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Product Survey: CPU Heatsinks
A good heatsink has to strike the balance between keeping your computer's processor nice and cool and working as quietly as possible. Different manufacturers have tried new ways of juggling these two factors with the hope of finding the perfect compromise.
Régis Jehl
Updated: 2008-12-11
Updated: 2008-12-11
Our Tests
We used OCCT software to really give our processor a good work out before running three different tests on a dual-core processor, and the same again on a quad-core (six in total).
Leaving each processor to heat up for 45 minutes, we took the highest temperature with the fan running off a 5V supply (slow), then 8.5V (medium) and finally 12V (top speed). To check idle temperatures, we let the processor cool down for half an hour afterwards.
Subtracting the current ambient temperature from the temperature that the processor was running at for a particular test shows how effective the heatsink is: the better it's working, the close the CPU should be to room temperature.
To test sound levels, we ran each fan at five different speeds, 5V, 7V, 8.5V, 10V and 12V, and measure the noise twenty centimeters away. A video accompanying each test allows you to hear what each processor sounds like while working.
Leaving each processor to heat up for 45 minutes, we took the highest temperature with the fan running off a 5V supply (slow), then 8.5V (medium) and finally 12V (top speed). To check idle temperatures, we let the processor cool down for half an hour afterwards.
Subtracting the current ambient temperature from the temperature that the processor was running at for a particular test shows how effective the heatsink is: the better it's working, the close the CPU should be to room temperature.
To test sound levels, we ran each fan at five different speeds, 5V, 7V, 8.5V, 10V and 12V, and measure the noise twenty centimeters away. A video accompanying each test allows you to hear what each processor sounds like while working.
The most common complaint is not processor overheating, but that the heatsink that processor manufacturers ship is very loud.
Things usually get worse when the fan has to turn faster--either because the ambient temperature goes up, or because the processor is working harder.
Opting for a better heatsink, then, means you can make your computer both cooler and quieter--it's certainly not just a generic part that only needs replacing when it breaks down.
Materials and Methods
As so often in the world of IT, there is a huge range of heatsinks on the market today, starting at just a few euros and going all the up to 60 or even 70 euros ( ).
Rather than just focusing on the price, though, there are two key factors that distinguish one heatsink from the next: their internal architecture and the materials
that they're made from.
As a general rule, aluminium heatsinks are the cheapest and copper ones are the most expensive. The trade-off you have to make is between cooper, which is better at absorbing the excess heat, and aluminum, which is lighter, cheaper and more readily available.
As for the structure, the traditional option is a tiny heatsink, that's either round or square.
Usually less effective, these models are losing ground to newer 'tower' fans, so called because of their shape.
Finally, an increasingly popular addition is the inclusion of a heatpipe which can quickly move heat away from the processor.
