FrostyTech Mk.II Synthetic Thermal Heatsink Test Results Intel Pentium D / Extreme Edition & Quad Core class heatsinks tested at 150W Intel Core 2 Duo / Pentium 4 / Celeron class heatsinks tested at 85W Results based on readings from a 30x30mm copper interface die with 150W and 85W heat loads applied on the LGA775 version of the Mk.II Test Platform. Temperature results listed for each heatsink were calculated by determining the rise over ambient temperatures at time of test. Information on Frostytech's test methodology is available here. Socket 775 compatible CPU heatsinks
manufacturer:	model no.:	fan speed:	150w thermal test* (°c)	85w thermal test (°c)	noise level (dba)
Apack	Zerotherm BTF90		21.8	12.7	52.1
Apack	Zerotherm BTF80		22.8	13.9	51.9
Thermalfly	F1-IACSHA	high	29.0	18.3	60.4
Zalman	CNPS9500 AT		29.6	17.3	53.3
Akasa	AK-961		30.0	18.7	60.7
nPowertek	NPH-775-1		30.1	18.8	50.1
Sunon	Waturbo		30.6	18.3	57.5
Thermaltake	Jungle512	high	31.6	20.4	60.8
Zalman	CNPS7700-Cu	high	32.9	19.7	50.7
Evercool	PT02-9232CP		33.3	19.9	63.3
Intel	Stock Pentium D	high	33.8	20.7	47.5
Thermalfly	F1-IACSHA	low	36.0	28.3	35.4
Akasa	AK-960E		36.1	21.4	56.3
Thermalfly	I75DUH		37.8	22.8	48.7
Thermaltake	Jungle512	low	37.8	22.2	53.7
Intel	Stock Pentium D	low	40.3	23.9	40.5
Zalman	CNPS7700-Cu	low	42.6	24.7	35.1
			150w thermal test (°c)	85w thermal test (°c)	noise level (dba)
*heatsinks are ranked according to the 150w thermal test results column (rise over ambient temp.). low temperatures with low noise levels are considered best. for reference heatsinks with variable-speed fans, only the high speed (12v) fan test result is included in the comparison sheet; more detailed results reside in each specific heatsink review.

With a 150W heat load applied by the Intel LGA775 synthetic thermal test platform, the Akasa AK-961 heatsink achieves a very nice rise above ambient temperature of 30.0°C. The heatsink's 90mm fan was spinning at 3400RPM during these tests, and so noise levels were in the 60.7 dBA range - which is a little loud. A heat load of 150W is roughly approximate to a stressed Intel Pentium D / Extreme Edition or Core 2 Quad class processor. Compared to the stock Intel Pentium D heatsink listed in the above chart, the Akasa AK-961 was 3°C cooler thanks to its slightly quicker fan.

The Akasa AK-961 heatsink was next tested with an 85W heat load, and under those condition it maintained a temperature of 18.7°C rise over ambient.

One of the side benefits to open fan, and widely spaced cooling fin heatsinks such as the Akasa AK-961, is that exhaust air is directed right at components outside the CPU socket. Critical items like the Northbridge, voltage regulating MOSFETs, and even DDR-II memory can all reach elevated temperatures if there is insufficient airflow to cool things down.

I'm not quite sure why Akasa call the AK-961 a low noise heatsink, it certainly can operate with a really slow fan speed that is nearly silent, but even in a PWM compliant system there is no way the CPU would consistently run cool enough to warrant that. Looking at the results list for the 150W test, when the 90mm fan on the Akasa AK-961 spins at full speed what we really see is a good medium-to-high performance Intel heatsink. It's not the quietest heatsink out there, but the Akasa AK-961 does out perform the stock Intel solution and that's all that really matters.

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