Cooler Master Nepton 120XL
Published
It's time to put the Nepton 120XL to the test with our brand new X99 rig featuring an Intel Core i7 5820K @3.6GHz, 16GB of Corsair LPX Black DDR4 2400Mhz memory, Gigabyte GA-X99-UD4 motherboard and a GeForce GTX 970 4GB graphics card.
For the tests we decided to load up Prime95 to run some tests and thanks to Real Temp we can measure the digital temperatures provided by the CPU itself. We also measure the temperature of the radiator with an IR gun.
Firing up small-fft tests in Prime95 maximizes the temperature to the max of the CPU and we can easily monitor the max temp value of our CPU running 100% of its capacity.
We run these tests during three days in the following style. Each day we run the Prime95 test for one hour, 3 times with 1 hour between the tests. This to give the CPU time to heat up properly and then cool down properly. We also do this at different times for each day so that the room where the test setup resides in isn't affected by things like the sun heating up the room.
After the tests we create the final result through the following process with an average per test, average over day and finally average over all three days.
Please remember that we're not after extremes, we want the overall performance of the product.
With a room temperature of 22 degrees Celcius we get a lovely 31 degrees of idle temperature with the Nepton 120XL - a 30 degree difference compared to the full load with a temperature of 61 degrees Celcius.
Compare that with the stock Intel cooler for the 2011-3 socket and on the Intel Core i7 5820K. Here we have an idle temperature of 46 degrees while full load heats up and gives us hot 86 degrees Celcius reading. I wouldn't want to touch that CPU with my fingers during hardcore gaming!
Well, I wouldn't probably want to touch a 61 degree CPU either, but hey - just a comparison ;)
The tests have gone well and overall the performance of the Nepton 120XL is really sweet. Of course, there are other players on the market but Cooler Master surely produce a worthy competitor to the other high end brands out there.
With a price tag of around 90€ EURO, USD $100 or SEK 895kr it surely isn't one of the cheapest, but surely not one of the more expensive ones. Can I recommend this cooler? Well, it's not so much what I think, but I do believe that the results show that the Nepton 120XL is excellent for cooling an Intel Core i7 5820K - I can definitely recommend this product!
Finally I would like to thank Cooler Master for sending out this product for us to test.
For the tests we decided to load up Prime95 to run some tests and thanks to Real Temp we can measure the digital temperatures provided by the CPU itself. We also measure the temperature of the radiator with an IR gun.
Firing up small-fft tests in Prime95 maximizes the temperature to the max of the CPU and we can easily monitor the max temp value of our CPU running 100% of its capacity.
We run these tests during three days in the following style. Each day we run the Prime95 test for one hour, 3 times with 1 hour between the tests. This to give the CPU time to heat up properly and then cool down properly. We also do this at different times for each day so that the room where the test setup resides in isn't affected by things like the sun heating up the room.
After the tests we create the final result through the following process with an average per test, average over day and finally average over all three days.
Please remember that we're not after extremes, we want the overall performance of the product.
With a room temperature of 22 degrees Celcius we get a lovely 31 degrees of idle temperature with the Nepton 120XL - a 30 degree difference compared to the full load with a temperature of 61 degrees Celcius.
Compare that with the stock Intel cooler for the 2011-3 socket and on the Intel Core i7 5820K. Here we have an idle temperature of 46 degrees while full load heats up and gives us hot 86 degrees Celcius reading. I wouldn't want to touch that CPU with my fingers during hardcore gaming!
Well, I wouldn't probably want to touch a 61 degree CPU either, but hey - just a comparison ;)
The tests have gone well and overall the performance of the Nepton 120XL is really sweet. Of course, there are other players on the market but Cooler Master surely produce a worthy competitor to the other high end brands out there.
With a price tag of around 90€ EURO, USD $100 or SEK 895kr it surely isn't one of the cheapest, but surely not one of the more expensive ones. Can I recommend this cooler? Well, it's not so much what I think, but I do believe that the results show that the Nepton 120XL is excellent for cooling an Intel Core i7 5820K - I can definitely recommend this product!
Finally I would like to thank Cooler Master for sending out this product for us to test.
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