Performance Results
As mentioned in the previous section, we were unable to install the H2O-120 kit in our standard mid-tower for testing. Because we tested the kit on an open test-bench, it is important to note that the results will not be 100% comparable to other past heatsink results.
To ensure direct comparisons are not made mistakenly, we did not include the Swiftech results in the same graph below. For a very rough comparison, the S-FLEX fan result below should be referred to.
A quick overview of our testing methodology: Ambient temperature is held at 21°C for all tests and is not permitted to deviate beyond +/- 0.5°C. Prime 95 v25 is used to simulate full load on all four processor cores using the preset “Large in-place FFT test”. The temperature recorded is taken from CoreTemp 0.95 and is the hottest of the four cores. The thermal interface material used is Arctic Ceramique applied using the method recommended by Arctic Cooling. The heatsink/water block and CPU heat spreader are all cleaned with 70% isopropyl alcohol prior to installation. For more detail on our methods, please refer to our original methodology here.
Hardware Configuration:
- Lapped Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (G0 Revision, 2.4GHz, 2×4MB L2 Cache)
- Asus P5K-E Mainboard (Intel P35/ICH9 chipset)
- 1×1024MB Corsair XMS2 PC2-8500 (5-5-5-18-2T)
- Maxtor 100GB SATA Hard Drive
- Corsair TX750 Power Supply (60A +12V rail)
- Generic PCI graphics card
- Reference Fan: Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F (1600RPM, 63.7CFM)
Without further ado, here are the results!
As you can see, we achieved some very impressive numbers out of the H2O-120 kit. With the included 81CFM fan operating at 12V, the toasty Q6600 at 1.4V never exceeded 49°C; an impressive feat! Our reference Scythe S-FLEX fan is rated for around 63CFM and looses out to the included fan by a few degrees. Amazingly, the included fan isn’t all that much louder than the S-FLEX. At 7V it is very quiet, but as you can see, temperatures do increase by around 5°C or so in our most demanding tests.
Above you’ll find our latest set of results for ‘rough’ comparative purposes. We think it is pretty safe to say that the Swiftech H2O-120 kit is as good if not a better performer than Thermalright’s monster 4LB TRUE Copper and significantly better than Thermaltake’s Prowater 850i. It is unfortunate that we can’t compare them directly in an apples to apples test, but we hope our new testing methodology will eliminate these sorts of compatibility challenges in the future.
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