Performance

Test system:
Note:
The room temperature is maintained at 20°C (68°F). Since you need EIST enabled to make use of the Turbo Boost feature with this generation of Intel Core processors, letting the machine fall back to the idle state is becoming a norm. Hence Idle (stock) refers to the machine running at 1.60 GHz (12 x 133 MHz), with vCore at 0.928 V. Idle (nominal) refers to the machine idling at the processor's nominal clock speed of 3.06 GHz (23 x 133 MHz), with EIST and C1E disabled.

Load (stock) refers to the CPU running four threads of Prime95's "In-place large FFTs" stress test for 15 minutes, with default BClk value of 133 MHz, with EIST, C1E, and Turbo Boost enabled. Turbo Boost bumps the clock speed of all four cores by 133 MHz, taking it up to 3.20 GHz (24 x 133 MHz).

Load (OC) refers to the CPU running four threads of Prime95's "In-place large FFTs" stress test for 15 minutes, with overclocked BClk value of 166 MHz (4.00 GHz, 1.38V). We chose 4.00 GHz as it's stable on just about any cooler, while giving us close to 1.4 V of vCore to test load on. Later in the review, we'll let the cooler run wild by testing the maximum stable OC achievable.

The fan is set to run at 100% speed (i.e. no motherboard-based fan-speed control was in place).

Temperatures have been taken via RealTemp.


With huge architectural improvements, processor manufacturers have made their chips adequately fast in idle clock states to run most applications without any noticeable performance drop. Whenever the CPU isn't keeping up, it jumps to higher clock speeds, and if even that isn't enough, technologies like Turbo Boost kick in, pushing the clock speed up further.

The Venom has a much quieter fan than the Intel stock HSF, the idle stock temperature, though is just a little lower. For those who still don't trust the processor's inbuilt speed control and run their processors at nominal speeds, the Venom gives idle (nominal) temperatures a slightly wider drop compared to the stock HSF. At nominal speeds, the CPU core voltage is also set higher (0.928V with EIST vs. 1.22V without), that accounts for a warmer CPU.


With Prime95 applying the maximum CPU load it can (large FFTs), the landscape changes completely, with third-party coolers getting significantly lower temperatures. The stock-load graph is where you'll get to see the immediate advantages of having the Akasa Venom over retaining your stock Intel HSF. With the overclocked speeds applied, the gap stays more or less the same. Don't pay too much attention to the fact that Venom is closest to Intel HSF in the above graph, there's an entire spectrum of heatsinks in medium-thru-value range that could fill that gap. Venom is still a high-performing option and a viable replacement to the stock heatsink.

Fan Noise

This is where Akasa's investments into the fan-blade design seems to have paid off, in the noise department. With motherboard PWM idle control enabled, the Venom's fan is very quiet, with a natural pitch that sort of blends with the ambient noise. With the fan pushed to its cruise speeds, Venom's fan continues to be the quietest of the lot, significantly quieter than other third-party coolers, with the same pitch that blends with the ambiance.