Heatsink Guide - AnandTech Heatsink Testing Methodology

Between the CPU and the heatsink, a thermal compound with a thermal resistance of 2.0 W/mK is applied. Some heatsinks come with a preinstalled thermal pad which should normally replace thermal compound; this pad is removed before testing. This is supposed to be a heatsink comparison, and not a thermal interface material comparison, and therefore all heatsinks are tested with the same thermal interface material.

Each heatsink test is run for 20 minutes. The published temperature reading is the maximum temperature the simulator has reached during this period.

Test results achieved using this test setup are perfectly reproducible. If you'd like to verify our testing, or if you'd like to see how your self-made heatsink/fan combo performs compared to the heatsinks tested on AnandTech, then you can go to an electronics store, buy two high performance 3.9 Ohm resistors, and glue them on a SECC1 thermal plate (e.g. from an old P2 CPU, if you don't want to open an Athlon just for that purpose) using thermoconductive epoxy. Keep in mind that the your measurements might differ slightly, because of the different interface materials - chances are that you'll be using a different thermal compound and a different thermal epoxy.