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 used for testing runs at 3.6 GHz under stock load. Overclocked, the chip is set to 4.1 GHz at 1.225 volts. 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 Silverstone Heligon HE01 leads the pack in both stock- and overclock tests. Even quiet mode with a maximum RPM of 1200, selected via the fan's switch, does extremely well here, tying performance mode at idle and falling back by just 1°C when overclocked.

Typical Load

During the typical load test, the Heligon HE01 does extremely well in performance mode, tying the Corsair H110 at stock and falling behind it by just 4°C during the overclock test. Quiet mode makes the cooler slip towards the back of the pack, but that is to be expected.

Max Load

The Heligon HE01 again proved to be an able performer under extreme loads, taking third place in the stock chart and second in the overclocked chart. With this showing, the Silverstone Heligon HE01 is currently the best performing air cooler I have tested when set to performance mode. Quiet mode leaves something to be desired: It is quiet, but performance suffers to the point of other options, like the GELID Black Edition, being just as quiet while cooling the same despite being smaller. That said, the Heligon HE01 does leave more room should someone need it.

Fan Noise

This is where things begin to look less than stellar for Silverstone's cooler. In quiet mode, the cooler is certainly quiet, coming in at 37 dBA at 20% fan speed, but it comes in at 46 dBA in performance mode.

The proper fan-speed mode allows the Heligon HE01's noise profile to improve in comparison to the competition, but its cooling performance suffers in order to bring noise levels down. The differences in quiet- and performance mode make the Heligon HE01 a tough choice because it can, on one hand, cool better than any air cooler I have tested to date, but only when, on the other hand, set to performance mode, making the GELID Black Edition a more attractive option for quiet air cooling since it is just as quiet and smaller while delivering the same performance.