Cooling at Stock Speed

Some users will never overclock their CPU, but they still want to run the coolest CPU temperatures possible to enhance stability and extend CPU life. We compile all temperature benchmarks with CoreTemp, a public domain utility that is quite stable with reproducible results on the Intel platform. This required retesting a cross-section of the best coolers evaluated so far at AnandTech. To better document performance in the large speed gap between 2.93 GHz and 3.73 GHz, we added the intermediate value of 3.33 GHz to all test results during the retest of the coolers.

The Nirvana is the best cooler at stock idle ever tested at AnandTech. It slightly outperforms the top Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme. The very good Intel stock air cooler keeps the X6800 at 31C at idle, compared to the top Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme at 24C, Corsair water at 24C, and Swiftech water at 27C. The ZEROtherm Nirvana turns in an excellent idle performance of 23C, which is 1C lower than any previously tested conventional cooler in our tests with CoreTemp. In comparing results, please keep in mind the test results from the new cooling bed using CoreTemp are not directly comparable to earlier cooling results.

It is more difficult to simulate all the various stress conditions a computer may encounter in different operating environments. For most home users, contemporary gaming is one of the most demanding CPU (and system) applications. Therefore, our stress test simulates running a demanding contemporary game. We loop the Far Cry River demo for 30 minutes and capture the CPU temperature with CoreTemp's "logging" option. We report the highest temperature during the load test. Momentary spikes are ignored, as we report a sustained high-level temp that you are likely to encounter in this type of scenario. This test configuration roughly equates to an 80% CPU load test using Intel TAT, another respected program for thermal measurements.

We compare cooling efficiency of the ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 under load conditions at stock speed to the retail HSF and other recently retested CPU coolers.

The Nirvana also turns in an excellent performance under load at stock speeds. CoreTemp results are 36C, which matches the best air cooler tested so far at AnandTech, the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme. This is a significant improvement over the stock Intel fan, which reaches 50C under load at stock speed in our cooling test bed, and it is an improvement over the earlier and smaller ZEROtherm BTF90.

If you do not plan to overclock the ZEROtherm Nirvana is an outstanding choice. The stock performance at idle and load are the best we have tested - matching or slightly surpassing the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme.