Performance

Temperature data was obtained by directly reading the Athlon64 thermal diode with a MAX6655 reader which offers an accuracy of 0.125°C. The CPU, cabling, diode reader setup has been calibrated in a water bath over a 0°C - 75°C range. Room temperature was kept at 20°C, data has been normalized if necessary.

Idle means Windows sitting at the desktop for 30 minutes. Load is after 30 minutes of Prime95. The different clock/voltage settings are representative of an un-overclocked, medium overclocked and heavily overclocked system.


Cooling performance on all three load settings is not stellar. However, as long as the temperatures stay in an acceptable range and the system is stable at the high load setting, I see no reason to be worried about that. There is probably room for improvement when a more powerful fan is used. But this would make the Samurai Z a louder heatsink.


Here the Samurai Z can excel. The fan is very quiet. In a normal case you will not hear it spinning over the other noises from HDD and PSU. If you really want to quiet it even further, you could slow down the fan by running at a lower voltage. Then the cooler completely redefines the meaning of "quiet".