Comparisons
When bringing all the results together, we also throw in numbers for the Akasa AK-965 - a budget solution that offers thermal performance that's nearly identical to Intel's reference cooler.
| System Performance - Idle | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cooler | Akasa AK-965 | Cooler Master Hyper N520 | Scythe Mugen 2 | Xigmatek Achilles S1284C |
| Ambient temperature | 22.0°C | 22.2°C | 22.3°C | 22.9°C |
| Case temperature | 24.2°C | 23.5°C | 24.6°C | 24.9°C |
| Ambient/Case delta | 2.2°C | 1.3°C | 2.3°C | 2.0°C |
| CPU temperature | 41.0°C | 37.0°C | 36.0°C | 38.0°C |
| CPU/Case delta | 16.8°C | 13.5°C | 11.4°C | 13.1°C |
| CPU/Ambient delta | 19.0°C | 14.8°C | 13.7°C | 15.1°C |
[graph 2091]
[graph 2089]
With the system idle, we see similar CPU/Ambient and CPU/Case delta temperatures. Scythe's Mugen 2 has the lead, but there's very little in it. Worth noting, also, that Cooler Master's Hyper N520 gives a solid showing, despite being £10 cheaper.
Let's also not discount the budget offering from Akasa. Showing similar levels of performance to Intel's reference cooler, it poses the question - is it worth upgrading to a third-party solution for the sake of a few degrees?
| System Performance - Load | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cooler | Akasa AK-965 | Cooler Master Hyper N520 | Scythe Mugen 2 | Xigmatek Achilles S1284C |
| Ambient temperature | 22.9°C | 24.0°C | 24.4°C | 23.7°C |
| Case temperature | 24.4°C | 25.7°C | 27.2°C | 25.6°C |
| Ambient/Case delta | 1.5°C | 1.7°C | 2.8°C | 1.9°C |
| CPU temperature | 62.0°C | 55.0°C | 54.0°C | 56.0°C |
| CPU/Case delta | 37.6°C | 29.3°C | 26.8°C | 30.4°C |
| CPU/Ambient delta | 39.1°C | 31.0°C | 29.6°C | 32.3°C |
[graph 2092]
[graph 2090]
Under load, there's again very little to separate the three challengers. Scythe's Mugen 2 shows the best cooling performance, but both Cooler Master's Hyper N520 and Xigmatek's Achilles S1284C follow closely.
