The tests were performed in a controlled air conditioned room with temperatures maintained at a constant 23c – a comfortable environment for the majority of people reading this.Idle temperatures were measured after sitting at the desktop for 30 minutes. Load measurements were acquired by playing Crysis Warhead for 30 minutes and measuring the peak temperature. We also have included Furmark results, recording maximum temperatures throughout a 30 minute stress test. All fan settings were left on automatic.
The triple fan cooler performs well, holding gaming temperatures at 64c in our environment. Surprisingly, the cooler doesn't perform at the same level as the dual fan cooling system fitted to the Asus ROG Matrix Platinum GTX980 Ti. The core on the ASUS ROG card runs at 5c less at all times.
We install the graphics card into our system and measure temperatures on the back of the PCB with our Fluke Visual IR Thermometer/Infrared Thermal Camera. This is a real world running environment playing Tomb Raider for extended periods of time.
The backplate works very well, leveling out the PCB temperatures. Most of the backplate is running at around 60c under load, however there are a couple of hotspots close to the heatsink areas – peaking at 67c. Still very impressive results.