Testing
The test rig consists of the following parts:
Processor: Intel Core i7 3770K
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z77X-UD4H
Video Card: Zotac 560 Ti
Memory: Samsung Green MV-3V4G3D/US – 8GB
Power Supply: Corsair TX950
Storage: Mushkin ECO2 240GB Running Windows 7 64bit
Cooling: Alphacool Eisbaer Extreme
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Luxe
There’s no software for monitoring or controlling so we’ll just get right into our testing. As always testing was done using Intel Burn Test (IBT) with the AVX instruction set. The reason to use this instead of Prime95 with this setup is that it pushes our i7 3770K a whole lot harder. This gives us a better sense of extreme load temps. Most of the testing was done at the max memory setting for a single pass. While admittedly this in no way would qualify the chip as stable while overclocked, it gives us a realistic idea of what temperatures the CPU will be hitting. Additionally we are going to run 3DMARK Fire Strike Extreme to give you a realistic idea of performance while gaming.
Our baseline was established using a bequiet! Dark Rock Pro 2 with the 3770K on stock settings:
Ambient temps: 22.22°C/72°F
Idle temps: 38.75°C/101.75°F core average
IBT temps one pass max memory: 63.5°C/146.3°F core average
The first thing we did was to test the cooler with stock motherboard/CPU settings:
Ambient temps: 19.44°C/67°F
Idle temps: 26.25°C/79.25°F core average
IBT temps one pass max memory: 53.25°C/127.85°F core average
Ambient adjusted amount: +2.78°C
Wow, things are looking extremely good so far and watercooling loops are not even known for their prowess at keeping low idle temps. Adjusting for the difference in ambient we see an idle average difference of 9.72°C and a max load temperature difference of 7.47°C. Basically this Alphacool behemoth is smacking our baseline cooler around like the monster that it is. Let’s get to some overclocking!
Here are the results for our i7 3770K @ 4.5ghz with 1.248V vCore:
Ambient temps: 19.44°C/67°F
IBT temps: 67.5°C/153.5°F with the single hottest core hitting 72°C
Well how about that, the Eisbaer Extreme backs up it’s massive size once again with another knockout performance. At an adjusted temperature of 70.28°C this cooler has taken a 3rd place podium spot! It actually beats out the 360mm NexXxoS radiator equipped Alphacool Eissturm Gaming water cooling kit by a narrow margin of .06°C.
So we know this thing can throw down, let’s see how it does under a simulated gaming load.
Ambient temps: 19.44°C/67°F
3DMARK: 53.25°C/127.85°F with the hottest single core hitting 57°C
Another solid return from this masterpiece of German Engineering! You could game all day on this with the 3770K at 4.5ghz and we could probably push that same chip another .5ghz at least, maybe further. If you can fit it, this cooler is well worth the space it takes up.
While the Eisbaer Extreme doesn’t have any software to shut down it’s fans or lower it’s pump speed automatically, there is really no need for it. It’s basically dead quiet. Those Silent Wings 3 fans even cranked all the way up over 1200 rpm are just wonderfully quiet. As for the pump you literally have to feel for pump vibrations to know that it’s running. As usual we do like to take a more scientific approach so we measured them using the Spectroid decibel meter App on our Pixel 3 XL. The loudest point was 46dB as measured right above the fans.
