Surface Roughness Comparator:
Surface
finish is an important factor that we all look for when holding a new heatsink.
Flipping a cooler over to see how well the base has been machined is a quick way
to judge the attention to detail that was put into making it. The following
FrostyTech Surface Roughness Comparator offers a concise cross section common
machine surface finishes. Not every heatsink base will fit into the envelope of
this gage, but it does offer a very handy set of representations.
This commercially available gage has 22 machined surfaces from 2 to 500
microinches; Lapped (2, 4, and 8 µ" RA), Ground (8, 16, 32, and 63 µ" RA),
Blanchard Ground (16 and 32 µ" RA), Shape Turned (32, 63, 125, 250, and 500 µ"
RA), Profiled (63, 125, 250, and 500 µ" RA), and Milled (63, 125, 250, and 500
µ" RA).
| FrostyTech Surface Roughness Comparator |
 |
|
The base of a heatsink plays an important role in how well the cooling
apparatus interfaces with the processor. Poor surface roughness will affect a good heatsink
just as much as a good surface finish will improve thermal conductivity.
In an effort to put a more quantitative spin on the comments we provide
about base finishes, FrostyTech has begun using a Surface Roughness
Comparator.
Move your mouse over the image above to see an example at right.
Numbers are in Microinches, and finishes from 2 microinches
to 32 microinches are excellent-to-good. |
|
| |
| Evaluation Notes: |
|
The JAKS29 heatsink had a surface roughness of approximately
4M, which is considered excellent. Move your mouse over the
4L tab above to see a large scan of what this surface roughness looks similar
to. |
Acoustic Samples: Listen to this
Heatsink!
The YS Tech fan used
by Jetart is pretty loud, and will probably get on the nerves
of anyone looking for a good quiet home PC heatsink. Gamers on the other
hand shouldn't really mind. To listen to this heatsink for yourself in operation, be
sure to click on the little headphones icon below and download the Acoustic
Sample MP3 file.
|
(high) FrostyTech Acoustic Sampling
Chamber |
| Standard Waveform view of a 10 second recording.
Click on the headphones to listen to
an MP3 recording of this heatsink in operation. |
|
 |
Sound Level Measurements:
Listening
to the actual noise a heatsink makes allows you to hear what pure numbers alone
cannot get across. To further emphasize FrostyTech's reliance on cold hard facts
when evaluating a heatsink, we also take Decibel readings with a sound level
meter. These results may be higher than the manufacturer's listed specs, but
then again these are real world measurements. Measurements are made on the dB
(A) scale.
| FrostyTech Sound Level Results |
| - |
Manufacturer |
Model |
Noise Level |
Scale |
|
Verax (low RPM) |
P14Cu |
31.2 dB |
Quiet |
|
Verax |
P11T |
35.3 dB |
|
|
Spire |
SPA04B4 |
35.3 dB |
|
|
Spire |
5U213C1H3G |
35.7 dB |
|
|
Titan |
D9TBCu35R1 |
37.6 dB |
|
|
ArcticCooling |
CuSilent2 |
37.9 dB |
|
|
Aopen |
ACK7L |
40.4 dB |
|
|
Thermalright |
SK-7 |
42.8 dB |
|
|
Thermalright |
SLK-900A |
43.0 dB |
|
|
Coolermaster |
HSC-V62 |
43.7 dB |
|
|
Akasa |
AK821 |
44.2 dB |
|
|
Spire |
5F263 |
44.5 dB |
|
|
Zalman |
All Flower HSF |
47.4/28.9 dB |
|
|
Arkua |
728M-7N01 |
48.2 dB |
|
|
Taisol |
CGK760092 |
48.4 dB |
|
|
Cho-Liang |
CB0307U-17 |
49.5 dB |
|
|
Thermalright |
SK6+ |
50.4 dB |
|
|
Titan |
TTC-CU9TB/SC |
50.5 dB |
|
|
Taisol |
CEK787172 |
50.7 dB |
|
|
nPowerTek |
TTIC NPH-2 |
50.7 dB |
|
|
Arkua |
628 |
50.7 dB |
|
|
Scythe |
Kamakaze |
51.0 dB |
|
|
Tocools |
Novasonic |
52.2 dB |
|
|
Tocools |
Novasonic-AlCu |
52.4 dB |
|
|
Thermal Integration |
TI-V77L |
53.0 dB |
|
|
Jetart |
JAKS29 |
55.8 dB |
|
|
Sibak |
AE01625B |
58.2 dB |
|
|
AVC |
Tundra 2 |
58.4 dB |
|
|
Sibak |
AC02625B |
59.7 dB |
|
|
Coolermaster |
HHC-001 |
59.9 dB |
|
|
Sibak |
AC06725TH |
62.4 dB |
|
|
Dynatron |
DC1206BMP |
65.1 dB |
|
|
Thermalright |
SLK800 |
66.2 dB |
|
|
Thermalright |
AX-7 |
66.4 dB |
louder |
|
|
|
|
|
We
measured the noise levels of the JAKS29 at nearly 56 dBA, which clearly places this heatsink
towards the louder side of our reference list. That sound is all care of the
5000RPM fan which ensures a steady stream of airflow down into the fins of
the heatsink. Up next, the thermal results!
79%
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