New Mid-Priced Coolers from OCZ and Scythe: The Small and the X of It
by Wesley Fink on October 1, 2007 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Noise
For many enthusiasts looking to upgrade their cooling, the goal is maximum stable overclock and they will live with the inconvenience of a louder system. For other users silence is the most important factor, and these users will forgo maximum overclocking if that increases system noise levels.
Smaller fans are generally noisier than large fans, so we really didn't expect super low noise with these mid-level air coolers. What we found were very good results, below the system noise floor, with the Scythe S-FLEX SFF21 on the Kama Cross and poorer than expected noise levels on the Vendetta.
The new test bed is successful in lowering the systems noise floor slightly in some measurements and dramatically in the 6" noise floor measurement. This had an impact on several earlier measurements, lowering the water cooling system measurements (quieter performance) on most benchmarks. Noise measurements on the new test bed will be discussed in detail in a future review when we have completed several other noise reduction measures in the updating of our cooling test environment.
No matter how you approach it, noise levels of the OCZ Vendetta 92mm fan were a disappointment. We really expected the elastomeric attachments and very good noise specifications of the fan to shine in these tests, but fan noise will be too much for many users at the effective higher speed of the Vendetta fan. Noise at the lower speed is below the noise floor, but performance suffers pretty dramatically. Since the Vendetta fan ran at high speed in almost all our testing, the best solution may be to replace the fan with a high output, ultra low-noise 92mm fan.
A good substitute for the Vendetta fan might be the Scythe Kama 92mm with a PWM connector and air flow to 55 CFM at around $10. Another good choice might be the Thermaltake 92mm smart fan at around $14. It is extremely loud at the top 78.7 CFM, but the speed varies from 1300-4000 RPM with a corresponding output of 24.6 to 78.7 CFM at noise levels from 17.0 to 48.5 dBA. However, most middle output levels that would match the needs of the Vendetta are reasonably quiet. You would also have the option to overclock higher with the greater output if that is your goal, but the trade-off is higher noise.
For many enthusiasts looking to upgrade their cooling, the goal is maximum stable overclock and they will live with the inconvenience of a louder system. For other users silence is the most important factor, and these users will forgo maximum overclocking if that increases system noise levels.
Smaller fans are generally noisier than large fans, so we really didn't expect super low noise with these mid-level air coolers. What we found were very good results, below the system noise floor, with the Scythe S-FLEX SFF21 on the Kama Cross and poorer than expected noise levels on the Vendetta.
The new test bed is successful in lowering the systems noise floor slightly in some measurements and dramatically in the 6" noise floor measurement. This had an impact on several earlier measurements, lowering the water cooling system measurements (quieter performance) on most benchmarks. Noise measurements on the new test bed will be discussed in detail in a future review when we have completed several other noise reduction measures in the updating of our cooling test environment.
No matter how you approach it, noise levels of the OCZ Vendetta 92mm fan were a disappointment. We really expected the elastomeric attachments and very good noise specifications of the fan to shine in these tests, but fan noise will be too much for many users at the effective higher speed of the Vendetta fan. Noise at the lower speed is below the noise floor, but performance suffers pretty dramatically. Since the Vendetta fan ran at high speed in almost all our testing, the best solution may be to replace the fan with a high output, ultra low-noise 92mm fan.
A good substitute for the Vendetta fan might be the Scythe Kama 92mm with a PWM connector and air flow to 55 CFM at around $10. Another good choice might be the Thermaltake 92mm smart fan at around $14. It is extremely loud at the top 78.7 CFM, but the speed varies from 1300-4000 RPM with a corresponding output of 24.6 to 78.7 CFM at noise levels from 17.0 to 48.5 dBA. However, most middle output levels that would match the needs of the Vendetta are reasonably quiet. You would also have the option to overclock higher with the greater output if that is your goal, but the trade-off is higher noise.
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rbuffetta - Tuesday, October 2, 2007 - link
Spend the extra $20-30 and get the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme. Of all the places to cut corners and save money this is really where it counts to protect your cpu and allow for decent overclocks.EtherealDragon - Tuesday, October 2, 2007 - link
As always, it was a nice read, but why oh why would you plot the 2 graphs on page 7 in that manner? Seems funny to me to have the points on the graphs "drop" as the temperature raises... I guess thats just my .02Wesley Fink - Tuesday, October 2, 2007 - link
It's very easy to change the chart with temp going up if enough readers prefer it. We changed the graph scale after receiving several complaints that the top performance was the lowest chart position on the old charts and difficult to comprehend. If more readers prefer the original chart layout we will be happy to change back. Please let us know.strikeback03 - Tuesday, October 2, 2007 - link
I prefer the old orientation, as it makes sense to me that when you are looking for the cooler with the lowest temperature, you look at the lowest point on the graph.Sentrosi2121 - Tuesday, October 2, 2007 - link
Pretty acceptable for the OCZ cooler. I wonder how it would perform inside an enclosure like the X-Qpack. I'm trying to build a nice gaming rig with the X-Qpack and would like to see if it would fit inside.Basilisk - Tuesday, October 2, 2007 - link
Depends on your skill with a hammer and chisel: The X-Qpack (and X-Qpack2 and Ultra Micro Fly) only have about 75mm of headroom above the CPU -- challenging for a 92mm fam mounted perhaps 40mm above the CPU! Go with a Zalman horizontal flower (7000, 7700, 8700), a few other units or just the stock fan in those cases.
PS: The X-Qpack2 has improved airflow and clearance (length) over the X-Qpack.
Anonymous Freak - Tuesday, October 2, 2007 - link
StorageReview just did a review of the http://www.storagereview.com/1000.sr">Western Digital "Green Power" 1 TB hard drive. While it's not the best performing drive in the world, it's no slouch, and it has the side effect of being the quietest drive they've ever tested. (Plus it runs cool enough that you could probably slap it in aEtherealDragon - Tuesday, October 2, 2007 - link
As always, it was a nice read, but why oh why would you plot the 2 graphs on page 7 in that manner? Seems funny to me to have the points on the graphs "drop" as the temperature raises... I guess thats just my .02Phil Harris - Monday, October 1, 2007 - link
It seems utterly ridiculous to me that these coolers are tested on dual setups.If someone looking to build a quad is trying to find useful information, this review is completely pointless.
A test on a quad however will still provide useful info to someone building a dual core.
The defence that games don't use quads yet is also totally specious, if thats the reason, why bother testing anything other than dual core machines?
Lets all ignore quad core computing until we can play games on them... is that the idea?
This is the second poor quality review in the cases and cooling section within a few weeks, if Anandtech wants to be taken seriously, a serious re-think is required.
Acanthus - Monday, October 1, 2007 - link
Many enthusiasts that are spending money on components for overclocking have opted for cheap quad cores.Sorry to sound frustrated, but this is getting rediculous when we are in the world of $270 quad cores.