Overclocking Tests
Notes
A few observations here. The other three boards are tested with the same chip but cooled with a massive Noctua NH-D15 with a single-fan combination. The ASRock, as you know, has its own, specific Dynatron cooler.
Overclocking isn't as impressive because the CPU becomes a little warm when overvolted and under the cosh, so much so that the processor begins to throttle. We had to manually dial back the voltage to 1.15V for thermals not to be an obvious issue. Used in standard Intel guise, meaning a maximum frequency of 3.6GHz under load and 1.02V, the average core temperature after a 20-minute run of the taxing HandBrake test was a very acceptable 66°C, or 13°C warmer than the top-of-the-line Noctua.
Noise-wise, the cooler's fan spins at around 2,100RPM when the system is sat twiddling its thumbs on the Windows desktop. The noise is perceivable in all but the best noise-dampening chassis, mind. Set to the silent profile in the BIOS, the fan speed ramps up gradually as the CPU load is increased, topping out at 4,300RPM under full chat. At this noise level the 60mm fan is very clearly audible in most chassis.
We'd recommend users run at stock speeds and use the intelligent fan-control system to keep the noise level reasonable until the CPU hits, say, 80°C. A few minutes spent in the BIOS can turn the overall noise profile down to what we'd consider acceptable, which is some feat for a Mini-ITX board bearing an Intel Core i7-5960X processor.