Twin Frozr 4 vs DirectCu II

First of all I would like to inform you that this is not a comparison of the MSI GTX 680 Lightning and the ASUS GTX 680 DCII TOP cards. It is a comparison of their cooling solutions which has caused some debate on this forum. I got pretty tired of people going back and forth over which cooled better or which was quieter or which one had the fastest fan speeds. So since I have both cards I decided to compare both of them in my system and share with everyone the results. So first things first.....PICTURE TIME!!!

Twin Frozr 4























DirectCu II























So as far as appearance goes, you can judge for yourself. This isn't a beauty contest. This comparison is strictly on performance. So on to the test bench specs.

Hardware

Processor: Intel i7 3930K @ 4.8GHz
Mobo: ASUS Rampage IV Formula
Memory: G.Skill RipjawZ 16GB @ 2133MHz
Storage: 2x Crucial M4 128GB SSD RAID 0


Software

Windows 7 Professional
Afterburner v2.2.3
HWMoniter v1.90


Testing Equipment

ACU-RITE Temperature Monitor
Digital Instruments SL-814 Digital Sound Level Meter



During the tests the Lightning was using the stock BIOS and both cards were OCed to a mild 1250MHz on the core.These two cards were designed to OC, so it didn't make any since to test the cooling at reference settings. During the temperature tests I ran Heaven at max settings @ 1920x1080 for ten minutes. At first I ran it longer but noticed that the temps would level off around ten minutes.




Average home 50dB
http://www.sengpielaudio.com/TableOfSoundPressureLevels.htm






I was a little surprised by the outcome. I knew the stats would be close but I thought for sure that the DCII would have the best temps. Overall if I had to chose between the two it would have to be the Twin Frozr even though I like the way the DCII looks (it matches my theme). The DCII is just too big (triple slot) for the performance that you get out of it. I blame it on their fan design. The angle of the fan blades are more aggressive as compared to the TF4. The design could easily be a two slot if they redesign the fans.

This is my first review so if it looks like I left something out, let me know.


- Jared
Edited by Killbuzzjrad - 3/23/13 at 12:55pm

Pretty much. The DCII did get a few better temps at the lower settings.