Cooler Master V4 Alpha 3DHP CPU Cooler Review
Thermal Testing – Cinebench R24
OC3D CPU Cooler Stress Test
We want to push CPU coolers to their limit, and that requires a workload that will place maximum load on our i5-14600K CPU. Why didn’t we choose an i7 or an i9? The simple answer is that we want to test various CPU Cooler options. If we put the hottest CPU we could in our system, only the best of the best CPU coolers would even pass our testing procedures. Since not everyone uses such a power-hungry CPU, we decided to tone the wattage and thermal loads down by using an i5-14600K. Even so, this CPU consumes a lot of power and generates a lot of heat under all-core workloads. Note that our CPU is operated with a fixed voltage to deliver higher levels of thermal consistency between CPU coolers.
For testing, we have used Cinebench R24. This is an all-core workload that places heavy strain on all available CPU cores. This load pushes CPU thermals higher than any other and does so consistently. We use Cinebench R24 for 30 minutes to see how hot our CPU gets over that time. If CPU temperatures rise to 100 degrees Celsius or over, that CPU cooler has failed our testing. This is part of the reason why there are more coolers on our higher fan RPM cooler charts. Some coolers will pass our thermal testing at higher fan RPMs but fail at lower fan RPMs.
1,500 RPM fan test
First things first. This CPU cooler failed our 1000 RPM CPU cooler test. This load is simply too much for a CPU cooler of this type. However, at 1,500 RPM, the Cooler Master V4 3DHP Black delivers decent results. Note that coolers like the Arctic Freezer 36 and Cooler Master Hyper 212 Halo both fail this test. However, the Valkyrie Surge SL125 comes out on top when used with two fans.
Max RPM Fan Test
At maxed-out fan RPMs, the Cooler Master V4 Alpha remains one of the few CPU coolers in the “4-heatpipe” category to pass our challenging Cinebench test. This is a solid result for Cooler Master and its 3DHP tech. However, this is not the best cooler in this category on the market. Valkyrie has them beat with their SL125.
