One of the things that make testing of CPU coolers interesting is that you can never know how will a particular cooler perform. There are too many variables that affect the results. Such as the pressure on the processor, for example. We‘ve tried to find out what a weaker assembly system can cause, but also whether it pays off to cross the safe threshold. Read more “How can a pressure of a cooler affect its cooling performance?”
What are the best settings for Fuma? This is a question that belongs to our complementary review where we traditionally test heatsinks with reference fans. This time in two configurations, with one and with two fans. We went from really noisy settings to completely silent mode. The temperature behaviour is captured minute by minute. Let’s take a look at how this twin-tower handles passive cooling compared to top-notch coolers. Read more “Scythe Fuma rev. B: From a hurricane to the fanless mode”
Improving production by making it cheaper is often done regardless of whether or not a particular product is doing well on the market. Scythe Fuma probably belongs to the “worse category“, which is also proved by its low availability. It seems that the manufacturer had to start to save up to maintain the production. It is no drama, but this tastes a bit bitter because the first version was the best product for its price. Read more “Scythe Fuma rev. B: Surprise with a big question mark”
Efficient and quiet cooling in combination with small fans is usually just a utopic wish. But it looks like that they don’t give up easy. We just discussed Evga board with two 30mm fans which are supposed to cool the power supply circuit, and here appears another similar case – M.2 SSD active cooling. Read more “Fans that are even smaller and faster: 16 500 rpm for M.2 SSD”
After the review of SSD coolers, we found some long-forgotten GPU memory heatsinks. Of course, we tested them right away and the results were excellent. It makes us wonder if (and when) is it worth to pay for commercial solutions, because a set of these small “hedgehogs“ costs up to five euros and one packing is usually enough for more uses. Read more “Small VRAM heatsink on a SSD NVMe? Cheap and efficient…”
With increasing IOPS, SSD cooling demands also increase. This applies even to powerful models (NVMe) for common customers. In most cases, controllers can take a lot, but high temperatures do not add to their performance nor lifespan and they can cause problems even in very quiet computers or in a room with higher air temperature. An additional heatsink can do wonders. Read more “Duel of SSD coolers: Alphacool HDX M.2 vs. EKWB EK-M.2”
Thermal conductive pads are useful wherever a thermal paste cannot be reasonably applied. A good example are power supply circuit of graphics cards and processors, so the choice of test subjects was unambiguous. It was less clear, however, what thickness of pads is most effective, if it is better to pay for more expensive ones, and what improvement to expect. Read more “Test of “chewing gums”: 3× Arctic and Thermal Grizzly Minus Pads”
Coollaboratory is well known among the hardware enthusiasts, mainly thanks to its liquid metals. The model with higher thermal conductivity, Liquid Ultra, is commonly preferred with high power consumption chips since their default compounds are usually of lower quality. To find out whether CLU still pays off, we put it to the ring with an opponent from the Thermal Grizzly workshop, and with Core i5-7600K as the referee. Read more “Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra vs. Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut”
Do you know how many fans do you need and what speed they should run at to achieve the optimal cooling of your PC case? Is it better to induce positive pressure, negative pressure, or balanced airflow? Are four fans with less RPM more effective than two with more RPM? We can answer all these questions by providing you results of more than 70 tests which also include the monitoring of the heating of power supply circuit of CPU and GPU. Read more “System cooling in the spotlight. What to increase/decrease?”
The second round will be especially interesting for people who want to find the best solution for a standard use. The winner is a big surprise. Gelid, Noctua, Phobya, Reeven, SilentiumPC, Thermal Grizzly or Zalman? We can give away that it is not an expected favourite this time. We enjoyed a nice competition in the middle category, where it takes a lot to keep making a difference. We also tested OEM paste from Scythe as a bonus. Read more “Test of 27 thermal compounds, part 2”
Thermal pastes can significantly affect the cooling performance, so we have compared several models that represent the current offer. Is the legendary Arctic MX-2 still a good choice? Or is it more reasonable to try newer Cooler Master and Cryorig? There is also a copper Coollaboratory to consider. Well, we have prepared some recommendations, but few warnings too because there are several products that you should rather avoid. Read more “Test of 27 thermal compounds, part 1”
A drop in the middle, a cross, spread it with finger, or use an old credit card to smooth it perfectly? Even simple things like applying a thermal paste under your cooler can be a bit tricky sometimes. Commonly used methods are seemingly different, and if you also consider batching, there comes a question of how to it to achieve the best results. Read more “Spreading a thermal paste: how and how much?”
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