Test Methodology
Comparison Coolers |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Model | HEXUS Review | Reviewed Price | Warranty | Product Page |
| Air | be quiet! Pure Rock 2 | May 2020 | £34 | 3 Years | bequiet.com |
| be quiet! Shadow Rock 3 | June 2020 | £45 | 3 Years | bequiet.com | |
| Deepcool AS500 | October 2020 | £55 | 3 Years | deepcool.com | |
| Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black | April 2020 | £95 | 6 Years | noctua.at | |
| Liquid | be quiet! Pure Loop 280mm | Ocrober 2020 | £103 | 3 Years | bequiet.com |
| Corsair iCue H115i Elite Capellix | September 2020 | £160 | 5 Years | corsair.com | |
| Corsair iCue H115i RGB Pro XT | May 2020 | £133 | 5 Years | corsair.com | |
| Deepcool Castle 280EX | July 2020 | £120 | 3 Years | deepcool.com | |
| EK-AIO Elite 360 D-RGB | December 2020 | £180 | 5 Years | ekwb.com | |
| Fractal Design Celsius+ S28 Prisma | May 2020 | £190 | 5 Years | fractal-design.com | |
| Fractal Design Celsius+ S36 Prisma | June 2020 | £220 | 5 Years | fractal-design.com | |
| NZXT Kraken X63 RGB | December 2020 | £160 | 6 Years | nzxt.com | |
HEXUS 2020 Test Platform |
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|---|---|---|
| Component | Product Page | |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 9 3950X | amd.com |
| Motherboard | Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Formula | asus.com |
| CPU Cooler | Corsair Hydro Series H150i Pro RGB | corsair.com |
| Graphics Card | Sapphire Nitro+ RX 5700 XT 8G GDDR6 SE | sapphiretech.com |
| Memory | G.Skill Trident Z Neo DDR4-3200 (2x16GB) | gskill.com |
| Storage | 2TB Corsair MP600 | corsair.com |
| Power Supply | be quiet! Straight Power 11 Platinum 1,000W | bequiet.com |
| Network Card | Asus XG-C100C 10GBase-T PCIe Adapter | asus.com |
| Chassis | Fractal Design Define 7 Clear Tempered Glass | fractal-design.com |
| Monitor | Philips Momentum 436M6VBPAB | philips.co.uk |
| Keyboard | Corsair K70 RGB MK.2 Low Profile Rapidfire | corsair.com |
| Mouse | Corsair Ironclaw RGB | corsair.com |
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows 10 Pro | microsoft.com |
Notes
The introduction of our 2020 Test Platform allowed us to start afresh with CPU cooler testing. The new PC features a 16-core, 32-thread AMD Ryzen 9 3950X processor and 32GB of dual-channel G.Skill Trident Z Neo DDR4 memory set to run at 3,200 using the built-in profile.
A Fractal Design Define 7 chassis is configured with its three stock Dynamic X2 140mm fans connected to the integrated hub and attached to a single motherboard header. Coolers are tested using default out-the-box settings, and to intensify the challenge while minimising noise, all fan headers are set to the 'Silent' profile within the Asus BIOS.
When testing liquid coolers, the pump is connected to the motherboard's dedicated AIO header, and the radiator is installed in the roof of the chassis with fans configured to push air up through the radiator and out of the enclosure. Fractal Design's vented top panel is used with liquid coolers, and the sound-dampened solid panel is in place when testing traditional air coolers.
Actual CPU temperature is recorded and we also graph the delta temperature (CPU temperature minus ambient temperature). Last but not least, to give you an idea of cooler acoustics, we use a PCE-318 noise meter to measure overall system noise in both idle and load states.