After a long hiatus, which was caused by a crash of the test setup, I am back again with CPU cooler reviews. Today I will focus on the ARGB version of the Fera 5 cooler from SPC. The Fera 5 cooler performed well beyond expectations in the tests and offered an interesting price/performance ratio. However, the ARGB version is equipped with a slightly different fan, so the cooler needs to be tortured again on a hot CPU and have its noise level measured.
Testing methodology
Right at the beginning I mentioned the reason for the longer pause between my cooler reviews being the crash of my test build. So I had to get a replacement, which logically brought with it a change in the temperature and noise measurement methodology. And thus the need to retest the coolers from previous reviews. However, I took this opportunity to redesign the entire methodology from the ground up to give more comparable results and be even more consistent.
So as a test processor and heat generator I am now using the Intel Core i7-11700K on the ASUS TUF Gaming Z590-Plus WIFI motherboard. The entire rig is mounted on a Streacom BC1 frame with no fans to provide airflow. There is now a new acoustic shielding (acoustic foam on OSB boards) around the test setup to eliminate ambient noise during noise measurement. The Voltcraft SL-100 noise meter is now placed perpendicular to the heatsink in a fixed position relative to the motherboard at a distance of approximately 35 cm from the CPU socket.
Stress tests are performed using the Prime95 application with a duration of 30-35 minutes. Coolers are tested at three standardized noise levels (36, 39 and 42 dBA) and finally at maximum rpm. The tests are run in two sets according to the heat output of the processor. The first set of tests is at 125 W, the PL1 factory limit of the processor.
The second set of power consumption is then about 205-210 W (4500 MHz at 1.285 V). However, this second level represents a very high concentration of heat per sq mm due to the small size of the chip itself. Thus, not all heatsinks can be expected to pass this set of tests at all noise levels. The highest temperature achieved is always recorded at the end of the test. All data regarding temperatures and heat output of the processor is obtained from the HWiNFO64 application.
The measured values are then corrected against the room temperature as the resulting Delta T value. If the heatsink fails a load with a Delta T value below 75 °C, the test is marked as a failure. Any higher value means a processor temperature over 95-100 °C and a risk of thermal throttling.
