Page 3 - Installation and Test Results
The installation steps written inside the SilverStone user manual are short and simple. There is a series of images that visually display the steps with minimal reading involved. For my AMD CPU, I started by securing the stock backplate onto the motherboard using the provided bolts.
After the bolts are in place, the mounting bracket can be placed on top and secured with the nuts provided. The nuts must be hand-tightened as they have grooves on the side rather than a drive on the head. Once the brackets are in place, the heatsink with the pre-applied thermal paste can be mounted. Lastly, the fan attactched to the heatsink cover can be slotted between the towers and secured with the Phillips screw. For my setup, there were no RAM clearance issues. I could also add another 120mm fan without experiencing any issues as well.
Our test configuration is as follows:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 AORUS Elite Wi-Fi
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 4x8GB
Graphics: ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3080 V2 OC Edition 10GB
Chassis: Lian Li Lancool II Mesh RGB
Storage: Western Digital WD_BLACK SN770 NVMe SSD 1TB, Western Digital Black SN750 NVMe SSD 1TB
Power: Corsair RM850x 850W
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
Compared hardware:
- SilverStone XED120S
- be quiet! Pure Rock Pro 3
- Cooler Master Hyper 212 Pro
- Cooler Master Hyper 411 Nano
- Cooler Master Hyper 612 Apex
- Cooler Master Hyper 612 Apex
- SAMA A60E
- TRYX TURRIS 620
All tests were performed on my custom-built computer to best reflect real-life performance. The computer remained in a room with the temperature controlled to be about 20 degrees Celsius for all tests. The thermal paste was applied according to standard practices for AMD CPUs. The fans attached to the heatsink were all connected to the same CPU 4-pin fan connector on the motherboard. The eight case fans, three GPU fans, and the product's CPU fans in my computer were all set to max speeds to allow maximum airflow through the heatsink for all tests. For the idling tests, the computer was left running for at least an hour before data was collected. To stress the CPU, Prime95 was used to place a high load on all available threads using the Large FFTs torture test setting. The highest core temperature measured by HWiNFO was recorded after waiting at least 10 minutes for the temperature to stabilize. HWiNFO is used to obtain accurate temperature data, since it directly reads the CPU's integrated thermal sensors.
Starting with the idle test, the computer was left idling for a long time before the highest core temperature was taken. In the first graph, the SilverStone XED120S achieved a good performance of 26 degrees Celsius. From this test, the performance does not seem to be anything particularly outstanding, but the load test is where we will get a better idea.
After stressing the CPU for over 20 minutes to generate as much heat as possible, the temperature was stabilized, and the highest core temperature was recorded at 52 degrees Celsius. The SilverStone XED120S is one degree Celsius higher than the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Pro, which is a single tower cooler. The lowest temperature is 46 degrees Celsius, which is a delta of 6. Perhaps there would be a larger delta for a more powerful CPU, but for my mid-range AMD Ryzen 5600X, the SilverStone XED120S is a good performing CPU air cooler.
We will use an airflow test to quantitatively measure the performance of the cooler under the static pressure caused by the heatsink. Manufacturers will almost always list the maximum static pressure of the fan, but this is misleading. The maximum static pressure will only be reached when the fan is pushing against a wall, which will never be the case for a computer build. The best way to measure static pressure performance is to use a pressure and airflow curve, or PQ curve, as it is a line graph that shows the airflow at every static pressure value. SilverStone has not provided this graph, and we do not have the testing equipment to generate one, so we will place the cooler on the table and measure the airflow instead. In practical application, the airflow would be slightly less since the configuration inside the case of the PC build will add more static pressure to the system, but for comparison purposes, this test is adequate.
Measuring with an anemometer 5cm away from the heatsink, the SilverStone XED120S produces an airflow 5.7km/h or 3.5mph. This is 0.3km/h or 0.2mph higher than the TRYX TURRIS 620, which is impressive considering the SilverStone XED120S utilizes a single fan rather than the two on the TRYX TURRIS 620. The reason for this performance can be attributed to the thicker fan size and higher maximum RPM.
The noise produced by the SilverStone XED120S is where it struggles against other coolers. I was unable to measure the other coolers included in the cooling performance tests, but this is by far the loudest fan I have tested. Measuring from 50cm away at max fan speed, the cooler produced 54dBA of noise. I agree with this from a subjective standpoint. On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is pure silence and 10 is standing right below fireworks, I would say the cooler is a 2.0 on idle. The sound produced is quiet, but I can still hear the fan spinning. At full speed, I would give the noise a rating of 5.5. It is very noticeable and can be heard throughout the entire room, even with other noise. SilverStone does mention that the XED120S was originally designed for servers, where noise level is less of a concern. Overall, the SilverStone XED120S is a good-performing cooler, but it comes at the price of noise.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware
3. Installation and Test Results
4. Conclusion
