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Methodology
The block formerly in this system was a D-Tek Fuzion v.2. It’s an older block, but with proper mounting still performed quite well on this furnace that is an i7. To have something to compare the XT to, results from that block will be used.
The comparison tests were run at this system’s 24/7 overclock of 3.8GHz & 1.305Vcore (loaded, per CPUz). Core temperatures were recorded by CoreTemp x64. Ambient temperatures were recorded with a common room thermometer and were constant throughout testing. Fan speeds were kept at their normal speed (i.e. they were not changed between system configurations) via a Sunbeam Rheobus Extreme fan controller
Testing and Results
For the first test, eight threads of Prime95 Small FFTs were run for half-an-hour. All temperatures are in degrees Celsius.
Fuzion v.2 Core Temperatures at 30min Mark
| Core0 | Core1 | Core2 | Core3 | Average |
| 67 | 67 | 64 | 65 | 65.75 |
Fuzion v.2 Highest Core Temperatures Over 30min
| Core0 | Core1 | Core2 | Core3 | Average |
| 68 | 68 | 65 | 66 | 66.75 |
Apogee XT Core Temperatures at 30min Mark
| Core0 | Core1 | Core2 | Core3 | Average |
| 64 | 65 | 62 | 64 | 63.75 |
Apogee XT Highest Core Temperatures Over 30min
| Core0 | Core1 | Core2 | Core3 | Average |
| 65 | 68 | 63 | 65 | 65.25 |
Improvement in Core Temperatures at 30min Mark
| Core0 | Core1 | Core2 | Core3 | Average |
| 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
Improvement in Highest Core Temperatures Over 30min
| Core0 | Core1 | Core2 | Core3 | Average |
| 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1.5 |
| Fuzion v.2 | Apogee XT |
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So, that was a surprise. Overall, not too impressed with the Prime runs. Let’s see what happens with some real-world crunching.
For the second test, the setup was identical but this time the load was applied using BIONIC crunching Rosetta. Coretemp logging was used to record temperatures over twelve hours. It’s December and the heat is on, so ambient temperatures can vary somewhat over such a long time period. That was as controlled as possible by keeping the thermostat on the same setting. Temperatures were recorded from 12:34am to 12:34pm both runs.
Fuzion v.2 Core Temperatures Averaged Over 12 Hours
| Core0 | Core1 | Core2 | Core3 | Average |
| 60.2 | 60.5 | 58.0 | 58.9 | 59.4 |
Fuzion v.2 Highest Core Temperatures
| Core0 | Core1 | Core2 | Core3 | Average |
| 67 | 67 | 65 | 66 | 66.25 |
Apogee XT Core Temperatures Averaged Over 12 Hours
| Core0 | Core1 | Core2 | Core3 | Average |
| 55.7 | 55.5 | 53.9 | 54.7 | 54.95 |
Apogee XT Highest Core Temperatures
| Core0 | Core1 | Core2 | Core3 | Average |
| 61 | 62 | 59 | 61 | 60.75 |
Improvement in Core Temperatures Averaged Over 12 Hours
| Core0 | Core1 | Core2 | Core3 | Average |
| 4.5 | 5.0 | 4.1 | 4.2 | 4.45 |
Improvement in Highest Core Temperatures Over 12 Hours
| Core0 | Core1 | Core2 | Core3 | Average |
| 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5.5 |
Well then, that’s more like it! To gain roughly five degrees Celsius from just changing a water block is nothing to sneeze at. If the complete data sets interest you, here are the Excel spreadsheets for the Fuzion v.2 and the Apogee XT.
Obviously there is some discrepancy between the two tests. Had more Prime tests been run, perhaps it would have shown a greater difference. It’s regrettable that more tests weren’t run using that metric. Thankfully, the 12 hour test is a better measure of real world performance, so we’re more confident in those results. Even if you average the two test results, at highest recorded temps for both tests, the improvement is still impressive at 3.5C.
