Performance

Note:
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 (12x 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 (23x 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 1.4V of vCore to test load on.

The fan is set to run at 100% speed (i.e. no motherboard-based fan-speed control was in place). For the "idle" noise tests, we set the motherboard's Smart Fan control on, with PWM method of control enabled.

Temperatures have been taken via RealTemp.


At the start of the testing process, I didn't have too many expectations out of a heatsink with this design. That's partly also because I didn't have any idea about its price. It's become a dogma among the enthusiasts that tower-type heatsinks are "clearly" the design of this generation of air-coolers, and that fin-ring type coolers such as those from Zalman, Auras, etc., are "outdated". The CNPS9900 series, however, seems to have gone some way in proving that wrong. It does manage to keep up with tower-type heatsinks, providing similar performance levels.


This is the part that with Prime95 applying maximum CPU load (large FFTs), the CNPS9900 MAX provides a decent level of cooling, edging past the Akasa Venom (a medium-large tower-type heatsink). The CNPS9900 MAX should hence give you the ability to pass moderately high voltage through the vCore, PLL domains.

Fan Noise

Remember the very first generation of stock Intel coolers for LGA775? The ones that used to cool those scorching-hot Pentium 4 "Prescott" and Pentium D processors? Remember the distinct low-pitch sound they used to make at high-speeds? That's what the CNPS9900 MAX sounds like at full-speed. The fan has thick turbulent blades that whip through the air to push it. Unlike most common case fans that fit into tower-type heatsinks that have fan frames, the fan on the CNPS9900 has no sheath around it. So some air is blown around cooling some parts of the motherboard, but making that low-pitched "whipping" sound. That's where at high-speeds, CNPS9900 MAX is a noisy cooler. Thankfully, the noise isn't high-pitched or unpleasant. At low-speeds, however, the cooler sounds like just another tower-type with a standard fan. It's round-about as loud as the Intel stock HSF.