I know AS5 takes some time to (200 hrs I've heard) to obtain max potential.
Is the comparison the same?
Not that I'm aware of.
The CPU temperature in my server PC (a Biostar 210v SFF if it matters to anyone) was 51°C with the AS5. It runs Folding@Home 24/7, so it was 51°C all the time. I took it all apart to try and replace the CPU heatsink, but I couldn't get the @&$*!% motherboard out of the SFF, so I put the previous one back in, using the new Zalman STG-1 I had gotten a few days before. After a day it was at 48°C.
I kept checking on it over the next couple weeks, wondering if it would "break in" like AS5 and Céramique (supposedly) do, but it stayed 48°C.
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That was with a 120mm SilenX fan running full-speed. Now with an 80mm Vantec Stealth running motherboard-speed-controlled it's at 52°C. A bit louder than with the 120mm SilenX, but now I can access
all the ports on the back.... My
original revamp of the cooling used a 120mm Thermaltake A2368 "Highest Performance" fan. Let me state for the record that this fan is not nearly as quiet as Thermaltake claims it to be, or the one I have isn't at least. Silcone gaskets, added after I took that picture, didn't help at all. Neither did re-crimping its connector to run it motherboard-speed-controlled.
Next step is to order an 80mm SilenX.
The fan hole in the back of the case is 70mm, hence the adapters. The CPU is just inside it, and I have a Zalman CNPS6500B-AlCu passive heatsink on it. Since this PC runs 24/7 I have been striving to get it as quiet as possible.
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