HWLabs Black Ice GTX 560 reviewed - Overclock.net

HESmelaugh · 05-30-09

Largest radiator I've tested so far...

Here's a pic comparing it to the XSPC RX360, a radiator that seemed quite large when I first got it but now... well, see for yourself:

This radiator was kindly provided by Caseking, Germany.

Testing Method

Since my last radiator reviews, I've changed my testing setup and method. I got some valuable input from Skinnee, AndreaBZ and many others on how to tweak and improve the testing.

What changed?
- New fans: I'm now using Scythe Kama Flex 1900 (120mm) and Sharkoon System Fan Power (140mm). I switched to the Kama Flex because they are simply better than the ones I had previously and I switched to the Sharkoons because the Spire fans I used before were no longer available and for this test, I needed a lot of 140mm fans.
The Sharkoon fans are rated at 85 CFM @ 1500rpm but this is in open air, so I guess it's pretty much irrelevant when it comes to radiator testing.
- Better control over heat load: I have the heaters connected to a watt-meter and I manually record the wattage every five minutes.
- C/W curves: Since I now have a better idea of the actual heat loads during each test run, I adjust for the differences. The easiest way to do this is to calculate C/W curves, showing the water-ambient temperature difference per Watt of heat applied.
- More temp-sensors: I am now using three temp sensors on either side of the radiator, measuring the air in as well as air out temperatures.
- Recalibrated: All of my sensors were recalibrated, which was necessary after changing the sensor-arrangement.

Test-loop
- Laing DDC (MCP355) with EK X-Res
- 2x Inline heaters
- 4x Water-temp sensors
- 6x Air-temp sensors
- GMR flowmeter
- T-Balancer bigNG and Sensorhub for monitoring and logging temperatures amd flowrates

Each test run lasts 35 minutes, 25 minutes are warm up and the data from the last 10 minutes is all averaged out.
I don't control flowrates. The pump is always going at 12V and flow is as high as it can be in the loop. Just like the CPU blocks are tested with different flowrates due to differences in restrictiveness, I'm also testing radiators at "their own" flowrates, depending solely on their restrictiveness.
I do compare radiators of the 120-mm-format with those of 140-mm-format, even though such a comparison can never be 100% fair. The rads are being tested with different fans and (deliberately) different fan-speeds. Still, we want to know how a 560 does against our favourite 360, right? Just keep in mind that the comparison can only be seen as a rough guide and different fans would (and do) lead to different results.

Compared radiators

Having changed the test setup, I needed to retest the radiators, of course. Unfortunately, most of the radiators from my previous roundup are no longer here for testing. I retested what radiators I coul, but it was enough to cover the main cornerstones, which are:
- XSPC RX360 - Best 360 for low-speed fans.
- Black Ice 360 - Best 360 for high-speed, high-pressure fans.
- Magicool Slim 360 - Solid budget 360. Basically this one marks the low-end.
- Black Ice 420 - This was also retested and it's interesting to see the differences in performance due to the different fans use since the first test.

Now for the results:

Flow

No real surprise here. In terms of restrictiveness, the GTX 560 pretty much marks the middle ground among the rads in this comparison.

C/W, single row of fans, push

C/W, double fan rows, push-pull

Not surprisingly due to it's sheer size, the GTX 560 is way ahead of the crowd in these comparisons.

Here are all of the curves, single fan row and double fan rows (DF) together in one, slightly chaotic graph:

Here we see that even with one row of fans in push, the GTX 560 can stay ahead of contenders with fans in push-pull. On the other hand, a push-pull RX360 is actually slightly better than a GTX 560 in push at low fan speeds.
It's also interesting to see some of the other relations between different rads and fan-configs in this graph.

Data

IMPORTANT NOTE: Because the radiators are placed vertically on my test-bench (fans blowing horizontally), I'm not getting accurate Air out readings. I moved the sensors to a better spot after the first few runs but it still seems a bit off. I grayed out the Air out and Air capacity values becuase I suspect they are wrong. If you look at the data from the GTX 280 (original sensor placement) you can see that it just can't be right. Look at the data from the RX360 (new sensor placement) and the values make more sense, but I'm still not sure if they are correct.
Ambient temps are in a range of 4° (+/-2°) and Heat load in a range of 12.6 W (+/-6.3 W). That's not great, but I can't do anything about either.

For now, that's all. Hope you enjoyed the read.

Special thanks to Skinnee for providing samples of how he collects and compiles data.
The original, german article can be found here on DeXgo.com.

Cheers,
Shane

NETio · 05-30-09

I think it would be beneficial if you tested higher speed fans on the GTX 360 as it should be at the top as far as 3x120mm radiators go.

