Testing
The test rig consists of the following parts:
Processor: Intel Core i7 3770K
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z77X-UD4H
Video Card: Zotac 560 Ti
Memory: Samsung Green MV-3V4G3D/US – 16GB
Power Supply: Corsair TX950
Storage: Mushkin ECO2 240GB Running Windows 7 64bit
Cooling: Cooler Master MasterLiquid Pro 140
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Luxe
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: 19.44°C/67°F
Idle temps: 31°C/87.8°F core average
IBT temps one pass max memory: 51.75°C/125.15°F core average
After we adjust for ambient we find that the NAIA 240 is already leaps ahead of our baseline cooler. A cooler mind you that is no slacking stock Intel garbage heap. With that in mind let’s get right into some overclocking and see what we can accomplish.
Here are our results for our i7 3770K @ 4.5ghz with 1.248V vCore:
Ambient temps: 19.44°C/67°F
IBT temps: 66.5°C/151.7°F with the hottest single core hitting 69°C
Once again we adjust for ambient and find that this cooler is an absolute BEAST! At the adjusted 69.28°C average the NAIA 240 is 3.11°C colder than our next best test subject, a 360mm rad equipped custom watercooling loop from ThermalTake. This is basically unheard of and a bit of a head scratcher. Perhaps this is the perfect mount, or Reeven has cracked the code with thermal transfer and pump design or maybe this AiO scales really well with cooler ambient temps. Either way it’s super impressive!
After we finished testing the max thermal performance of the cooler, it’s time for a gaming test; that means it’s time for a pass of 3DMARK Firestrike. Here’s what we found.
Ambient temps: 19.44°C/67°F
3DMARK: 55.5°C/131.9°F with the hottest single core hitting 58°C
Basically the NAIA has in game overclocked temps similar to those we usually see when testing stock clock speeds. No surprise there given the performance we saw while thermal testing. Just very very impressive results from Reeven.
The NAIA is lit by a couple of white LEDs within the pump housing. Though they aren’t especially bright or groundbreaking, the effect with our choice of green coolant is pretty nice. We’ve seen some other coolers offer RGB modes and more varied lighting but we are willing to forgive the simplicity we see here given the outstanding thermal performance.
