Stock Clock Testing
For our stock clock testing, we have configured our CPU to run at factory settings for speed, voltage, and configured memory to XMP mode. This yields an approximate power at the wall of 300w under load (a 200w differential from idle, which pulls about 100w). This results in the CPU running at 3.8GHz on all cores during the looping rounds of Cinebench R20. You can read more about this in our introduction article here.
Max Fans – 100% Pump Speed
We started our testing by turning the fans up all the way to 11 which brought the SilverStone IceGem 280 to the same 55C that the 280mm Corsair H115i Platinum also came in at. This is better than the 360mm AIO’s that we have seen to date.
We noted that the max fan speed on the Corsair H115i Platinum topped out at 1,800 RPM while the SilverStone IceGem 280 topped out at just 1,600 RPM. This is slower than the RPM seen on any other unit we have tested to date. This definitely speaks to SilverStone’s claims of being “pressure optimized”.
1500 RPM Fans – 100% Pump Speed
Dropping the fans slightly to 1,500 RPM brought the units a little more separation. The SilverStone IceGem 280 displaced the Corsair H115i Platinum as the coolest running AIO when it hit 56 degrees Celsius. This is compared to the 57 degrees Celsius that the Corsair H115i Platinum posted. Interestingly, this is also better than all of our 360mm options we have seen to date.
1000 RPM Fans – 100% Pump Speed
Lowering the fans RPM further, to 1,000 RPM, sees the SilverStone IceGem 280 come in at the same 60 degrees Celsius that the Corsair H115i Platinum hit. This makes this pair of 280mm coolers the best performing in this test. The best 360mm cooler we have seen (the SilverStone PF360-RGB) came in at 64 degrees Celsius.
600 RPM Fans – 100% Pump Speed
Finally, down at 600 RPM with the pump still at 100%, the SilverStone IceGem 280 does the unthinkable and comes in at the same 68 degrees Celsius that the Enermax LIQTECH II 360 did. The Corsair H115i Platinum followed at 71 degrees Celsius. All the rest of the AIOs we have reviewed to date are not even close to this performance level.
600 RPM Fans – 50% Pump Speed
To silence the pump, we dropped its speed to 50% giving us our quietest configuration to test. The Enermax LIQTECH II 360 bests all AIO’s at 68 degrees Celsius. However, the SilverStone IceGem 280 comes in just behind it at 73 degrees Celsius (along with the Corsair H115i Platinum). Beyond that, the separation is a considerable 5 degrees Celsius to failed for the other AIOs.
Let’s move on now to look at some Mild Overclocking results with our coolers.