Martinm210 · 05-30-09

Awesome work, thanks for testing!!

HESmelaugh · 05-31-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by NETio

I think it would be beneficial if you tested higher speed fans on the GTX 360 as it should be at the top as far as 3x120mm radiators go.

Best only at very high speeds, yes. I think at 1600rpm with the fans I'm using, the trend is showing sufficiently and I gotta be honest with you: I personally like my computers to be quiet. Fans over 1000rpm are very annoying to me, over 1500rpm I can tolerate for short periods of time for testing and over 2000rpm is just not worth it. I tested the GTX360 with Ultra Kaze's at 2500rpm once and it's just ridiculous. I really don't want that kind of racket going on several times a day when I'm testing and it would probably bring angry neighbours into the picture pretty soon as well.

Most importantly, you see exponentially less tolerable noise levels coupled with diminishing returns at higher speeds. The step from 400rpm to 800rpm makes a huge difference temp-wise, but between 1600rpm and 2000rpm or more, performance improvements shrink down to fractions of degrees.

Luckily, I'm not the only one doing such tests and I'm sure others will provide numbers for higher speed fans.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martinm210

Awesome work, thanks for testing!!

Thanks, Martin.

HESmelaugh · 05-31-09

Someone pointed out that I had made a pretty stupid mistake: I had the first two C/W graphs switched...
I edited the first post and they are in the correct order now.

ChielScape · 05-31-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by HESmelaugh

Best only at very high speeds, yes. I think at 1600rpm with the fans I'm using, the trend is showing sufficiently and I gotta be honest with you: I personally like my computers to be quiet. Fans over 1000rpm are very annoying to me, over 1500rpm I can tolerate for short periods of time for testing and over 2000rpm is just not worth it. I tested the GTX360 with Ultra Kaze's at 2500rpm once and it's just ridiculous. I really don't want that kind of racket going on several times a day when I'm testing and it would probably bring angry neighbours into the picture pretty soon as well.

Most importantly, you see exponentially less tolerable noise levels coupled with diminishing returns at higher speeds. The step from 400rpm to 800rpm makes a huge difference temp-wise, but between 1600rpm and 2000rpm or more, performance improvements shrink down to fractions of degrees.

Luckily, I'm not the only one doing such tests and I'm sure others will provide numbers for higher speed fans.

Thanks, Martin.

Ultra Kaze's arent THAT loud... i've slept with em running...

and have yet to recieve a single complaint from my folks...

HESmelaugh · 05-31-09

Holy crap... I guess it all comes down to personal differences. To me, if Ultra Kaze's aren't loud, I don't know what is. But I generally don't like loud stuff. For example, I'm not the type to turn up the volume on music until the room shakes, either.

UPDATE: I updated the first post with a data-sheet.

thehighlander123 · 05-31-09

*reads with ultra kazes blasting his legs*

i love you work! thanks for the review. now if only i could find a place to fit it.

does any one know of any 140x38mm 3000rpm+ fans?

HESmelaugh · 05-31-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by thehighlander123

does any one know of any 140x38mm 3000rpm+ fans?

I think this is the main problem for HWLabs 140 rads: to my knowledge there are no high-rpm 140mm fans suitable for for this kind of thing. I don't know about industrial fans but all of the manufacturers for the PC market only have 140 that go to 1500rpm max.

Then again, I think there is a real trend towards larger fans so I guess it's only a question of time until we will see a greater variety of 140mm fans on offer.

**ira-k** · 05-31-09

Thanks for all the testing!..

.. Have you tried Panaflo fans? I use the 115cfm Pana and they have a nice mellow low pitched tone to me. I have 8 in a push-pull on shrouds on my 480GTX and generally have anywhere from another 4-6 or 7 blowing over my mobo and HDD's and any secondary rad's.

