Cooling Efficiency

The results of cooler tests are grouped according to two test modes: inside a completely closed system case and with the case side panel removed. All numbers are sorted out in order of increasing cooling efficiency:

The results are quite logical: the total score of XILENCE Black Hawk COPPER puts it on the same floor with Thermalright AXP-140, although it is a little more efficient in quiet mode and a little less efficient at maximum fan speed. Thermalright top-cooler has much denser heatsink plates array than XILENCE Black Hawk COPPER that is why at 1050 RPM it lacks air pressure to cool the aluminum plates properly. At the same time, Black Hawk only wins 2 °C due to a 140 mm fan and only when the case side panel has been removed. Inside a completely closed system case a frameless default XILENCE fan is more preferable than Scythe Kaze Maru.

Note that both top-coolers improve their cooling efficiency quite a bit when we remove the side case panel (it is especially true for low fan rotation speeds). The tower Thermalright IFX-14, on the contrary, doesn’t demonstrate any noticeable cooling efficiency improvement, because the airflow structure inside the closed Antec Twelve Hundred system case suits its design best of all. And sicne we got to talk about the IFX-14, I have to say one more time: it is the best.

But let’s get back to our today’s hero, XILENCE Black Hawk COPPER. I would like to point out that the engineers made a perfect choice of a fan for it. Installing a more powerful Kaze Maru brings no efficiency improvement. Moreover, it is louder than the default Black Hawk COPPER fan. The noise levels measured at 1 and 3 m distance from the system case were 34.1 and 30.8 dBA at 800 RPM and 39.6 and 34.3 dBA at 1830 RPM respectively. In the same testing conditions the noise levels of Thermalright AXP-140 with Scythe Kaze Maru fan were 35/31.9 dBA and 40.9/34.7 dBA accordingly. And the actual numbers aside, I can say that subjectively, the fan of XILENCE Black Hawk COPPER cooler is really very quiet at its minimal rotation speed, and is absolutely not annoying at maximum speed.