Testing Results
Comparison Coolers |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Model | HEXUS Review | Reviewed Price | Warranty | Product Page |
| Air | be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 TR4 | December 2018 | £70 | 3 Years | be quiet!.com |
| Deepcool Gamerstorm Fryzen | November 2018 | £80 | 2 Years | gamerstorm.com | |
| Cooler Master Wraith Ripper | - | £110 | 3 Years | coolermaster.com | |
HEXUS Ryzen Threadripper CPU Cooler Test Bench |
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|---|---|---|
| Hardware Components | Product Page | |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2970WX | amd.com |
| Motherboard | MSI X399 Creation | msi.com |
| Graphics Card | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti | nvidia.com |
| Memory | G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32GB (4x8GB) DDR4-3200 | gskill.com |
| Power Supply | be quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 1,000W | bequiet.com |
| Primary Storage | 256GB Samsung 950 | samsung.com |
| Chassis | be quiet! Dark Base 700 | bequiet.com |
| Monitor | iiyama ProLite X4071UHSU-B1 | iiyama.com |
| Operating system | Windows 10 Pro | microsoft.com |
Benchmark Process
To get a feel for how the coolers compare, CPU temperature is logged while the longer Blender test is run. The average CPU temperature is taken from minutes 13-15 of the test, representing a worst-case scenario for the coolers.
Actual CPU temperature is recorded and we also graph the delta temperature - that's CPU temperature minus ambient temperature. Last but not least, to give you an idea of cooler acoustics, we use a PCE-318 noise meter to measure overall system noise in both idle and load states.
Notes
Testing is done in an open-air environment in order to push the cooler(s) to the limit. Fan speed is set by the Smart Control function within the MSI BIOS, with the fans spinning at pre-determined percentages of maximum at various temperature points.
We test at stock speeds for the Ryzen Threadripper 2970WX, which defaults to an all-core 3.475GHz with 1.1875V. Such cooling, even on a 24C48T chip, is relatively easy for high-end heatsinks so we also test by manually increasing the all-core speed to 4.0GHz alongside a heat-producing 1.35V. We used both supplied fans when testing the be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 TR4 cooler.
Performance
Run at stock, the 2970WX's 250W TDP is no obstacle for any cooler. Having two fans running in tandem enables the be quiet! cooler to leapfrog the performance of the more expensive Cooler Master. Good stuff.
What's more surprising is that the fans are also very quiet under load, beating our pre-baked expectations.
Of course, cooling a stock CPU, even a 24C48T monster, ought to be straightforward. Running at an elevated all-core 4.0GHz and using 1.35V puts some serious load on the coolers - the system pulls over 500W - and the trio shows a marked increase in temperature.
Again, impressive performance from the dual-fan Dark Rock Pro 4 TR4, which is able to keep the processor running at that 4.0GHz during the full 15 or so minutes.
The fans do produce a noticeable hum once the wattage really spirals, and the 46.3dB is what we expect from a dual-spinner solution.
Overall, for the £70 outlay, the performance is of the Dark Pro 4 TR4 is commendable on this high-end platform.
