Test Setup - AMD Athlon XP 2500+
ABIT NF7-S nForce2: Barton 2500+, 2 x 256MB Corsair TWINX PC3200 Ram, FIC Radeon 9600 Pro, 120GB Western Digital SE 8MB Cache, Windows XP SP1, nForce 2 Unified Driver Package 3.13, ATi Catalyst 3.8.
Going up against the Asetek WaterChill for our Athlon tests will be the Swiftech MCW5000, and the Thermalright SLK800 air cooler. The Thermalright has been paired up with an 80mm Delta SHE 68CFM fan. Both water blocks were tested using the WaterChill kit's Hydor L20 pump and radiator. Nanotherm Ice II is the thermal compound used for all the coolers.
To load up the system, we run Prime95 run for 20 minutes, with Folding @ Home running in the background. Ambient room temperature is maintained at ~23C/74F.
The Athlon XP 2500+ tests were done at clock speeds of 1833MHz, 2173MHz, and 2277MHz. Note that at 1833MHz, and 2173MHz, the scores of all three coolers will be displayed, but only the water blocks were capable of the 2277MHz OC.
We removed the chipset and GPU coolers to factor them out of the equation. Though we'll be displaying 7v and 12v performance, the Thermalright SLK800's fan will be running at full speed (12v).
Temperature in °C - Idle @ 1833MHz
Temperature in °C - Load @ 1833MHz
At idle speeds, both water blocks are fairly close, with the nod going to Swiftech. The Thermalright's temperatures would be decent if it were an air cooling review, but we can see how it's no match for watercooling. Things don't really change at full load, as both water blocks are doing a great job.
Temperature in °C - Load @ 2173MHz
Overclocked to 2173MHz, the WaterChill and Swiftech are once again very close. Though five rounds of testing, the Asetek won four times, and the average temperatures are about 1°C in the WaterChill's favour.
Temperature in °C - Load @ 2277MHz
With the Thermalright falling out of this overclocking tests, we're left with the water blocks duking it out. Pretty much a draw, with neither block holding a convincing lead.
Athlon Chipset - OC @ 2277MHz
We needed to remove the blocks for the Pentium 4 testing, but before that, we slapped on the chipset block for some quick tests.
The stock cooling of the NF7-S was about 33°C, and we can see quite an improvement when moving to water.
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