Enzotech Ultra-X: If Looks Could Chill
by Wesley Fink on June 27, 2007 3:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Scaling of Cooling Performance
The Ultra-X performance was average at stock idle and below average among top coolers at stock load. As overclocks are raised, the Enzotech exhibits improved performance in the ability to cool the CPU under stress conditions. To be as fair as possible all overclocking tests were run with the Enzotech fan at the highest speed.
At 2.93GHz the retail HSF is running at 41C, compared to 32C with the Ultra-X. This is a delta of 9C. The delta becomes greater as the overclock increases. At 3.73GHz the idle with the retail fan is 56C compared to the Ultra-X at 39C - a delta of 17C. The cooling performance of the Enzotech is much better than the Intel retail cooler at idle, but the Ultra-X does not reach the same cooling levels measured with the Thermalrights (with a Scythe S-Flex SFF21F fan) or the stock Tuniq 120. The top Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme, for example is at 33C at the same 3.73GHz.
We also need to compare cooling efficiency of the Enzotech Ultra-X under load conditions to the retail HSF and other recently tested CPU coolers. Load testing can be very revealing of a cooler's efficiency. A basically flat line, particularly form 3.73GHz upward, indicates the cooler is still in its best cooling range. A line that is increasing rapidly indicates a cooler nearing the end of its ability to cool efficiently. Lines which parallel the best coolers over a range of values are indicate that the coolers have similar cooling efficiency.
The Ultra-X is very efficient in cooling in the 2.93 GHz to 3.73 GHz overclock range. As you can see in the chart the cooling is almost a horizontal line in this range. The Enzotech continues on to a highest overclock of 3.86GHz, which is short of the 3.90GHz to 3.94GHz most of the top coolers in our testing have achieved. These results are similar to other down-facing coolers. While the overclock is the best we have seen with a down-facing cooler, they are still below the top heatpipe towers. The slope of the Ultra-X in this range from 3.73GHz to 3.86GH is steeper than the heatpipe towers, indicating it is nearing the end of its range of efficient cooling.
Unfortunately, the Ultra-X is not in the same cooling category as the best heatpipe towers we have tested. We hoped this cooler might be the down-facing cooler to buck the trend, but that is not the case. Ultra-X is a decent cooler to the range just below the best, but cooling efficiency is similar to other down-facing heatpipe towers tested.
As stated many times, the overclocking abilities of the CPU will vary at the top, depending on the CPU. This particular CPU does higher FSB speeds than any X6800 we have tested, but the 3.90GHz top speed with the Tuniq is pretty average among the X6800 processors we have tested with Tuniq cooling. A few of the other processors tested with the best air coolers reach just over 4 GHz, but the range has been 3.8 to 4.0GHz. Stock cooling generally tops out 200 to 400 MHz lower, depending on the CPU, on the processors tested in our lab.
The Ultra-X performance was average at stock idle and below average among top coolers at stock load. As overclocks are raised, the Enzotech exhibits improved performance in the ability to cool the CPU under stress conditions. To be as fair as possible all overclocking tests were run with the Enzotech fan at the highest speed.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
At 2.93GHz the retail HSF is running at 41C, compared to 32C with the Ultra-X. This is a delta of 9C. The delta becomes greater as the overclock increases. At 3.73GHz the idle with the retail fan is 56C compared to the Ultra-X at 39C - a delta of 17C. The cooling performance of the Enzotech is much better than the Intel retail cooler at idle, but the Ultra-X does not reach the same cooling levels measured with the Thermalrights (with a Scythe S-Flex SFF21F fan) or the stock Tuniq 120. The top Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme, for example is at 33C at the same 3.73GHz.
We also need to compare cooling efficiency of the Enzotech Ultra-X under load conditions to the retail HSF and other recently tested CPU coolers. Load testing can be very revealing of a cooler's efficiency. A basically flat line, particularly form 3.73GHz upward, indicates the cooler is still in its best cooling range. A line that is increasing rapidly indicates a cooler nearing the end of its ability to cool efficiently. Lines which parallel the best coolers over a range of values are indicate that the coolers have similar cooling efficiency.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
The Ultra-X is very efficient in cooling in the 2.93 GHz to 3.73 GHz overclock range. As you can see in the chart the cooling is almost a horizontal line in this range. The Enzotech continues on to a highest overclock of 3.86GHz, which is short of the 3.90GHz to 3.94GHz most of the top coolers in our testing have achieved. These results are similar to other down-facing coolers. While the overclock is the best we have seen with a down-facing cooler, they are still below the top heatpipe towers. The slope of the Ultra-X in this range from 3.73GHz to 3.86GH is steeper than the heatpipe towers, indicating it is nearing the end of its range of efficient cooling.
Unfortunately, the Ultra-X is not in the same cooling category as the best heatpipe towers we have tested. We hoped this cooler might be the down-facing cooler to buck the trend, but that is not the case. Ultra-X is a decent cooler to the range just below the best, but cooling efficiency is similar to other down-facing heatpipe towers tested.
As stated many times, the overclocking abilities of the CPU will vary at the top, depending on the CPU. This particular CPU does higher FSB speeds than any X6800 we have tested, but the 3.90GHz top speed with the Tuniq is pretty average among the X6800 processors we have tested with Tuniq cooling. A few of the other processors tested with the best air coolers reach just over 4 GHz, but the range has been 3.8 to 4.0GHz. Stock cooling generally tops out 200 to 400 MHz lower, depending on the CPU, on the processors tested in our lab.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
33 Comments
View All Comments
homonaut - Wednesday, June 27, 2007 - link
I was contemplating getting one of these after stumbling onto this 'review': http://www.coolaler.com/modules/news/article.php?s...">http://www.coolaler.com/modules/news/article.php?s... but now I don't know. How can the results be so different!?SilthDraeth - Wednesday, June 27, 2007 - link
Since I don't speak Chinese or Korean, etc, all I could do was look at the pictures. It is unclear what temps are load or not.Also, they use different processors. Anand uses a 6800 vs a 6600.
They both post a 43 degree celcius temp, on Anand thats a load temp at stock speed, so that might be load on the coolaler site. and the lower temps might be idel temps for the 6600.
idle temp might have been taken at a different time frame for how long the processor was running before the temperature was taken, etc.
The temps do not look to be a huge disparity though imo.
Wesley Fink - Wednesday, June 27, 2007 - link
The Enzotech could boot as high as 3.90 GHz, which is as good as any of the best coolers tested except the Ultra-120 eXtrme which reaches a stable 3.94GHz. All was fine at idle at 3.9GHz, but as soon as we began our stress testing with the game that is about 80% CPU load the system would fail with the Enzothec. This was with the fan on high, near 90 cfm at a pretty loud noise level. We could not even make it through one loop of the game demo, and our stress test procedure runs the game loop for 30 minutes to test load stability.We also tried adding a high output case can as some readers have suggested. This DID lower the CPU temperature, particularly at stock speed strangely enough, however it did not extend overclocking ability at all.