Hi everyone. These past few weeks I've been doing a lot of test runs for waterblocks on the Core i7. Today, I can present the first set of results.
Thanks to XSPC and Aqua Computer for providing me with test samples!
Having said that, let me dive right into the test setup and -methods.
Test Setup
Hardware used:
- Intel Core i7 920 @ 3.7GHz, 1.28V
- Asus P6T
- 6GB Mushkin XP12800
- T-Balancer BigNG and Sensorhub for measuring and logging temp data
- Three digital thermal probes measuring ambient temps
- Arctic Cooling MX-2
Cooling loop:
- Swiftech MCP355 with EK X-Res top
- Digmesa Flowmeter
- Four inline thermal probes
- XSPC RS360 radiator
- 3x Nanoxia FX1250 fans @ 1200rpm
- 13/10mm tubing
Sftware used:
- T-Balancer Navigator
- RealTemp 3.0
- CoreDamage
Testing Procedure
The testing is done with the above hardware set up in a CPU-only loop so that there is no thermal interference from other components in the loop.
A test run has a duration of 40 minutes during which the CPU is fully loaded using CoreDamage. I did a lot of preliminary testing and determined CoreDamage to be the best suited program, because it produces very high and very stable temperatures. The 40 minutes might seem short, but in my testing I got identical, just as repeatable results after 40 minutes as after 60 or 90 minutes.
From the 40 minutes of CPU-burning, I collect all the data from the last 20 minutes of each run and average out all the data to get average Core temperatures, average water temperatures and average ambient temperatures.
Blocks Tested
Here are the four blocks currently tested, with external and internal pics for each:
Aqua Computer cuplex XT di (new version):
Note: This is a new revision of the XT di. Internal pics show a comparison of old vs. new base plates and insides of the top (new version on the left, older version on the right).
Watercool Heatkiller 3.0:
XSPC Delta V3:
EK Supreme:
Flowrates
I simply measured the flowrates achieved in the loop with the pump at 12V with each block. Since all other parts of the loop are always equal, this represents the restrictiveness of each block.
Results:
The graph really speaks for itself here. Both the XSPC and the HK 3.0 achieve very high flowrates. The XT di is more restrictive, but nothing to worry about, IMO and the EK Supreme is restrictive as ever.
Orientations
Each block is mounted and tested six times. Three times in one orientation and three times in an orientation rotated by 90°.
I test each block in two different orienations that I describe as
Vertical:
and Horizontal:
Vertical and Horizontal are the directions the water flows in when the block is mounted on a mainboard inside a normal ATX-case. This is why I chose these descriptions. The problem here is that the socket's orientation on the mainboard isn't always the same. Some mainboards (e.g. Gigabyte) have 90° rotated sockets. So, to be very clear about this, here is a picture showing the directions of flow accross the CPU itself, and what I refer to these directions as:
Averaging out the results from three mounts per orientation, this is what we end up with:
NOTE: Since my post about the EK Supreme orientation, some minor tweaks to the test-setup were made. Also, the test rig was repositioned in the room along with the thermal probes. This is why the Supreme was retested and I got slightly different results from those initial runs posted before.
As we can see, with the EK Supreme, it doesn't matter which way it's oriented, the cuplex and the Delta V3 perform better in a horizontal orientation and the HK shows improved performance when mounted vertically.
Temperatures
Finally, let's take a look at temperatures achieved.
Here are the three runs in the optimal orientation for each of the blocks:
EDIT: (The temperatures are sorted from lowest to highest to keep things tidy)
And here are the averaged out temperatures from the above three runs:
As we can see, the new cuplex XT di almost catches up with the Supreme on a Core i7. The HK 3.0 is way ahead of the pack, though. The Delta V3 falls behind, thought it's performance isn't half-bad. The very strong competition here just makes it look like the V3's performance is sub-par.
Although most of you are probably aware of this, I do want to caution against making statement of the "block A is X° better than block B" kind. The actual temperature difference between the blocks is dependant upon the amount of heat the CPU produces. Different model CPUs and different VCores will produce greater, smaller or different results than seen here.
Temperatures in relation to flowrates
The last part of testing consists of lowering flowrates by using a shutoff valve and measuring how this impacts temperatures. I lower the flowrates to predetermined values with 30l/h or 60l/h increments. converted to GPM, the increments don't make as much sense as in l/h, but the important point is that each block is tested at identical flowrates.
Because of this, the following graph does not take into account the different levels of restrictiveness each of the blocks has.
Here, it's interesting to see that all block but the EK Supreme show almost identical curvatures. The Supreme is the one block among these tested here that gains more cooling performance with increased flow than the rest.
Quick Conclusion
The Watercool Heatkiller 3.0 really takes the cake here. It delivers great cooling performance while being very un-restrictive at the same time. It looks like the EK Supreme, while still a great block, no longer reigns supreme...
The new cuplex is definitely better than the previous one: It's less restrictive and the performance is better since the last version wasn't this close to the performance of the Supreme yet. It's still a gorgeous block and I can recommend it to anyone who likes it's looks.
The XSPC is very un-restrictive but it's cooling performance can't shine in this comparison. It is the cheapest block among these tested here, though and i was very impressed with how well crafted it was. For anyone looking for a low-budget block for a system where maximum performance isn't the highest priority, the Delta V3 is definitely worth a look.
This report is a brief of a full article I did in German: Link
The data is all here, but in the DeXgo-article there are a lot of extra pics and more detailed descriptions of each block.
Cheers,
Shane
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