For the testing phase of this review, the hardware and programs run are identical to the procedures used testing the original Bigwater kit. This time around, however, I only tested the Bigwater SE with the P4 2.8Ghz. Northwood CPU overclocked to 3.4Ghz. Temperatures were recorded with MBM5 at idle and under load. The computer was turned on, left to idle for 30 minutes, then monitored for the next 20 minutes, and the highest temperature was recorded. Then, using Sandra 2004 Burn In Wizard, the system was subjected to 25 iterations of CPU arithmetic and multimedia benchmarking with 100% CPU utilization. Then, the machine was shut down for one hour. Separate runs were recorded at maximum and minimum radiator fan speeds. All panels were in place during testing and the case fans were at default speeds throughout. I saw no significant changes in case temperatures after installing the BigWater SE, which is probably a result of the excellent airflow in the Kandalf chassis . While not stunning, the results were a little surprising. Frankly, with the decreased pump flow I expected to see a decrease in performance. I was wrong again.
With ambient temperature maintained at 22C, the following results were obtained:
Like I said, nothing earth shattering, but slightly lower temps with little penalty for running in silent mode.
