Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 Platform

During this test session the CPU was overclocked to 3.83 GHz with 1.55 V Vcore:

The tests on Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 based platform were performed in a simpler manner. Here we didn’t investigate the efficiency improvement from the step-by-step replacement of the cooling system components, but simply compared the efficiency of two water blocks: Alphacool NexXxoS XP and Alphacool NexXxoS X2 Hiflow Bold at different rotation speeds of the default ebm-pabst fans on the radiator. Thermalright IFX-14 super-cooler has also been included into this test session in the same configuration as on Intel Core i7 platform.

Let’s check out the results:

As we have expected, Alphacool NexXxoS X2 Hiflow Bold allows lowering the processor temperature by 2-3°C compared with the Alphacool NexXxoS XP water block. The overall advantage of the liquid-cooling system discussed today over the air cooler is between 6 and 12°C depending on the fan mode and the water block.

We didn’t measure the levels of noise from the liquid-cooling system and its individual components, but I would like to share with you my subjective observations. First, the pump. It is definitely not completely noiseless, but compared with Thermaltake PW880i pump it is considerably quieter. Moreover, I have already worked with over two dozens of different liquid-cooling systems and I have to admit that Laing DDC is the quietest pump of all I’ve seen. And if you place it onto anti-vibration spindles somewhere deep inside the system case, then it will be incredibly difficult to distinguish its noise against the background of a quiet case. The second components in question, is the ebm-pabst fans, which proved to be of extremely high quality, although they couldn’t boast impressive looks. We didn’t discover any parasitic noises during their operation, no crackling sounds of any kind. They are extremely quiet at 850 RPM and this is the most acoustically comfortable mode. At higher rotation speed we can hear the airflow (there are three fans working at the same time), but up until 1150-1170 RPM the noise is quite tolerable. Compared against Noiseblocker fans, as ones of the best out there, ebm-pabst at 1000 RPM are about as loud as Noiseblocker NB-Multiframe at 1150-1200 RPM.