Benchmarks: Temperatures And Noise
Temperature Benchmarks
We benchmarked the EKL Peter in a Corsair Graphite 600T case, using FurMark and GPGPU applications to put the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition under load.
We didn’t want AMD's 50 MHz boost feature (the built-in TDP limiter) to kick in, so we used the company's older Catalyst 12.4 driver. Version 12.4 recognizes and supports the card, but prevents it from dropping its clock rate faced with a particularly taxing application.
The EKL Peter manages to reduce the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition’s temperatures a substantial 18 degrees Celsius compared to the reference cooler.
It’s also interesting to look at how fast the temperatures rise. In the chart below, slower temperature increases and flatter curves are what we want to see, indicating better cooling performance. Maximum temperatures are reached after about four minutes. After that time, they remain pretty stable.
Noise Benchmarks
Effective cooling is great, but it's not worth much if the beast you create sounds like a jet plane taking off in the backyard. Configured with two 5 V connectors and 5 V/7 V connectors, the EKL Peter's fans generate slightly over 32 dB(A) and 34 dB(A), respectively. No other air-cooled solution we've ever seen manages this combination of thermal performance and quiet operation.
Even an Asus card with a top-of-the-line DirectCU II cooler can't achieve 62 degrees Celsius with a noise level of less than 41 dB(A). The EKL Peter is miles ahead of its competition.
