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 – 16GB
Power Supply: Enermax Maxrevo 1350W
Storage: OCZ Vertex 3 240 GB raid 0 Running Windows 7 64bit
Cooling: SilverStone TD02-Slim
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Luxe
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: 22.22C/72F
Idle temps: 38.75C/101.75F core average
IBT temps one pass max memory: 63.5C/146.3F core average
The first thing we did was to test the cooler with stock motherboard/CPU settings:
Ambient temps: 20.56°C/69°F
Idle temps: 39°C/102.2°F core average
IBT temps one pass max memory: 60.75°C/141.35°F core average
So far things are looking pretty good for the TD02-Slim! Although the idle temps are just a bit higher than baseline, which can be typical of liquid cooling, the load temps at stock clock speeds are lower by 1.09°C. We get that number by adjusting for the difference in ambient temperature which is lower by 1.66°C. Moving on let’s see what happens when we overclock our little 3770k.
As opposed to simply going for a max overclock, we are simply going to shoot to hit 4.5ghz pass or fail. If the cooler will allow our 3770K to hit 4.5 ghz we note the temperatures and move on to test it using 3DMARK Firestrike. If not then back down to a more acceptable and stable overclock. Not as extreme as our previous testing, but slightly more consistent and far more analogous to normal use such as gaming.
Here are our results for our i7 3770K @ 4.5ghz with 1.248V vCore:
Ambient temps: 20.56°C/69°F
IBT temps: 78.75°C/173.75°F with one core hitting 83°C
If this we’re a bigger thicker radiator equipped cooler I might find that I was a little disappointed. As it is, these results on this ultra thin unit are actually pretty impressive. Having said that this is going to be the maximum overclock the TD02-Slim is ever going to achieve on this chip. Let’s go ahead and run 3DMARK Firestrike to see how things might go while gaming.
Ambient temps: 20.56°C/69°F
3DMARK: 61.75°C/143.15°F with two cores hitting 64°C
While this is a bit on the warmer side, I would be totally happy to run games all day and night with this cooler keeping things in check. The boost to 4.5ghz would be totally worth the extra heat.
All throughout our testing both the fans and the pump kept to themselves. That is, the noise profile from them is moderate as most. It’s a cooler you could easily set on the desk next to you and it wouldn’t ever be more than background noise.