Performance

The system being used to test the heatsink is as follows:

Test Notes:
Ambient temperature was kept to 22 degrees Celsius (+/- 1 degree) and was measured with a standard mercury thermometer. Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound was used for the Chipchilla in substitute for the stock thermal compound. Chipset temperatures were measured using a combination of the programs Smart Guardian and Everest Ultimate Edition. Idle temps were measured after fifteen minutes powered down and then fifteen minutes of idle time at the Windows desktop. Load temperatures were measured after thirty minutes of running the Orthos Stress Prime program at a priority of 10 in blend mode.


In the initial test the system was set at stock voltage settings as well as stock speed settings. We find that the Chipchilla shaves off seven degrees from the idle temperatures of the stock cooler. After putting the system to load the results scale almost the same. The Chipchilla manages to keep the system six degrees cooler than the stock heatsink. Now while the temperatures are lower I cannot help to think that it is mostly because of the airflow across the cooler from the fan.


These tests were run with the CPU multiplier down to 6 and the bus speed cranked up to 433. The voltage was also increased from the stock 1.3v to 1.45v. At idle the Chipchilla is still showing a seven degree lead over the stock cooler. With a full load on the the Chipchilla scales well again and manages to pull off an eight degree lead. It is an improvement considering that we are seeing lower temperatures with the Chipchilla and an overclocked system compared to the results with the stock cooler and a non-overclocked system.

Fan Noise:

Throughout testing I was not able to hear the Chipchilla over any other fan in the system. The noise level is low although it obviously is not as quiet as the stock passive cooler.