Performance

The system being used to test the heatsink is as follows:
Ambient temperature was kept to 26 degrees Celsius (+/- 1 degree) and was measured by a standard mercury thermometer.


At stock speed the Silent Whisper does a decent job of keeping up with the other heatsinks when they are run at their lowest speeds.


When the CPU is overclocked and the voltage is increased slightly, the Silent Whisper manages to stay within 3 degrees of the best cooler so far, and it beats the stock cooler by a full 5°C. For the price, the Silent Whisper does surprisingly well.

Fan Noise

To measure fan noise we used an IEC Type 2 sound level meter on the dbA setting. Measuring distance was 10 cm from the heatsink fan hub. The short distance of 10 cm is necessary to get proper readings with very silent fans. All fans were tested outside of the case at 12V supplied by a lab PSU. On fans that come with a fan controller or allow control of fan speed in any other way, "low" and "high" indicate the settings on the fan controller.


Although not completely silent, the fan on the Silent Whisper is extremely quiet at 12V. In systems where the motherboard regulates the fan voltage depending on CPU temperature, the Silent Whisper can be even quieter.