To ensure that the results from one review to another are not only reproducible but actually pertinent to this review, the Testing Methodology will be the same throughout all reviews used. If something does change we will be sure to make a special note of it and explain why this change was done and more importantly why it had to be changed or altered.
All CPU Cooling Solutions which do not come with their own fan, a Noctua NF-P12-1300 will be used if it accepts 120mm fans, if it only accepts 92mm a Noctua NF-B9-1600 will be used. Any and all fans are run at their highest speed.
Except where noted all comparison testing was done on an open bench with a constant ambient temperature of 20c. If at any time the room temperature increased or decreased by more than 1°C testing was halted untill the temperature constant was reestablished.
Recorded temps were as reported via CoreTemp's "Temp Log". Average load temps were taken after 15 minutes of running Prime95 “small fft” and are taken directly from CoreTemp’s temperature text file. Excel was used to average the results of all cores. Idle temps were taken 15 minutes after Load testing ceased. Motherboard temperatures were recorded using SpeedFan. All CPU throttling technology was disabled in the BIOS; as was all CPU fan speed control.
Arctic Cooling MX-2 thermal paste was used for all coolers during these tests unless otherwise noted. For all non HDT coolers, application of thermal paste was in accordance with TIM manufacturer’s instructions; and while not necessary, the TIM was allowed to cure for 24 hours under moderate to high loads (with periods of low loads) prior to testing.
For all 3 pipe HDT coolers two lines of TIM are applied to the two center metal posts and for all 4 pipe HDTS three (smaller) lines of TIM are applied to the metal posts. With this method it has been found to provide significantly better coverage than the more typical methods.