Performance

Test System

All testing is done at a room temperature of 20°C (68°F), with a 1°C margin of error. The coolers are tested with Turbo, EIST, and C1E enabled, which will allow the CPU to clock down to a low 1.6 GHz while idle, or clock up to proper speeds under stock and overclocked conditions. With the use of XMP, the Intel i7 3960X ES chip I use for testing runs at 3.6 GHz at stock load. Overclocked, the chip is set to 4.1 GHz at 1.225 volt. During all these tests, fan speeds are set to run at 100% in the BIOS, with temperatures being recorded by AIDA64.

The idle test will consist of the CPU sitting idle at the desktop for 15 minutes. This will allow for a stable temperature reading that will be recorded at the end of those 15 minutes.

AIDA64 and its CPU stability test represent a typical multithreaded user load. It is run for 15 minutes before the highest reading during the test is recorded and taken as the result. This test lets enthusiasts know what temperatures they can expect to see with games and applications.

Prime95 is the multithreaded stress test I will use to find the cooler's temperatures at maximum load. This is done by using the "In-place large FFTs" setting to truly stress the cooler's ability at keeping temperatures in check. The test is run for 15 minutes, and the highest recorded temperature is used as the result.

Fan noise testing is done at 20%, 50%, and 100% settings, and the dBA level is recorded by a Pyle PSPL25 sound pressure level meter at a distance of 30 cm. Fan RPM results are taken at the same 20%, 50%, and 100% settings.

Idle

At idle, the Coolink Corator DS LGA2011 matches the Corsair Hydro Series H100. When fully overclocked, idle temperature climbed by 1°C, which has the cooler earning the number two spot on this test.

Typical Load

During the typical load test, we see the Corator DS LGA2011 fall back into the middle of the pack at stock. Once overclocked, the cooler fell all the way back to second-last place; however, the spread here is so small that the difference between the Corator DS LGA2011 and the reigning champion, the Corsair H100, is just 2°C.

Max Load

Under stock settings, the Corator DS LGA2011 once again ends up in the middle of the pack, but that changes with the overclock because the cooler ends up behind the Corsair H100 by 2°C. The cooler's performance under heavy load is impressive considering the budget price.

Fan Noise

As can been seen by the fan noise and speed charts, the Coolink Corator DS LGA2011 has a fan that will not win awards for its noise levels. However, when looking at the 100% fan-speed setting, we see that while other coolers are indeed quieter, the Corator DS LGA2011 falls into the middle of the pack while still producing far less noise than the Corsair Hydro Series H100.

With a max RPM of 1801 on the fan, the sound level of just 51 dBA stems from the rush of air being sucked through the first stack of fins and air pushing out the second stack. That said, its noise level may seem high compared to the competition, but it is not overly so. In fact, it is still quiet enough as to be unobtrusive when mounted inside a case. Our sound-level testing is, after all, done at 30 cm or roughly 12 inches away.