Cooling Performance Test Platform

For testing cooling performance, circuitREMIX has created test bed configuration. The hardware chosen was picked to reflect that of a relatively modern computer system that an enthusiast may own. The heat production of the system is an above-average repesentation of one of these computer systems. The configuration of the system is as follows:

• Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 overclocked to 3.2GHz
• Thermalright Ultra-120 heatsink + 120mm Yate Loon fan
• Asus P5K3 Deluxe motherboard
• Kingston 2GB (2x1GB) DDR-3 (1375MHz) memory kit
• eVGA 8800GT 512MB PCIe graphics card
• Seagate 7200.7 120GB SATA hard drive
• Samsung SH-S203 SATA DVD-writer
• Antec NeoHE 550w power supply

For temperature results, we are using temperatures reported by the processor (Q6600 core), video card (8800GT GPU) and hard drive (Seagate 7200.7). The following temperature monitoring software was used (for each component, respectively):

• CoreTemp 0.96.1 (average of each core)
• RivaTuner 2.06
• SpeedFan 4.33 (for S.M.A.R.T system of hard drive)

Besides the temperature monitoring systems of each of those components, we are also using external temperature probes to monitor air temperature (areas around the RAM Slots, Bottom PCI Slot, and Power Supply Exhaust). The ambient environment air temperature is also recorded to act as a control. The placement of these probes and the temperature monitoring hardware is illustrated in the image below.

Tests are conducted at both idle and load situtations. Idle status is is when the computer is running Windows Vista Business edition with no applications running, save for the temperature monitoring software (this software has very low CPU overhead). Load status is when the computer is running Windows Vista Business edition with OCCT running on all processor cores, ATITool 'scanning for artifacts', and temperature monitoring software active.