System setup and results
Hardware
Gigabyte GA-K8VT800 Pro
motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 3400+ CPU
Radeon 9800 Pro, 128MB
512MB (1 x 512MB) Corsair XMS3500 DDR-I PC-3200
36.6GB Western Digital Raptor SATA
AMD reference cooler
Gigabyte 3D Cooler Ultra GT
Software
Windows XP Professional w/ SP2
VIA Hyperion 4.51v
DirectX 9.0c End User Runtime
Prime 95
Notes
To test the 3D Cooler Ultra GT, we used a 15 minute run of Prime95's 'In-place large FFTs' torture test, designed to cause the maximum heat and power consumption in a system and thus give our cooling solution a real workout. We then measured the CPU temperature under this load at the end of this time using Motherboard Monitor. Gigabyte's cooler was tested at both its lowest and highest fan speeds (2,000 and 4,500 RPM respectively). For comparison, we tested against the stock AMD cooler that ships with the Athlon 64 3400+ used in our testing.
Before we start, I also took a look at the CPU temperature after booting the system and running it at idle for 5 minutes or so. This showed an early advantage for Gigabyte's offering, coming in at three degrees cooler with the fan speed at both high and low compared to the stock cooler, at 32ºc compared to 35ºc for the stock cooler.
