Testing
The test rig consists of the following parts:
Processor: Intel Core i7 3770K
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z77X-UD4H
Video Card: EVGA GTX 690
Memory: Samsung Green MV-3V4G3D/US – 16GB
Power Supply: Enermax Maxrevo 1350W
Storage: OCZ Vertex 3 240 GB raid 0 Running Windows 7 64bit
Cooling: Corsair H100i GTX
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Luxe
Unfortunately we had the CPU_FAN header go out on our previous test board which has resulted in our switch to the UD4H. The good news is that it is a very similar board and during our testing we found it works well with the same overclocking settings.
As always testing was done using Intel Burn Test (IBT) with the AVX instruction set. The reason to use this instead of Prime95 with this setup is that it pushes our i7 3770K a whole lot harder. This gives us a better sense of extreme load temps. Most of the testing was done at the max memory setting for a single pass. While admittedly this in no way would qualify the chip as stable while overclocked, it gives us a realistic idea of what temperatures the CPU will be hitting. Additionally we are going to run 3DMARK Fire Strike Extreme to give you a realistic idea of performance while gaming.
Our baseline was established using a bequiet! Dark Rock Pro 2 with the 3770K on stock settings:
Ambient temps: 22.22C/72F
Idle temps: 38.75C/101.75F core average
IBT temps one pass max memory: 63.5C/146.3F core average
The first thing we did was to test the cooler with stock motherboard/CPU settings:
Ambient temps: 18.89°C/66°F
Idle temps: 24.75°C/76.55°F core average
IBT temps one pass max memory: 54°C/129.2°F core average
To begin we find that with stock settings the H100i GTX has very similar results to the H110i GT and is much cooler than our baseline cooler. With that out of the way lets get into the fun stuff!
As opposed to simply going for a max overclock, we are simply going to shoot to hit 4.5ghz pass or fail. If the cooler will allow our 3770K to hit 4.5 ghz we note the temperatures and move on to test it on 3DMARK Firestrike. If not then back down to a more acceptable and stable overclock. Not as extreme as our previous testing, but slightly more consistent and far more analogous to normal use such as gaming.
Here are our results for our i7 3770K @ 4.5ghz with 1.248V vCore:
Ambient temps: 18.89°C/66°F
IBT temps: 72°C/161.6°F with one core hitting 76°C
These are awesome results so far! I would think that we should be able to get our 3770K all the way up to 4.8 maybe 4.9 before it becomes too hot. In the mean time we’ll run it through 3DMARK Firestrike @ 4.5ghz and see what gaming temps might be like.
Ambient temps: 18.89°C/66°F
3DMARK: 56.50°C/133.7°F with one core hitting 58°C
Unfortunately the H100i GTX didn’t knock out it’s bigger brother the H110i GT. However it was only 1.94° C warmer during it’s run of IBT @ 4.5ghz. That’s a small enough margin that I feel it definitely deserves an honorable mention. It’s no small feat to be beaten by only the top two performing coolers we’ve tested. And in a real life gaming scenario it will allow you to have confidence that your super high overclock isn’t going to overheat your PC.
It’s also very worth mentioning that this new pump and fan combination are very noticeably quiet. Which is a very pleasant experience indeed. I feel you could have this cooler running right on your desktop and not have it interupt your gaming experience, even without a loud set of speakers.