Friday, August 30, 2002

Benchmarks

The room temperature for all tests was 19 degrees (C). This is, of course, a very important piece of information, because it will give you an idea of the minimum achievable temperature.

Processor stress test

To compare the performance of the CNPS6000-cu, we used a Thermaltake Volcano 6cu+. This is not the latest HSF from Thermaltake, nor is it all copper, so bear in mind this two differences. We stressed the processor at a 100 % load during 120 minutes, with maximum priority.

As you can see, the Zalman takes a very comfortable lead, beating clearly the competition, even when we lower the speed of the fan. Please note that even with the fan spinning at full speed, the noise added to the system was not significant. The Zalman lowered all the temperatures, with a drop of five degrees (C) in the idle system, and a incredible seven degrees drop with the processor working at full load after 120 minutes.

Hard disk stress tests

For this test, we stressed the RAID array for 120 minutes. We all know that 7200 rpm disks are usually running hotter than the 5400 rpm disks. This test really shows out how the HSF handles the temperature variations caused by the heat od the surrounding components. Here we see again, that the Zalman clearly has an advantage over the Thermaltake. The graphic speaks better than a thousand words...

Next: Conclusions.

Cooler prices

Find the best price for the: Zalman CNPS6000cu