The following system was installed and used to gather temperatures:

• Control

• CPU: AMD Phenom II 555 unlocked to x4
• MB: Biostar TA785GE 128M
• RAM: Crucial Ballistix PC2-8000
• Video: Onboard
• PSU: Thermaltake TR2 430w
• HD: Hitachi TravelStar 100GB 2.5”
• OS: Microsoft Windows 7

• Comparison Coolers:

• Cooler Master Vortex Plus
• XtremeGear HP-1216B

Ambient temperature was maintained at 23 degrees Celsius. For idle temperature readings the system was allowed to stand at idle for 3 hours before temperatures were taken. To achieve full load temperature, OCCT was run for three hours and the average peak temperature was recorded. This test was extended for an additional 30 minutes
if the core temperature or ambient changed more than one half degree Celsius. Voltage readings were taken from the BIOS and temperature readings were taken using OCCT.

Considering the physical size of the Vortex Plus and its smaller fan, the cooler performed decently with two caveats. First, when running at high fan speed, the Vortex Plus is VERY loud, easily emitting more noise than any other fan in my test rig. This noise level would be unacceptable for an HTPC environment where silence is truly golden. Second, when running at low speed, the cooler could not adequately handle the 125 watts of heat generated by the Phenom II quad core.

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