Updates! Cooler bench overhaul & moving to X3D

Hey everyone!

We wanted to give you all an update to the behind-the-scenes progress on our lab and testing overhauls for the past month. Our big video projects were the Thermal Grizzly factory tour and the Tariffs documentary, but in the lab, we’ve been working on totally reworking our testing for coolers (again!).

Over the last few weeks, we’ve overhauled our CPU cooler test bench to align with our current CPU recommendations and use newer equipment. We’re moving to AM5 with two CPUs: the R7 9800X3D for moderate heat loads and the R9 9950X3D for high heat loads. We still have our 14900K test bench available if we want to cover any Intel parts.

Our test bench with the 9800X3D will use a 150W heat load and was chosen to represent the ceiling of what a single tower / single fan can cool. We basically want to be right on the edge of what a good single tower cooler can handle. The test bench with the 9950X3D will go up to 250W for testing liquid coolers and high-end air coolers. We’ve been using the Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 to dial-in the heat load. Basically, we want that cooler to be moderately capable of handling the 150W load and right at the edge of possible on the higher-end heat load. The 250W load can just barely complete with the PA120 at 100% fan speeds, so we’ve used that as our barometer. All of this comes down to tuning the test bench to what we want to represent. We’re also considering a lower ~100W or 120W heat load for coolers that can’t handle 150W. But as always, the enemy is time and this is our fastest way of accommodating as many coolers as possible.

Process

The process to figure out cooler bench changes mostly involves determining the type of coolers we want to spend most our time testing, which mostly just overlaps with what people in the audience need to cool. Our final settings have to ensure high-end coolers struggle to properly cool a CPU without pushing the heat to a point where things are starting to ‘thermtrip’ the CPU package, while also guaranteeing that the low-end isn’t too low. We’ve found that as high-end coolers are put on lower and lower heat loads, they all tend to equalize, which means you can’t really see the differences between them if the load just isn’t a good fit. You really shouldn’t put a 360mm liquid cooler on a 65W chip (maybe unless you just want it for looks), for example, so that wouldn’t allow coolers to differentiate themselves. 

Fan Testing

Another major change: We now have our integrated fan tester for cooler reviews. This allows us to create a PQ curve by testing static pressure and airflow. I’ve been really excited about this as it’s our first major rollout of the fan tester beyond our recent update from a few months ago. It’ll be in most of the cooler reviews going forward! The hemi-anechoic chamber has been in use for coolers for a while now, but is also now formally part of the process each time we test.

The fan testing will look at P/Q performance mostly just mounted to the plate, but we might do some tests with a radiator or something as well. For liquid coolers, we’ll definitely test P/Q with the fan mounted to the radiator it ships with, as that’ll allow us to evaluate the performance against some resistance.

We used the AM4 platform for testing coolers for 4-5 years before briefly switching to an Intel-based tech bench. We’ll keep our Intel-based 250W cooler test bench active to examine how cold plates conform to the heat spreader on Intel CPUs. Our aim is to discover any deformation within the integrated heat spreader.

General Updates

Beyond cooler testing, we filmed the first RMA Rescue video for our Consumer Advocacy (GNCA) channel. We bought a defective motherboard in an effort to identify the problem related to the reported 9800X3D and X870 failures. 

As we expand our coverage on the channel, we also filmed a video with Vincent, regular guest and attorney for U.S. consumers’ legal rights. Vincent has appeared on our videos before to help us understand the nuances of consumer rights. If you have ideas, tips, or products for us to consider for GNCA, please let us know at rmarescue@gamersnexus.net.

Lastly, we are working on a new series called “Groundwork.” The first Groundwork video will focus on how tariffs are impacting the PC hardware industry. Groundwork episodes will be field reports where we travel and speak to people on the ground to better understand their firsthand perspective and experiences on hardware topics. We have some others planned abroad.

Thanks for all the support! The cooler content will begin appearing soon.