Test System Specifications:
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X
- Motherboard: ASRock Phantom Gaming X870E Nova WiFi
- Memory: 32GB (2 x 16GB Modules) Kingston Fury DDR5-6000
- Graphics card: MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT Gaming X
- Storage: 1TB Corsair MP600 Elite PCIe Gen4x4 NVME M.2 SSD
- Power Supply: Seasonic Prime TX-1600
- Chassis: Open Test Bench
- Thermal Compound: Arctic MX-6
- O/S: Windows 11 Version 24H2
Testing Methodology:
We are primarily focusing on the performance of each cooler at 100% fan speed and also when locked to 40dBA noise output. We will focus on cooling performance using a manual overclock with all-core frequency and VCORE locked to 5.2GHz/1.3V (AMD) and 5.5GHz/1.3V (Intel) and Precision Boost Overdrive performance.
- The test data is logged using HWINFO and the final 10 minutes of the data is calculated to find the average CPU temperature and CPU clock multiplier (AMD PBO Test) and then plotted in the charts.
- For testing, we use a 30-minute looped run of Cinebench R23 and record the steady-state CPU temperature at the end of the test. This ensures that the CPU has had ample time to warm up and reach a steady state under all of the coolers.
- The ambient is maintained at 19-21 degrees Celsius. Where there is variation beyond this temperature range, we add extra repeated tests to ensure consistency. However, this is well controlled now with A/C.
- We also test each cooler with at least two fresh installs (typically three) to mitigate the likelihood of poor mounting spoiling results.
- Ambient temperature and humidity are controlled via a mini split air conditioning system inside the test room. Ambient temperature is maintained between 19-20C, Temperature delta figures are shown in the charts (ambient temperature is deducted from the measured component temperature).
Test Results:
Acoustics
We’ll start by looking at noise output as this will give us a better understanding of thermal performance based on the noise.
AT 57dBA the CPS PCCooler DT360 ARGB display is loud but the fans are running at very high speed, so this high noise output is to be expected, but you wouldn’t want to run the cooler at this fan speed if you care about noise at all.
Thermal Performance: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X
With the fans running at max speed and the CPU at a fixed frequency, the performance of the DT 360 ARGB Display is quite impressive at 58°C over ambient, which is only a couple of degrees off the best and equalling the performance of the likes of the Lian Li Hydroshift II 360 and Silverstone ICEMYST 420.
With the CPU still at fixed frequency, fan speed is reduced to hit the 40dBA noise target. For the DT360 ARGB Display we had to reduce the speed to 1770 rpm, which is still quite high compared to several other coolers.
This drops the performance to mid-table, similar performance as the Deepcool Mystique 360 and the be quiet! Silent Loop 3 420 at 64°C over ambient, which again is only a few degrees off the top coolers, so it's solid performance from the PCCooler DT360 AIO.
In the PBO test the important metric is the clock multiplier as the CPU auto-adjusts frequency to meet a target temperature, so the temperature delta between coolers is close.
Again with fans at maximum speed the DT360 ARGB Display is placed in mid table with an average clock multiplier of 52.4x which means the CPU is running at 20 MHz per core lower that the top coolers, but this will be a minor performance drop and not noticeable in real world scenarios so overall thermal performance is good but its very loud at max fan speed.