ZEROtherm BTF90: Sting like a Butterfly?
by Wesley Fink on August 13, 2007 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Overclocking
As cooling solutions do a better job of keeping the CPU at a lower temperature, it is reasonable to expect the overclocking capabilities of the CPU will increase. In each test of a cooler we measure the highest stable overclock of a standard X6800 processor under the following conditions:
CPU Multiplier: 14x (Stock 11x)
CPU voltage: 1.5875V
FSB Voltage: 1.30V
Memory Voltage: 2.00V
nForce SPP Voltage: 1.35V
nForce MCP Voltage: 1.7V
HT nForce SPP <-> MCP: Auto
Memory is set to Auto timings on the 680i and memory speed is linked to the FSB for the overclocking tests. This removes memory as any kind of impediment to the maximum stable overclock. Linked settings on the 680i are a 1066FSB to a memory speed of DDR2-800. As the FSB is raised the linked memory speed increases in proportion. The same processor is used in all cooling tests to ensure comparable results.
The ZEROtherm BTF90 reached a stable 3.83 GHz, which places it in the middle of the overclocking pack. Again, considering cooling is with a 92mm fan pushing just 42.8 CFM the overclocking must be considered excellent. While the BTF90 could not compete to the 3.90 to 3.94GHz measured with the best heatpipe towers, its performance over the effective range to 3.83GHz is very good.
There is no doubt that the BTF90 is able to dissipate 150W or more of heat. This merely points out the extreme demands that our overclocking cooling tests make of coolers while we push an X6800 processor to its overclock limits. The power requirements of a Core 2 Duo X6800 processor at rated speed and voltage is around 75 watts. At the overclocked speed of 3.830GHz at the commonly required 1.5375V to 1.5625V the wattage has doubled - to 148W to 153W. At the highest air OC with this X6800 of 3.94GHz with a Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme wattage has risen to 165W to 168W.
The stock Intel Retail cooler is really an excellent cooler, and the requirement that a tested cooler must perform better than the included Intel cooler is more demanding than you might think. THe Intel stock cooler topped out at 3.73 GHz at just below 1.5V. This means the stock Intel cooler is dissipating 135W at the highest overclock it could reach. These figures should help put in perspective the relative efficiency of the coolers being tested and the extreme conditions of our maximum overclock cooling test bed.
However, a C2D pushed to the incredible overclocks they can reach draws a lot of power, and our cooling test is designed to find where the top coolers fail. Keep this in mind when looking at our cooling results. Many of the middle coolers in our roundup have done very well when tested with AMD processors or with less demanding cooling test procedures.
As cooling solutions do a better job of keeping the CPU at a lower temperature, it is reasonable to expect the overclocking capabilities of the CPU will increase. In each test of a cooler we measure the highest stable overclock of a standard X6800 processor under the following conditions:
CPU Multiplier: 14x (Stock 11x)
CPU voltage: 1.5875V
FSB Voltage: 1.30V
Memory Voltage: 2.00V
nForce SPP Voltage: 1.35V
nForce MCP Voltage: 1.7V
HT nForce SPP <-> MCP: Auto
Memory is set to Auto timings on the 680i and memory speed is linked to the FSB for the overclocking tests. This removes memory as any kind of impediment to the maximum stable overclock. Linked settings on the 680i are a 1066FSB to a memory speed of DDR2-800. As the FSB is raised the linked memory speed increases in proportion. The same processor is used in all cooling tests to ensure comparable results.
The ZEROtherm BTF90 reached a stable 3.83 GHz, which places it in the middle of the overclocking pack. Again, considering cooling is with a 92mm fan pushing just 42.8 CFM the overclocking must be considered excellent. While the BTF90 could not compete to the 3.90 to 3.94GHz measured with the best heatpipe towers, its performance over the effective range to 3.83GHz is very good.
There is no doubt that the BTF90 is able to dissipate 150W or more of heat. This merely points out the extreme demands that our overclocking cooling tests make of coolers while we push an X6800 processor to its overclock limits. The power requirements of a Core 2 Duo X6800 processor at rated speed and voltage is around 75 watts. At the overclocked speed of 3.830GHz at the commonly required 1.5375V to 1.5625V the wattage has doubled - to 148W to 153W. At the highest air OC with this X6800 of 3.94GHz with a Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme wattage has risen to 165W to 168W.
The stock Intel Retail cooler is really an excellent cooler, and the requirement that a tested cooler must perform better than the included Intel cooler is more demanding than you might think. THe Intel stock cooler topped out at 3.73 GHz at just below 1.5V. This means the stock Intel cooler is dissipating 135W at the highest overclock it could reach. These figures should help put in perspective the relative efficiency of the coolers being tested and the extreme conditions of our maximum overclock cooling test bed.
