Testing Methodology:

All comparison testing was done on a closed case system with an ambient temperature of 15c. Recorded temps were as reported via CoreTemp's "Temp Log". Average load temps were taken after 15 minutes of running Prime95 v25.4 “small fft” and are taken directly from CoreTemps temperature text file. Excel was used to average the results of all cores. Idle temps were taken 15 minutes after Load testing ceased. Motherboard temperatures were recorded using SpeedFan. All SpeedStep technology was disabled in BIOS for all tests. Even though the Silentator includes a manual fan controller it was not used for any of these tests. CPU fan speed control was used, it was set to "voltage only" in the BIOS.

Arctic Cooling MX-2 thermal paste was used for all other coolers during these tests. For the Silentator the TIM that comes standard with it was used unless otherwise noted. Application of all thermal paste was according to the manufacturer’s instructions and allowed to cure for 3 days under moderate to high loads (with periods of low loads) prior to testing. All tests were run 4 times and only best results are represented.

Unlike the Silentator, the Ultima 90 does not come with its own fan. For the results listed in this review it was paired with a single Scythe F 120mm fan. All CPU throtteling technology was disable in the BIOS, however CPU fan speed control was left to “voltage only”.


Notes about Overclocking:

For q6600’s that use 1.31volts I consider 1.45 volts to be the most that I would seriously consider for a moderate-to-long term overclock. Yes you can go much higher but the longevity of the CPU is then called into question. Just as importantly the CPU should max out at LESS than 60c as this is also what I consider the safest, maximum long term overclocking temp. For the purposes of these tests I was willing to overlook temperatures as long as they averaged below 65c and did not peak over 70c. If 70c was displayed for more than 10seconds in CoreTemp all testing was stopped and that test run was considered a fail.

With these two general guidelines I overclocked both systems until either one (or both) of these "rules" was needed to be broken to continue.

Overclocking was accomplished by increasing FSB speed and then Vcore (only if necessary).

Before testing for idle and max temperatures Orthos was run for 1 hour to make sure that it was stable at a given overclock and voltage. If both finished with no errors SuperPi set to 32m was run twice. After the stability testing was accomplished the given system was allowed to sit idle for 30minutes before starting the official tests. IF both of the above stated guidelines were not broken then testing continued with an increased overclock. These steps were then repeated until 1 or both of the general guidelines were broken.

As they have no bearing on these tests the RAM’s voltage and timings are not recorded, the RAM was set to run at or as close to as possible PC-6400 speeds by running various cpu : memory dividers. Please do not consider this a full “how to” review on overclocking or “safe guidelines” for overclocking nor even an indicator on how well a given CPU will overclock. IF you are interested in OC’ing your system, and use these guidelines we at HWC take no responsibility for the results. Bad Things can happen if you are not careful.

Complete Test System:

Processor: Q6600
Motherboard: Gigabyte p35 DS4
Memory: 4GB G.Skill PC2-6400
Graphics card: XFX 7200gt 128mb
Hard Drives: 1x Western Digital Se16 500GB
Power Supply: Seasonic S12 600W
Case: CM 690
Fans: 5 Scythe E fans installed,
Alternate CPU Fans: 1 Noctua NF-P12-1300 (1300 RPM), 2 Scythe F’s (1600 RPM)