Overclock Testing
Mild OC Testing
For our Mild OC testing, we have configured our CPU to run 4300MHz on all cores, set the voltage to 1.15V, and configured memory to XMP mode. This yields an approximate power at the wall of 450w under load (a 350w differential from idle, which pulls about 100w). This results in the CPU running at 4.3GHz 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
Running our AIOs at full tilt allowed the MSI MEG CORELIQUID S360 to chalk up a narrow victory over there rest of the field, landing at 70 degrees Celsius compared to the SilverStone PF360-RGB at 71C and everyone else at 73C.
1500 RPM Fans – 100% Pump Speed
Bringing the fans down to 1500 RPM had a similar effect as it did at stock clocks and the MSI MEG CORELIQUID S360 continued to maintain its small lead at 73C.
1000 RPM Fans – 100% Pump Speed
With the fans set to 1000 RPM, the MSI MEG CORELIQUID S360 started to lose its footing a bit, falling to third place at 83C. Much like with the stock clock testing at this speed, we’re starting to notice that the sweet spot for performance is in the 1500-2000 RPM range.
600 RPM Fans – 100% Pump Speed
Quite frankly, we’re not sure why this header is even here (Ed: You’re supposed to make a chart for this). We do this test to every AIO that comes across our bench and only one has passed it, the SilverStone IceGem 280. We’re not entirely sure how it passed as it teetering right on the edge before thermal throttling kicked in at 96C, but somehow it did. All other coolers ever tested in this scenario have boarded the fail bus.
Max OC Testing
For our Max OC testing, we have configured our CPU to run 4700MHz on all cores, set the voltage to 1.25V, and configured memory to XMP mode. This yields an approximate power at the wall of 600w under load (a 500w differential from idle, which pulls about 100w). This results in the CPU running at 4.7GHz on all cores during the looping rounds of Cinebench R20. The only test that was completed without throttling was the Max Fans and 100% pump speed test. You can read more about this in our introduction article here.
Max Fans – 100% Pump Speed
Setting our test bench to “large flaming blowtorch mode” showed that the MSI MEG CORELIQUID S360 came out on top of all of the other contestants and gave us the best performance that we have seen here. Only two others, the Enermax LIQTECH II 360mm and Corsair H15i Platinum, were able to pass this test with the SilverStone offerings boarding the fail bus.
Now that we have seen how all of our units cool, let’s see if we can still hear!