Testing:

The Prolimatech Megahalems was installed in a test system with the following components:

» Intel Core i7 920 (2.66GHz) processor
» eVGA X58 SLI Micro ATX motherboard
» BFG GeForce GTX 260 MAX CORE 55 896MB PCIe video card
» Seagate 500GB SATA 3Gbps hard drive
» OCZ Platinum PC12600 1600MHz DDR3 triple-channel memory
» CoolerMaster Real Power Pro 750 power supply
» Windows 7 Ultimate RC 64-bit operating system

For testing purposes, we decided to use the thermal paste Prolimatech supplied with the Megahalems on all coolers so there would be no advantage in that area.



For comparison purposes, the test system is run on an open bench in a room with an ambient temperature of 28 degrees Celsius. CPUID’s Hardware Monitor 1.1.4.0 was used for measuring the idle and load temperatures. Idle conditions were established with a 30 minute period with only Hardware Monitor running. For load temperatures, a combination of Prime 95 (with all 8 instances), SiSoft Sandra Professional’s Burn-In Test, and FutureMark 3DMark Vantage were run for 30 minutes. All readings were noted and the average of the four core readings were charted. No additional fans are used in this setup.

The challengers:

» Stock Intel cooler
» ThermalTake V1 AX running on High
» Scythe Katana 3
» CoolIT Domino ALC running on Performance Mode

We'll also test the Megahalems in passive mode. You probably wouldn't want to do this with your everyday gaming rig, but if you were to use this cooler in an HTPC, you might forgo the fan to cut down on noise.