Performance
I'll give you the official specifications for the standard XDream cooler:
- Fan Dimension: 80 x 80 x 25 mm
- Rated Speed: 2500~4800 rpm
- Air Flow: 31.4~62.8 CFM
- Rated Voltage: 12 VDC
- Adjustable Voltage Rate: 7~13.2 VDC
- Heat Sink Dimension: 80 x 69 x 45 mm
And now the SE version.
- Fan Dimension: 80 x 80 x 25 mm
- Rated Speed: 2000~4800 rpm
- Air Flow: 24.1~62.1 CFM
- Rated Voltage: 12 VDC
- Adjustable Voltage Rate: 7~13.2 VDC
- Heat Sink Dimension: 80 x 69 x 45 mm
Looking at the two bases:
Cooler Master reckon that both heatsinks are the same dimensions. That seems unlikely looking at the above picture.
Testing was done on an ABIT NF7-S nForce2 motherboard with an AMD XP2700 processor providing the horsepower. I ran the XDreams' fans at the lowest setting for the standard XDream ( ~ 2750 RPM, at a middle setting ( ~ 3800 RPM), and at maximum ( ~ 4800 RPM). Prime95 was used to calculate the load temperatures. Temperatures were taken after 15 minutes of load. I also used Artic Silver 3, which was allowed to set over a 48-hour period, to provide a better conduit between the heatsinks and CPU. The ambient temperatures hovered between 21 - 22c.
To compare the XDreams' performance against a decent, well-respected cooler, I chose to include the benchmarks from an OCZ Goliath 2 SE cooler. It also uses an 80mm fan, but this time on an all-copper base. It uses a Smartfan, one that increases its RPM as temperatures become hotter.
Firstly, running the XP2700 (2.17GHz / 166FSB) at stock voltage. The test ABIT motherboard under-volted to around 1.61v when placed under Prime95 load.
We can see the difference between the different fan speed settings here. Running the lowest speed setting gave rise to a load temperatures of almost 50c. The OCZ's fan was whisper-quiet at this setting.
Now turning up the heat by using the maximum Vcore on offer for our motherboard. A rather tasty 1.79v (undervolted from 1.85v)
Temperature rise, naturally, but the performance delta between the 4800RPM and 2750RPM settings grows. We simply need to push more air at this stage, and the ~ 63CFM on offer from the 4800RPM settings performs best, obviously. That's not to say that the CPU wasn't perfectly stable with the XDreams at their lowest fan setting, it was. If you're planning to overclock significantly, you should look to increasing the fan's speed. The Goliath was quieter than the comparable XDreams at 3800RPM, though. The copper SE beats out the standard aluminium version by up to 3c depending upon load. That's the benefit of running an all-copper heatsink.