However, a C2D pushed to the incredible overclocks they can reach draws a lot of power, and our cooling test is designed to find where the top coolers fail. Keep this in mind when looking at our cooling results. Many of the middle coolers in our roundup have done very well when tested with AMD processors or with less demanding cooling test procedures.
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19 Comments
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angelicvoices - Friday, March 20, 2009 - link
I have this cooler and I am trying to remove the red LEDs. I can see from your shots where they're supposed to be but I can't actually see them on my cooler. Any help would be appreciated.andereandre - Tuesday, August 14, 2007 - link
my main interest in getting a new cooler, is lowering the noise.Now in these articles the Intel HSF is always classified the same as the best coolers (and system-ps & no fans).
That would suggest that would I be an Intel user, I would not gain anything by replacing it.
I have a X2 4600 however, and I hear the AM2 stock cooler at idle.
Does this mean that de Intel stock cooler is that much better than the AMD one, or is it just the measurement?
I am just worrying that getting me a cooler like this one would not bring me what I am after.
Jodiuh - Monday, August 13, 2007 - link
It's a #$#%ing butterfly on your pc...are you serious?Thinkitect - Monday, August 13, 2007 - link
Why compare this cooler to the Tuniq in the conclusion? It's a different product serving a different purpose. It's like trying to arrange a fight between a heavyweight boxing championship contender with a medium weight rookie.It's fine to put the larger coolers on the same performance graphs to see the difference between categories and price ranges, but for the conclusion and main comparison you should have used the directly competing ones. For example the AC Freezer 7 Pro and the Scythe Ninja Rev.B are popular in the price range (from researching for an HSF last month) - which one of the three outperforms the others? That could have been a sensible conclusion.
Your reviews have a purpose - meaningful and accurate comparisons between products. You are doing an excellent job with the research and data presentation, please get the written analysis on the level. Thank you.
Wesley Fink - Monday, August 13, 2007 - link
Sites like Tiger Driect and Amazon still show the BTF90 selling price as $60, which means it competes at the top. That is why we tried to carefully point out the plus and minus points of the BTF90 compared to the Thermalrights and Tuniq. The BTF90 does not compete that well at the $60 price point.However, at its current selling price of $35 to $45 (after rebate) we think it competes very well and is worth considering.
Spanki - Monday, August 13, 2007 - link
Good article - It's nice to see you broadening your views (audience) somewhat :). If you really want to see bang-for-buck performance, I wish you'd add some like the CoolerMaster Hyper Tx (http://www.svc.com/rr-pch-s9u1-gp.html">for ~$15.00) and/or the Arctic Cooler Freezer 7 Pro (http://www.svc.com/acfzp7.html">generally available for ~$20-$25) to the lineup.Not everyone wants to spend ~$60 - $$80 (or more) on a HSF, so it would be nice to see where these cheaper coolers fall by comparison - of course the results will embarrass some of the higher dollar coolers - but that's kinda the point, isn't it? You don't always get what you pay for.
strikeback03 - Tuesday, August 14, 2007 - link
From tests I have seen, I'd guess the Freezer 7 would be the embarrassed one, but whatever.Wesley Fink - Monday, August 13, 2007 - link
We have added the following info to the overclocking page to put the analysis of this cooler and others in cleare perspective:"There is no doubt that the BTF90 is able to dissipate 150W or more of heat. This merely points out the extreme demands that our overclocking cooling tests make of coolers while we push an X6800 processor to its overclock limits. The power requirements of a Core 2 Duo X6800 processor at rated speed and voltage is around 75 watts. At the overclocked speed of 3.830GHz at the commonly required 1.5375V to 1.5625V the wattage has doubled - to 148W to 153W. At the highest air OC with this X6800 of 3.94GHz with a Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme wattage has risen to 165W to 168W.
The stock Intel Retail cooler is really an excellent cooler, and the requirement that a tested cooler must perform better than the included Intel cooler is more demanding than you might think. THe Intel stock cooler topped out at 3.73 GHz at just below 1.5V. This means the stock Intel cooler is dissipating 135W at the highest overclock it could reach. These figures should help keep in perspective the relative efficiency of the coolers being tested and the extreme conditions of our maximum overclock cooling test bed."
RamarC - Monday, August 13, 2007 - link
the 'float like a butterfly' citation on the last page should be corrected.Wesley Fink - Monday, August 13, 2007 - link
The citation has always been Mohammed Ali. The word parsing puts the Ali at the start of the next line.