Thermaltake Massive23 LX Notebook Cooler

Testing

In order to get a good idea of how effective the Massive23 was at cooling, we put it through a series of tests. Each test was using Avidemux to transcode an AVI/MP3 movie into a MP4/AAC movie. Each test was run with the priority set to maximum. What this basically means is that the CPU was running at 100% for about 50 minutes in each test. The test system was a Dell XPS M1710 laptop with an Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 CPU, 4GB of RAM, an nVidia GeForce 7950 GTX, and Windows 7 Professional 32-bit. The M1710 has five different settings for the internal fans: Both fans off; one fan on "low" (around 1500RPM), one off; both fans on "low;" one fan on "high" (around 3600 RPM), one on "low"; and both fans on "high."

Temperatures were recorded with I8kfanGUI, a third party program designed to read the GPU, CPU, chipset and RAM temperatures of Dell Inspiron laptops, and used as an alternative fan controller to the one built into the BIOS. While there were thoughts of testing the temperatures that occurred during gaming, the notion was dismissed due to the lack of consistency in the testing variables. Finally, because this cooler has the ability to shut the fan off, we also tested how well the Massive23 works as a passive cooler.



First, some explanations of the numbers are in order. In regards to the discrepancy of the idle speeds (namely, how the idle temperature is higher with the cooler fan on than it is without the cooler), the M1710 is perfectly capable of idling with both fans off, but when using the High Performance power setting in Windows 7 with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi enabled, it idles on the second setting instead (one fan on "low," the other off). The laptop idles this way both on the desk and on the Massive23 with the fan off (though the idle temperature is lower on the latter). The tests were conducted this way because this is how most people tend to use desktop replacement laptops anyways.

The problem is that with the fan on the Massive23 enabled, the M1710 stays cool enough that the internal fans never turn on, so the CPU temperature rises as a result. For example, during the cool-down period after the Full Load tests, the test system quickly dropped to around 40°C in CPU temperature, and then the internal fans shut off completely. After that happens, the CPU temperature slowly rose back up to around 50°C and stayed there. Strictly speaking, this isn't really a problem at all, because the Massive23 fan is quieter than the internal fans are, and the cooler keeps the bottom of the laptop cool.

A similar situation occurs with the other temperatures achieved in the tests. With the laptop simply sitting on a desk, the temperature shoots up to 78°C rather quickly. After that, the fans switch from the second setting to the 4th setting (one fan on "high," one on "low") and the temperature drops down to 76°C (where it stays). Basically the same thing happens with the laptop on the Massive23 with the fan off, though it takes a little longer to heat up to the (lower) temperature peak, and the internal fans drop the temperature down lower as well.
With the Massive23 fan turned on, however, none of the internal fans turn on at all until the CPU reaches 68°C (which takes longer then it does for either of the other test conditions to even reach). Another difference is that when the fans turn on, they only go to the third speed setting (both fans on "low"), and then the temperature drops like a stone to around 52°C.

To sum up, not only does the Massive23 keep the test system considerably cooler at idle (6°C cooler at idle without the fan even on, and cool enough that the internal fans never turn on with the cooler fan turned on), but it also makes it so it takes considerably longer for the test system to get hotter when under load. Furthermore, with the fan turned on it even keeps the internal fans completely off until they are absolutely necessary (it actually took a little over seven minutes for the M1710 to reach the peak temperature with the Massive23 turned on), and when they do turn on the Massive23 greatly helps them with the internal cooling.