasonable 42C at idle with the credit card shims.
These findings may explain the poorer performance on socket 775 processors reported elsewhere. It appears the mounting clip needs a tighter coupling to the processor for better cooling on LGA775. This can be accomplished by shortening the stand-offs a small amount on the universal retention mount or by using shims under the mounting clip. Both methods worked fine in benchmark testing. Out of the box, it appears the socket 775 attachment is flawed in the ASUS Silent Square.
With the stock fan at stock speeds with the modified install of the Silent Square Pro, temperatures were an impressive 29C compared to the 40C with the unmodified 775 install. These results compare favorably to stock idle results with the better coolers tested at AnandTech.
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. Results are comparable to running the Intel TAT stress test at 80% CPU usage.
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 ASUS Silent Square Pro was tested under load conditions with the stock fan at stock speed. Results are compared to the Intel retail HSF and other recently tested CPU coolers.
The Silent Square Pro under load at stock speeds reached a maximum temperature of 42C. This result was not nearly as impressive as performance at stock idle. However, keep in perspective that the Intel retail fan under load at stock speeds reached 56C, so the ASUS Silent Square Pro is a significant improvement of 14C in cooling performance compared to the Intel retail HSF. Top coolers in our test like the Thermalright Ultra 120/Ultra 120 Extreme and Tuniq Tower 120 reached low to mid 30's Centigrade under these same test conditions.
The ASUS Silent Square Pro is a decent cooler at stock speeds and a big improvement over the Intel retail cooler. At idle its performance is among the best we have tested, while under load it falls in the middle of the pack for performance of the coolers we have tested. ASUS advertises the Silent Square Pro as ideal for overclocking the Core 2 Duo, however. They also classify the cooler as developed for the gamer. To test those claims we took a closer look at cooler performance scaling.
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 ASUS Silent Square Pro kit includes a moderate output low noise 90mm fan. This is an unusual fan size which makes it difficult to find a fan to replace the stock fan.
Initial test with the Silent Square showed extremely poor results at idle at 3.73GHz. We have seen several Silent Square reviews that reported poorer performance with socket 775 than with socket AM2. This led us to suspect that the mounting plate was not flat or the mounting method did not provide enough CPU contact for effective cooling. The cooler was removed and thermal paste was spread evenly on both mounting surfaces indicating good contact. However the thickness of the paste indicated more pressure was needed on the cooler mount. After experimenting we found that adding two thicknesses of plastic credit card under the clip that holds the cooler against the CPU was most effective in cooling the CPU. Temperatures dropped from 55C idle with a stock install to a more reasonable 42C at idle with the credit card shims.
These findings may explain the poorer performance on socket 775 processors reported elsewhere. It appears the mounting clip needs a tighter coupling to the processor for better cooling on LGA775. This can be accomplished by shortening the stand-offs a small amount on the universal retention mount or by using shims under the mounting clip. Both methods worked fine in benchmark testing. Out of the box, it appears the socket 775 attachment is flawed in the ASUS Silent Square.
With the stock fan at stock speeds with the modified install of the Silent Square Pro, temperatures were an impressive 29C compared to the 40C with the unmodified 775 install. These results compare favorably to stock idle results with the better coolers tested at AnandTech.
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. Results are comparable to running the Intel TAT stress test at 80% CPU usage.
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 ASUS Silent Square Pro was tested under load conditions with the stock fan at stock speed. Results are compared to the Intel retail HSF and other recently tested CPU coolers.
The Silent Square Pro under load at stock speeds reached a maximum temperature of 42C. This result was not nearly as impressive as performance at stock idle. However, keep in perspective that the Intel retail fan under load at stock speeds reached 56C, so the ASUS Silent Square Pro is a significant improvement of 14C in cooling performance compared to the Intel retail HSF. Top coolers in our test like the Thermalright Ultra 120/Ultra 120 Extreme and Tuniq Tower 120 reached low to mid 30's Centigrade under these same test conditions.
