1: Prime 95 is usually recommended by the manufacturer
2: CPU designs are changing and as such testing methods will change as well this is true in part due to AVX instruction set and the rise of heavily stressing a CPUs FPUs for max heat aka LinX / Prime95 both do this and in reality this means neither of those tests are truly indicative of actual performance. Prime95 in no way shape or form is even remotely close to a typical load.
3: Many people are still stuck in the past in terms of testing PC hardware, in an ever changing market things must change to keep up the old mentality eventually grows stagnant and becomes an issue.
I list it as a con because for the most part the cost to manufacturer these fans is tiny, evidence of this is a Yateloon which can be had for $4 at various etailers thats after manufacturing cost of said fan, shipping packaging worker wages etc. It is far cheaper for the cooler manufacturers so in essence on some coolers the cost to produce could increase a products cost a few $1 while improving performance. If adding a second fan from the get go can improve performance without drastically increasing price on the consumers side while also remaining quiet can be done why not do it? It makes the product look more attractive and improves its price to performance. This is why its a con, you raised Noctua as an example, if that 1-2C can take it from being in the middle of the pack to challenging the likes of a $100 cooler like the PH-TC14PE yet being half the size does that not make for a more attractive cooler? It is smaller, quieter and cools as well as the much larger product and if the fan was included it would cost far less. Granted all this depends on the CPU used and many other variables that people like to overlook.
Regardless I take notice of your recommendation for LinX but I will not be using it, LinX uses a higher voltage or vrm load I cant remember of the top of my head than any other application in use today, what this means is that LinX is rather pointless in regards to my testing. Of course Prime 95 is the same with AVX stressing the FPU primarily. Both if improperly run and setup can eventually cause damage to a chip if stressed hard enough. Since I am testing coolers the chance of hitting thermal throttle point is a real possibility and hitting that point hard enough and for long enough will kill a chip.
That said, thank you for the recommendation all input is welcome but at this stage I wont be switching to LinX. However things will be changing in the near future in which ways I wont say just yet
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