| Scythe Infinity Heatpipe CPU Cooler
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Testing:
The image below shows the head-to-head testing competition, as well as providing a size reference for the Scythe Infinity. From left to right we have the Infinity, the Scythe Mine, the Thermalright Ultra-120, and in front we have the stock Intel cooler.
The Infinity is the biggest in all directions, and looks extra tall thanks to the taller than usual heatpipe 'peaks' capped in acorn style nuts. Compatibility with smaller systems could be an issue, so be sure you have room for a cooler that is 160mm tall. The Tuniq Tower 120 is the next largest cooler I have used, and I have run into issues with it fitting into even some of the largest cases.
Testing consisted of monitoring the Intel Pentium D840 (3.2 GHz Dual-Core) CPU's thermal output while at idle and under a full load. Idle conditions were established by allowing the test system described previously to sit at the CentOS 4 desktop for a period of no less than one hour. The load conditions were generated by executing two instances of Folding@Home (configured to take full advantage of both CPU cores) for a period of 24 hours.
An external thermal probe was used to monitor the processor and ambient temperatures, while the System Monitor in CentOS was used to confirm that both cores were either at idle or at full load. Idle conditions saw the cores bounce between 0 and 2% activity, while load conditions had both cores pegged at 100% for the duration.
The chart below summarizes the head-to-head results recorded while the ambient temperature was maintained at 25 degrees Celsius. I was quite surprised, and a bit disappointed to see that the Infinity wasn't the muscle car I had anticipated, and provided results that just edged out the Scythe Mine. I'm not saying the Mine didn't do well, but it is a bit smaller than the Infinity, has only 3 heatpipes, and costs about 25% less. One thing that was impressive was that the noise output was minimal, and you have to lean in to hear that the fan on the Infinity makes any noise at all.
Not being satisfied with the results for the Infinity, I repeated the testing with the cooler and fan oriented in as many positions as were possible on this motherboard. The results shown above were achieved as shown in this picture (the arrangement that pushed on the capacitors around the CPU socket). It didn't get any better in any other orientation. With the cooler turned 90 degrees and the fan blowing from the video card (like this picture) temperatures rose 3 degrees, and with the cooler in the same position and the fan rotated 90 degrees clockwise (like this picture) they rose 1 more degree.
For a near silent cooler the results are good, but the competition out there is fierce, and Scythe missed being the top dog by a few degrees.
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