Page 3 - Test Results
Our test configuration is as follows:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
Motherboard: ASUS Prime X470-Pro
RAM: Patriot Viper RGB DDR4-3600 2x16GB
Graphics: EVGA GeForce RTX 3070 FTW3 ULTRA GAMING
Chassis: Thermaltake Core P6 TG Snow
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN500 NVMe SSD 500GB, OCZ ARC 100 240GB, Patriot P200 512GB
Power: FSP Hydro PTM Pro 1200W
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
Compared hardware:
- SilverStone AR12-TUF
- Cooler Master MasterAir MA624 Stealth
- DeepCool AK620
- Noctua NH-U12A
- Noctua NH-U12A chromax.black
- Thermaltake TOUGHLIQUID Ultra 240
All tests were run in our custom-built computer to best reflect real life performance. The computer remained in the same location in the same room throughout all tests. The room temperature in our testing lab was around 22c. Stock thermal paste respective to all coolers were used to rate its performance; all thermal pastes were given a proper amount of time for them to fully settle. The fans on all heatsinks were connected to the motherboard's CPU 4-pin fan header. The test computer was turned on and idling for at least one hour for the idling tests. High CPU load results were obtained using the Prime95 in-place large FFTs test with a maximum number of worker threads for the tested CPU for a minimum of 10 minutes or until the temperature was deemed stable. Temperature results were measured with HWiNFO, which reports the CPU's integrated digital thermal sensor for maximum accuracy. Each temperature result was calculated by taking the maximum value of the cores inside the CPU.
After idling for a while, I checked the temperatures of my Ryzen 7 3700X with the SilverStone AR12-TUF on top. You can see the CPU ran slightly warmer with idle temperatures of 38c. Compared to other coolers, the AR12-TUF was about 2 degrees warmer than the next closest result. While it was not a huge difference, this was the warmest my processor got in the idle tests. Even so, these idle results were not that interesting and do not reveal the AR12-TUF's full capabilities, so I kicked off Prime95 and ran the tests to simulate a full load experience.
With more than enough time of load on the processor, you can once again see the peak temperatures obtained under each cooler. The SilverStone AR12-TUF produced load temperatures of 67c. From here, you can once again see this was at least 3 degrees warmer than everyone else, and performed the lowest out of the compared air and liquid coolers. Thankfully, we did not observe any thermal throttling, as the Ryzen 7 3700x boosted to the same boost frequencies under the SilverStone AR12-TUF. This shows we still had some headroom under this cooler.
The sound analysis section is next for the SilverStone AR12-TUF. On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is silence and 10 is the definition of loud, the AR12-TUF was quite loud at 4.0/10 during idle and around 6.0/10 under full load. This is made worse when you realize that this single fan was louder than two fans attached on other heatsinks. When you push your computer to greater loads, as we did in Prime95, you will definitely notice the fan whirring and it was quite annoying. While this is not a daily use-case for most people, the noise emitted is also higher in frequency and will probably get on your nerves if you do not have headphones on. In combination with the temperature results, these numbers were a bit less than impressive, but understandable for the price bracket the AR12-TUF operates in.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware; Installation
3. Test Results
4. Conclusion
