Testing:
To test the cooling potential of the OCZ Tempest, I installed it in a system with the following components:
» AMD X2 4200 AM2 processor @2750MHz
» ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe @250x11
» 2GB (2x1024MB) G.Skill DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) @2.1v
» eVGA 7900GT KO PCIe card
» Enermax Galaxy 1,000W Power Supply
» 2x 80GB Hitachi Deskstar SATA-II hard drive in RAID 0
» 1x 120GB Seagate 7200.9 SATA 3Gbps hard drive
» Memorex DVD/CDRW
» 10-in-1 Media Card reader
» Cooler Master CoolDrive IV
» Fans: 2x120mm LED
Testing involved monitoring the CPU temperature at both idle and load conditions. The idle conditions were achieved by powering on the system, and allowing it to sit at the Window's desktop with no additional applications running for a period of 60 minutes. During the load tests, Folding@Home, 3DMark06, and Sisoft Sandra's Burn-in Wizard were run for 60 minutes. These conditions were repeated three times with the average temperature recorded.
The chart below details both the idle and the load temperatures of the CPU as reported by the CoolDrive IV. The CoolDrive IV was also used to check the ambient temperature, which was a constant 28 degrees Celsius. As you can see, the Tempest does a great job! Cooling my overclocked CPU 8 degrees Celsius lower than the stock cooler in idle conditions, and 11 degrees Celsius cooler in load conditions!
The Cooler Master Cool Drive IV was also used to monitor fan speed. The default fan speed was reported as 2547 RPM. I was concerned that the fan would be loud due to it being rated at 33dBA, but I am happy to say that while I was able to pinpoint the fan noise, and can tell the difference when the fan is not on, the fan is not overly loud, and was still quieter than the OEM fan on the eVGA 7900GT KO.
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