05-30-09	#1 (permalink)
HESmelaugh WaterCooler Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Winterthur, Switzerland Posts: 147 Rep: 185 Unique Rep: 140 Trader Rating: 0	HWLabs Black Ice GTX 560 reviewed Largest radiator I've tested so far... Here's a pic comparing it to the XSPC RX360, a radiator that seemed quite large when I first got it but now... well, see for yourself: This radiator was kindly provided by Caseking, Germany. Testing Method Since my last radiator reviews, I've changed my testing setup and method. I got some valuable input from Skinnee, AndreaBZ and many others on how to tweak and improve the testing. What changed? - New fans: I'm now using Scythe Kama Flex 1900 (120mm) and Sharkoon System Fan Power (140mm). I switched to the Kama Flex because they are simply better than the ones I had previously and I switched to the Sharkoons because the Spire fans I used before were no longer available and for this test, I needed a lot of 140mm fans. The Sharkoon fans are rated at 85 CFM @ 1500rpm but this is in open air, so I guess it's pretty much irrelevant when it comes to radiator testing. - Better control over heat load: I have the heaters connected to a watt-meter and I manually record the wattage every five minutes. - C/W curves: Since I now have a better idea of the actual heat loads during each test run, I adjust for the differences. The easiest way to do this is to calculate C/W curves, showing the water-ambient temperature difference per Watt of heat applied. - More temp-sensors: I am now using three temp sensors on either side of the radiator, measuring the air in as well as air out temperatures. - Recalibrated: All of my sensors were recalibrated, which was necessary after changing the sensor-arrangement. Test-loop - Laing DDC (MCP355) with EK X-Res - 2x Inline heaters - 4x Water-temp sensors - 6x Air-temp sensors - GMR flowmeter - T-Balancer bigNG and Sensorhub for monitoring and logging temperatures amd flowrates Each test run lasts 35 minutes, 25 minutes are warm up and the data from the last 10 minutes is all averaged out. I don't control flowrates. The pump is always going at 12V and flow is as high as it can be in the loop. Just like the CPU blocks are tested with different flowrates due to differences in restrictiveness, I'm also testing radiators at "their own" flowrates, depending solely on their restrictiveness. I do compare radiators of the 120-mm-format with those of 140-mm-format, even though such a comparison can never be 100% fair. The rads are being tested with different fans and (deliberately) different fan-speeds. Still, we want to know how a 560 does against our favourite 360, right? Just keep in mind that the comparison can only be seen as a rough guide and different fans would (and do) lead to different results. Compared radiators Having changed the test setup, I needed to retest the radiators, of course. Unfortunately, most of the radiators from my previous roundup are no longer here for testing. I retested what radiators I coul, but it was enough to cover the main cornerstones, which are: - XSPC RX360 - Best 360 for low-speed fans. - Black Ice 360 - Best 360 for high-speed, high-pressure fans. - Magicool Slim 360 - Solid budget 360. Basically this one marks the low-end. - Black Ice 420 - This was also retested and it's interesting to see the differences in performance due to the different fans use since the first test. Now for the results: Flow No real surprise here. In terms of restrictiveness, the GTX 560 pretty much marks the middle ground among the rads in this comparison. C/W, single row of fans, push C/W, double fan rows, push-pull Not surprisingly due to it's sheer size, the GTX 560 is way ahead of the crowd in these comparisons. Here are all of the curves, single fan row and double fan rows (DF) together in one, slightly chaotic graph: Here we see that even with one row of fans in push, the GTX 560 can stay ahead of contenders with fans in push-pull. On the other hand, a push-pull RX360 is actually slightly better than a GTX 560 in push at low fan speeds. It's also interesting to see some of the other relations between different rads and fan-configs in this graph. Data IMPORTANT NOTE: Because the radiators are placed vertically on my test-bench (fans blowing horizontally), I'm not getting accurate Air out readings. I moved the sensors to a better spot after the first few runs but it still seems a bit off. I grayed out the Air out and Air capacity values becuase I suspect they are wrong. If you look at the data from the GTX 280 (original sensor placement) you can see that it just can't be right. Look at the data from the RX360 (new sensor placement) and the values make more sense, but I'm still not sure if they are correct. Ambient temps are in a range of 4° (+/-2°) and Heat load in a range of 12.6 W (+/-6.3 W). That's not great, but I can't do anything about either. For now, that's all. Hope you enjoyed the read. Special thanks to Skinnee for providing samples of how he collects and compiles data. The original, german article can be found here on DeXgo.com. Cheers, Shane Last edited by HESmelaugh : 06-04-09 at 01:58 AM

		Overclock.net - Overclocking.net > Cooling > Water Cooling
HWLabs Black Ice GTX 560 reviewed

05-31-09	#5 (permalink)
HESmelaugh WaterCooler Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Winterthur, Switzerland Posts: 147 Rep: 185 Unique Rep: 140 Trader Rating: 0	Someone pointed out that I had made a pretty stupid mistake: I had the first two C/W graphs switched... I edited the first post and they are in the correct order now.

05-31-09	#7 (permalink)
HESmelaugh WaterCooler Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Winterthur, Switzerland Posts: 147 Rep: 185 Unique Rep: 140 Trader Rating: 0	Holy crap... I guess it all comes down to personal differences. To me, if Ultra Kaze's aren't loud, I don't know what is. But I generally don't like loud stuff. For example, I'm not the type to turn up the volume on music until the room shakes, either. UPDATE: I updated the first post with a data-sheet.

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)