MJOLNIR I 92 MM PROTOTYPE THERMAL TESTS THOR ZONE. Copyright 2018 THOR ZONE

Transcription

1 MJOLNIR I 92 MM PROTOTYPE THERMAL TESTS THOR ZONE

2 BRIEF IMPORTANT WORDS These tests are done on the 92 mm prototype, before we expanded the compatibility for 120 mm AIOs and case fans. As one may suspect, cooling performance between the 92 mm and 120 mm models is likely to be very significant. These tests will be done in March 2019, expected results are presented further down. Furthermore, all thermal results include an ambient temperature of MM MODEL IMPROVEMENTS (NOT TESTED HERE) 120 mm Model 92 mm Model AIO 1 x 120 mm 1 x 92 mm Case fans 2 x 120 mm 1 x 92 mm Case feet 5 mm tall 2 mm tall Bottom airflow design Open and filtered Closed GPU size (L-H-W, mm) 334 x 159 x x 152 x 42 HARDWARE CPU Intel Core i GPU ASUS Turbo GeForce RTX 2070 CPU cooler Noctua NH-L9i Thermal compound Noctua NT-H1 Case fan Noctua NF-A9x14 PWM Motherboard Gigabyte Z370N WIFI PSU SilverStone SFX SX700-LPT RAM Corsair Vengeance Black RGB Pro DDR4 OS Windows 10 Pro 64-bit We tested the Noctua NH-L9i with both the included 14 mm fan (Noctua NF-A9x14 PWM) and their 25 mm fan (Noctua NF-A9 PWM); the resulting CPU cooler heights were 37 mm / 48 mm.

3 CONFIGURATION Ambient temperature 20 CPU Undervolted V (1.10V) MCE Off CPU fan curve % System fan curve % Test software Prime 95 * Test time 30 min GPU GPU fan curve 55% Test software Unigine Heaven 4.0 * Test time 30 min * Prime 95 Small FFTs, Unigine Heaven 4.0 OpenGL, Max settings, 1080p. Thermals reached equilibrium within the stated time period. RESULTS 92 MM PROTOTYPE G P U THERMALS - 92MM P ROTOTYPE Max ASUS RTX2070 TURBO AMBIENT TEMP: 20

4 We observe no difference in thermals between the internal frame and internal frame & enclosure setup; this is expected since both configurations are very similar to a test bench. Mounting glass panels on the inside of the chassis had the largest impact, increasing GPU thermals about 8. Outside mounted glass panels and metal panels increased GPU thermals about 4-5 degrees. All in all, GPU thermals stay in a very comfortable range, but please keep in mind that we re using a blower style GPU (results may vary for open-air coolers). Next, we look at the CPU thermal performance. CPU THERMALS (48 MM COOLER) - 92MM P ROTOTYPE Max (turbo: disabled) Max (turbo: enabled) I COOLER: NOCTUA NH-L9I & NF-A9 PWM AMBIENT TEMP: 20 CPU THERMALS (37 MM COOLER) - 92MM P ROTOTYPE Max (turbo: disabled) Max (turbo: enabled) I COOLER: NOCTUA NH-L9I AMBIENT TEMP: 20

5 Once again, we observe no difference between the internal frame and internal frame & enclosure setup. To our surprise the Noctua NH-L9i & NF-A9 PWM (25 mm fan) was able to keep i from throttling with turbo enable, although not after the introduction of side panels. NH-L9i with the included 14 mm fan was throttling within 3 minutes. Disabling turbo ensured no throttling with either cooler, with or without side panels, although at the cost of performance. We can also observe that the 25 mm fan performed much worse than the included 14 mm one when using side panels with disabled turbo, this can largely be explained by proximity choking. In summary, the Noctua NH-L9i is not sufficient to handle a high TDP CPU like the i under synthetic load, and as such we would strongly recommend using a 120 mm AIO instead. EXPECTATION 120 MM MODEL G P U THERMALS - 120MM MODEL Max ASUS RTX2070 TURBO AMBIENT TEMP: 20 GPU width in the 120 mm model can be up to 7 mm wider than in the 92 mm model; hence, thermal performance of the 120 mm model + inside mounted glass panels should be on par or better than 92 mm model + outside mounted glass panels. We adjust the results down by 5 to reflect this difference.

6 CPU THERMALS (120 MM AIO) - 120MM MODEL Max (turbo: enabled) I AMBIENT TEMP: 20 These results are estimated based on community reviews of many different 120 mm AIOs. We estimate the glass panels to have minor impact on CPU thermals due to no dependence on side panel intake. Be on the lookout for these thermal tests in March 2019.