Cooling Efficiency

First of all, let’s see how Alpenfoehn Brocken compares against its today’s competitors:

As you can see from the results, the cooling efficiency of Alpenfoehn Brocken is about the same as that of ThermoLab BARAM. In quiet mode with only one Scythe Slip Stream fan, Brocken loses only 1 °C to BARAM, while with two fans it get 1 °C ahead. At maximum fan rotation speed, BARAM appears a little more efficient with one and two fans. Thermalright IFX-14 is invincible again and leaves no chances to anyone in both: quiet mode and at maximum fan(s) rotation speed.

I think it is also pretty interesting to compare the maximum CPU overclocking results for Alpenfoehn Brocken and THermoLab BARAM coolers tested with two powerful fans:

Alpenfoehn Brocken (~1880RPMx2)

ThermoLab BARAM (~1880RPMx2)

As you can see, the heatsinks of both coolers are equally efficient. Knowing how advanced and highly efficient ThermoLab BARAM heatsink is in terms of design and cooling characteristics, it is very pleasing to see that Alpenfoehn Brocken didn’t give in. Thermalright IFX-14 is again way ahead here.

As you can see, the default fan of the Alpenfoehn Brocken cooler works perfectly fine here: it is extremely quiet in idle mode and generates moderately acceptable noise during Linpack tests. As for its complete performance details, the following chart will tell you more:

We have already discussed our fans testing methodology and equipment in the recent ultimate 120/140 mm fan roundup, so please see this article for details. As for the 120 mm Alpenfoehn Brocken fan and the results obtained on it, we can say that it demonstrated pretty average airflow and noise readings. At low rotation speed (up to 690 RPM) you can hear slight crackling sounds that later dissolves in the rumble of the fan blades. Nevertheless, this fan can be considered subjectively quiet up until 870 RPM, moderately quiet – until 1110 RPM. After that as its rotation speed increases, you may find it acoustically uncomfortable to be close to this fan. Although, I have to admit that it is still tolerable especially compared with Scythe Slip Stream at 1880 RPM.