Performance

The system being used to test the heatsink is as follows:
Ambient temperature was kept to 22 degrees Celsius (+/- 1 degree) and was measured by a standard mercury thermometer.


With the CPU at stock speeds the Zerotherm BTF92 was able to keep the processor almost as cool as the Thermaltake Bigwater 760i, even with the BTF92's fan set on low speed.


When the CPU gets overclocked and the voltage is increased, the Zerotherm has a harder time keeping up on low speed, but full speed is within a degree of the Bigwater. Pretty impressive results for an air cooler with a 92mm fan.

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.


Zerotherm includes a fan controller with the BTF92. When the controller is set to low speed, the BTF92 has the quietest fan tested so far. When turned all the way up to high, the fan becomes a lot louder. Fortunately for the BTF92, there are other fans that are louder still.