Thermalright Surface Roughness / Acoustic Comparisons

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 Thermalright SK-7 heatsink had a surface roughness of approximately 16M, which is considered good. Move your mouse over the 16BL tab above to see a large scan of what this surface roughness basically looks similar too.

Acoustic Samples: Listen to this Heatsink!

The large 80mm fan we used with the SK-7 for testing doesn't make all that much noise as you can see by the waveform recording below. 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

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

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

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

The combination of fan and heatsink produce a low 42.8 dBA of noise. Given that the SK-7 can use much larger, and louder fans, the consumer really has to decide for themselves what they are comfortable with. High performance comes at a price, and lower speed fans like the 80mm one we used here aren't quiet up the level of the high speed fans obviously.

FrostyTech.com Since June 1999	Find a Heatsink . Latest Heatsink Reviews . Top 5 Heatsinks Tested . Top 5 Low Profile Heatsinks . Top 5 Liquid Coolers . Heatsinks by Mfgr / Brand	Social Media . Facebook . Twitter . Pinterest	FrostyTech.com Info . Feedback . Contact Us / Heatsink Submissions . Submit News . Privacy Policy
© Copyright 1999-2024 www.frostytech.com All Rights Reserved. Privacy policy and Terms of Use Images © FrostyTech.com and may not be reproduced without express written permission. Current students and faculty of accredited Universities may use Frostytech images in research papers and thesis, provided each image is attributed.

	TOP 5 Heat Sinks TOP 5 Low Profile Heat Sinks TOP 5 Liquid Coolers Heatsinks by Brand / Mfgr Reviews + Articless Advanced Search