My testing setup will be an open bench on my desk. Ambient temperature has been kept consistent at 22C +/- 0.1C with air conditioning. Temperature will be recorded off a probe attached to the CPU's integrated heatspreader. This is as close to reaching the CPU core without removing the integrated heatspreader. I'm a home end user and will not be conducting tests on a scientific level, mainly because I do not have the equipment.
I test how consumers would use the water-cooling kit. My purpose is to find out how well the water-cooling kit runs and whether it is a good investment for you. Idle test will last 30 minutes to let the system sit idly at desktop. Load test will last 60 minutes while Folding. Folding @ Home is one of the best programs to allow the CPU to work 100% and create heat.
Test Setup
- Intel Pentium 4 2.4C @ 3.36GHZ (12 x 280 w/ 1.7v)
- Asus P4C800-E
- 2 x 512MB Kingston HyperX PC3200UL
- BFG Geforce 6800GT
The Asus motherboard is known to have voltage fluctuation problems. I've done the droop mod which overvolts just a little bit when the system is not under load and undervolts to the selected VCORE voltage. It runs 1.728V when idle and at 1.7V when under load.