The ASUS Silent Square Pro is a decent cooler at stock speeds and a big improvement over the Intel retail cooler. At idle its performance is among the best we have tested, while under load it falls in the middle of the pack for performance of the coolers we have tested. ASUS advertises the Silent Square Pro as ideal for overclocking the Core 2 Duo, however. They also classify the cooler as developed for the gamer. To test those claims we took a closer look at cooler performance scaling.
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JarredWalton - Monday, April 16, 2007 - link
I wouldn't call this a "top 20" yet - more like "20 good/great coolers" - but I can do something about the graphs. Large (very large) versions now linked in. There's still a ton of data, so I figured a lot of people would just look at the tables below the graphs. Either way, I hope this works for you. Not sure what I'll do with the graphs when there's 30 coolers in the list! ;)yacoub - Monday, April 16, 2007 - link
The click-thru for hi-res is a great interim solution! Thanks!yacoub - Monday, April 16, 2007 - link
so few 650i motherboard roundups. :DGetting a bit anxious to see a nice 650i roundup before the 6320/6420/4400 launch... and perhaps an AMD motherboard roundup so folks who are looking to take advantage of the Intel price drop next week can be better informed about what good stable, overclocking-featured s775 boards exist or are coming soon, and compare that to what the current competition in the AMD arena looks like with their new CPU pricing and whatever AM2 motherboards are decent and how they overclock (which I have no clue about since I haven't seen any reviews/overviews/roundups for AMD boards in several months.)
What a great time for a nice Gary Key overview and analysis of the motherboard/overclocking scene!
Lots of talk on forums about DS3 v3.3 or whatever the Gigabyte P965 board is called. A bit about the MSi 650i board that seems to be well built and not as buggy as most boards but not as strong an overclocker. Please let's get a nice roundup.
rjm55 - Monday, April 16, 2007 - link
AT probably has the largest database of top coolers tested on the C2D right now, sonce most other sites are still testing with older P4's and AMD. Thanks for providing the info I was looking for.One question though. I have personally tested the Zalman 9500 on the AMD and C2D platforms. The 9500 is a brilliant performer on the AMD processor, but I agree it is a dog on the Core 2 Duo. Do you or any readers have a notion why some coolers do well on the AMD and are misrable performers on the Core 2 Duo?
Wesley Fink - Monday, April 16, 2007 - link
I believe the major reason coolers like the 9500 do well on AMD, but not so well on Core 2 Duo is because the AMD processors at present do not overclock nearly as well as Core 2 Duo processors. The 9500 does not run out of steam in the overclock range of the AMD, but the C2D overclocks much further and wxceeds the effective design limits.If you look at temps closely the Zalman 9500 and 9700 cool exceptionally well at stock 2.93GHz and up to 800 MHz higher, which is well within the top speed you can achieve with air cooling of an AMD. When you go further on a C2D the 950/9700 reach their effective limit while some other heatpipe towers like the top Thermalright and Tuniq Tower 120 are still performing very well.
Deusfaux - Monday, April 16, 2007 - link
I remember you said a while back... which ones are left?Apack Zerotherm BT95? (the butterfly cooler!)
Thermalright's other new cooler? I4-FX?
anything else?
DrMrLordX - Monday, April 16, 2007 - link
Scythe Andy Samurai Master? Enzotech Ultra-X?Wesley Fink - Monday, April 16, 2007 - link
The Cooler Master Gemini II and Scythe Andy Samurai are in the labs for testing. The Enzotech Ultra X is on its way. We have also requested a Thermalright IFX-14.DrMrLordX - Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - link
Sweet. You gonna do the Big Typhoon VX as well?Pirks - Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - link
Big Typhoon beat the $rap out of almost all its competitors in overclockers.ru benches and seems to be number 1 (or at least 2) OC cooler in Russia :) too bad AT ignored it, but they will catch up, I'm sure ;)