Test Setup
We will use our standard air cooler test rig which you can read more about in this article. In short, we are using a Ryzen 7 2700X set to all core frequencies of 3.7GHz and 4.1GHz with PBO disabled to allow for a constant level of heat production. We will run loops of CineBench R20 at various fan levels and record the observed temperatures. We will also compare it to the other coolers we have tested thus far.
Installation
Installation on an AM4 socket can often involve swapping out the backplate on the motherboard and attaching some form of mounting setup on the other side to get the cooler to stick. In the case of the SilverStone AR01-V3, it uses the motherboard’s backplate to which you mount its mounting equipment. We were able to get it mounted without pulling the board off the test bench which was a big plus for us. Comparing to the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO, the board had to come off the bench and have a custom backplate attached.
With everything comfortably situated, let’s start seeing what kind of numbers the SilverStone AR01-V3 can put up today!