PIV Heatsink Roundup

A look at a number of PIV cooling solutions. — Joe

SUMMARY: Swiftech’s MCX478 dominates PIV cooling.

I’ve been spending some time reading up on Intel’s PIV tech docs and decided to modify a PIV 1500 to serve as a PIV heatsink testbed per Intel’s testing specification. This, coupled with the CPU Die Simulator, should give PIV fans a good performance perspective.

I have taken the PIV heatsinks that I still have and retested them with the modified PIV 1500. For a detailed look at each heatsink, click on the name to link to the review. All of the heatsinks tested are aluminum except for the copper cored ARKUA and the Swiftech MCX478 (a 462 with a PIV mod), which features a copper base.

PIV HEATSINKS

Intel Retail PIV

Intel’s retail heatsink is a pain to put on and especially a pain to take off – Intel clearly designed this to stay on. It’s very quiet – it did not measure on the Radio Shack sound meter that I use. Note that as case temps increase, fan speed increases as well.

ARKUA

Dimensions: 90 x 90 x 72; Weight 350 gm; Fan 70mm, 32 cfm @ 4500 rpm; the lever is used to hold the heatsink to the base.

The ARKUA uses the standard PIV retention base and is fairly easy to mount and dismount. It features a copper core. The ARKUA’s base does not fully cover PIV’s case.

Dynatron

Heatsink 88x60x35mm; Weight 257 gm; Fan 60mm, 24 cfm @ 5,300 rpm.

The Dynatron is a skived heatsink – the fins are literally shaved from the base. The fan is a relatively tame 60mm, so I also tested it with a Delta 38. It uses it’s own retention base, so you must remove the motherboard to mount it. Once the base is in place, it’s extremely easy to mount and dismount.

Glacial Tech

Heatsink 83 x 69 x 53mm; Weight 303 gm; Fan 70mm, 42 cfm @ 5,000 rpm.

The Glacial Tech Igloo 4300 is an aluminum extrusion unit. The mounting mechanism uses the standard retention base and is fairly easy to mount and dismount.

Swiftech 462

Dimensions: 3 x 3 x 3.2 inches; Weight: 730 gm with fan, 560 gm without fan.

The Swiftech is the largest and heaviest of the bunch. It mounts on the board with its own spring-loaded bolts; this requires removal of the motherboard to mount. If you plan to dismount it, unless you secure the mounting bolts on the motherboard with something like Loctite, you will have to remove the motherboard.

Vantec

Dimensions:83 x 70 x 70mm; Weight 380 gm; Fan 70mm, 38 cfm @ 5000 rpm.

The Vantec is an aluminum extrusion unit. The mounting mechanism uses the standard retention base and is easy to use.

THE TEST

The PIV heatsinks were tested per the Intel Specification for Heatsink Testing. I have modified a PIV 1500 (57.9 watts) which allows me to read directly PIV Case Temperatures with a thermocouple. The thermocouple is attached to an Omega HH23 Digital Thermometer. Ambient temps were measured with a thermocouple placed about 1 inch from the fan’s intake.

I used Prime 95 to stress the CPU on a Lucky Star P4A845D. Arctic Silver grease was used in all tests. CPU Case Temp is the temp at that point where the CPU contacts the heatsink and MBM Temps are Motherboard Monitor readings from the PIV internal diode.

In addition, heatsinks were tested on the Simulated CPU Die Tester. This is the “purest” test of a heatsink’s performance as extraneous factors, such as secondary heat path effects, are not included, which may or may not be beneficial to performance. Heatsinks with high airflow, for example, will generally perform better on motherboards due to higher secondary path cooling on the motherboard.

TEST RESULTS – CPU Simulator – Small Die
Heatsink

Die Temp

Ambient Temp

Delta

C/W

Intel Retail, 76.6 Watts

53.8 C

18.9 C

34.9

0.46

Swiftech MCX478, 77.1 watts

43.9 C

20.2 C

23.7 C

0.31

ARKUA 8568, 76.7 Watts

50.6 C

19.3 C

31.3

0.41

Glacial Tech 4300, 75.6 Watts

55.5 C

21.1 C

34.4

0.45

Vantec, 75.6 Watts

57.0 C

21.8 C

35.2

0.45

Dynatron, Stock fan, 75.6 Watts

55.0 C

20.9 C

34.1

0.45

TEST RESULTS – PIV 1500, Lucky Star P4A845D
Heatsink

CPU Case Temp

Ambient Temp

Delta

C/W

MBM Temp

Intel Retail

36.2 C

20.0 C

16.2

0.28

30 C

Swiftech MCX478

29.7 C

19.3 C

10.4

0.18

25 C

Dynatron DC1206BM-S/Delta 38

30.2 C

19.1 C

11.1

0.19

27 C

Glacial Tech 4300

33.4 C

20.0 C

13.4

0.23

27 C

ARKUA 8568

33.8 C

20.1 C

13.7

0.24

28 C

Vantec GSN7025

33.2 C

19.1 C

14.1

0.24

27 C

Dynatron DC1206BM-S/Stock Fan

33.9 C

19.7 C

14.2

0.25

29 C

Substituting a noisy Delta 38 boosted the Dynatron up quite a bit, next to the much larger Swiftech MCX478. Overall, substantially besting Intel’s retail heatsink will take some effort.

CONCLUSIONS

Swiftech dominates the PIV heatsinks tested to date, as it does for Socket A. I think you’re going to see more copper solutions as users start pushing the PIV to the max.

Email Joe

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