Page 4: Testing
Testing
In order to get a good idea of how effective the ARCTIC NC was at cooling, we put it through a series of tests. Each test was using Avidemux to transcode an AVI/MP3 movie into a MP4/AAC movie. Each test was run with the priority set to maximum. What this basically means is that the CPU was running at 100% for about 50 minutes in each test. The test system was a Dell XPS M1710 laptop with an Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 CPU, 4GB of RAM, an nVidia GeForce 7950 GTX, and Windows 7 Professional 32-bit. The M1710 has five different settings for the internal fans: Both fans off; one fan on "low" (around 1500RPM), one off; both fans on "low;" one fan on "high" (around 3600 RPM), one on "low"; and both fans on "high."
Temperatures were recorded with I8kfanGUI, a third party program designed to read the GPU, CPU, chipset and RAM temperatures of Dell Inspiron laptops, and used as an alternative fan controller to the one built into the BIOS. While there were thoughts of testing the temperatures that occurred during gaming, the notion was dismissed due to the lack of consistency in the testing variables. Finally, because this cooler has the ability to lower the fan speed, we also tested how well the ARCTIC NC worked on its lowest and its highest speed settings.
Our testing showed a similar number discrepancy to what we found with our testing of the »Thermaltake Massive23 LX, so read that article for an explanation of the some of the apparent oddities (for example, why the system had a lower temperature with the cooler on low than when the fan was on high).
In general, the ARTIC NC achieved numbers that were well in line with those of your typical full-sized cooler. However, with the cooler running on its lowest fan speed, the ARCTIC NC showed off notably better performance than a passive full-size cooler would. Now, this comparison may not seem fair, but we performed the tests these way for a few reasons:
For this reason, even though the performance isn't quite to the same level that you would expect for a full-size cooler, the adjustable fan speeds go a long way towards diminishing those differences.
In order to get a good idea of how effective the ARCTIC NC was at cooling, we put it through a series of tests. Each test was using Avidemux to transcode an AVI/MP3 movie into a MP4/AAC movie. Each test was run with the priority set to maximum. What this basically means is that the CPU was running at 100% for about 50 minutes in each test. The test system was a Dell XPS M1710 laptop with an Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 CPU, 4GB of RAM, an nVidia GeForce 7950 GTX, and Windows 7 Professional 32-bit. The M1710 has five different settings for the internal fans: Both fans off; one fan on "low" (around 1500RPM), one off; both fans on "low;" one fan on "high" (around 3600 RPM), one on "low"; and both fans on "high."
Temperatures were recorded with I8kfanGUI, a third party program designed to read the GPU, CPU, chipset and RAM temperatures of Dell Inspiron laptops, and used as an alternative fan controller to the one built into the BIOS. While there were thoughts of testing the temperatures that occurred during gaming, the notion was dismissed due to the lack of consistency in the testing variables. Finally, because this cooler has the ability to lower the fan speed, we also tested how well the ARCTIC NC worked on its lowest and its highest speed settings.
Temperature Testing Results (all numbers in °C)
- Name
- Value
CPU Temperature At Idle
- Laptop Flat On Desk
- 43
- Laptop on ARCTIC NC: Fan On Low
- 34
- Laptop on ARCTIC NC: Fan On High
- 55
CPU Temperature Average During Full Load
- Laptop Flat On Desk
- 75
- Laptop on ARCTIC NC: Fan On Low
- 69
- Laptop on ARCTIC NC: Fan On High
- 55
CPU Temperature Max During Full Load
- Laptop Flat On Desk
- 77
- Laptop on ARCTIC NC: Fan On Low
- 73
- Laptop on ARCTIC NC: Fan On High
- 68
Our testing showed a similar number discrepancy to what we found with our testing of the »Thermaltake Massive23 LX, so read that article for an explanation of the some of the apparent oddities (for example, why the system had a lower temperature with the cooler on low than when the fan was on high).
In general, the ARTIC NC achieved numbers that were well in line with those of your typical full-sized cooler. However, with the cooler running on its lowest fan speed, the ARCTIC NC showed off notably better performance than a passive full-size cooler would. Now, this comparison may not seem fair, but we performed the tests these way for a few reasons:
- The ARCTIC NC's lowest fan speed is practically inaudible, to the extent that you completely forget that it is even on.
- We felt that the heatsink properties of a full-size cooler would be a fair comparison to the low-speed fan setting of the ARCTIC NC.
- There would be little reason to actually buy a portable cooler if you didn't plan on using the fans.
For this reason, even though the performance isn't quite to the same level that you would expect for a full-size cooler, the adjustable fan speeds go a long way towards diminishing those differences.