Currently testing several low-profile CPU coolers, in my newly (re)built OBS streaming system.

System specifications as follows:

CPU:

Intel i5-13500

Mainboard:

MSI B760I Edge Wifi DDR4

RAM:

32 GB DDR4 3600 (Corsair Vengeance LPX)

Storage:

1 TB NVMe (PCI 4)

PSU:

Fractal Design Ion SFX 650W Gold (SFX-L)

GPU:

Asus Phoenix RTX 3050

Case:

Shiny Snake / Miningeek Neo S400

Case fans:

2x slim 120 mm, 1x Silverstone Air Slimmer ARGB, 1x Scythe Kaze Flex Slim 120

OS:

Manjaro

Coolers used for the test:

• Be Quiet Silent Loop 2 280 mm – liquid cooling solution in the original build (Meshlicious w/ full mesh panels)
• Thermalright AXP-120×67
• Thermalright SI-100 – open panel only
• Noctua NH-L12S
• Mars Gaming MCPU220

Base levels for testing:

Room temperature is approx. 21~ C, testing is done with CPU in idle, 100% load and mixed mode (in its original purpose, ie. streaming using OBS Studio, ProjectM visualizer and VLC running).
Optionally doing noise level tests, although the case fans tend to be louder than the CPU fan. Currently using the “neodym magnet” mod, which moves the case fans as far to the front as possible; also rerouting the PSU extension through the GPU slot opening, to reduce heat impact (the original routing sits right above the VRM and PCIe riser cable, the hottest part in the case during CPU loads).

CPU load is being induced using the simple but very effective method called “Yes Stress Test”, which uses the ‘yes’ binary, which is part of the GNU core utils package (ie. part of all normal Linux installations), to utilize one core at a time.
‘yes’ repeats the letter ‘y’ (or any other string you define) until its process is killed, utilizing 100% CPU load per core / thread. Also see the article “How to stress test your CPU on Linux” for a more detailed explaination.

All temperatures are in Celsius.

Test results so far: