Sunbeam Core-Contact Freezer CPU Cooler Review

Page 4 - Testing methods and results

Once we mounted the cooler we were ready to continue testing. Here is some info about the most important hardware used in the review.

• CPU: Intel C2D E8500 (default 333x9.5)
• Motherboard: ASUS P5K-E WiFi

For comparison we'll use these coolers:

• Intel box cooler for E8500
• Evercool Buffalo
• Noctua NH-U12P
• Cooler Master Hyper Z600
• Noctua NH-C12P

For the tests of Sunbeam Core-Contact Freezer we checked how will it fare with cooling the processor on default frequency and after hefty overclock.

Testing in IDLE mode, was done by leaving the machine at Windows desktop for about 10 minutes with no other programs running. For tests under load we gathered results from RealTemp 2.70 (the most adequate program for obtaining temperatures of 45nm Intel processor for now), after 30 minutes of running OCCT 2.0. Results you see are degrees centigrade ABOVE ROOM TEMPERATURE, this way the eliminating the influence of ambient conditions and get better results. This way assuming the room temperature to be 20 degrees and the table shows value of 15 degrees, that means the actual temperature was 35 degrees.

The first test amazes and disappoints at the same time, the cooler performed similarly to Evercool Buffalo, which is much noisier, yet few times cheaper.

A little more voltage and higher frequency and the heat spreading capabilities of Core-Contact Freezer begin to show.

The hotter the processor gets the better the cooler performs. At 4GHz, Core-Contact Freezer is as good as Noctua NH-C12P - the best ever cooler tested at ModReactor.

For 4250MHz a lot more voltage is needed - a whole 1.4V in order to have a stable processor. Core-Contact Freezer performs flawlessly, actually a tad better than all the other coolers.