Testing:
Once I figured out how to install my notebook computer on the CF-6159-1 cooler, I proceeded to test its performance. The first thing I noted was the noise output. Although it was quieter than the Cooler Master NotePal P1, it was not quite as quiet as the other Hiyatek cooler, even when that one was set to full speed. The fan speed controller on their other model is a great feature as it allows you to drop the speed and truly operate in silence. Although the features for the CF-6159-1 cooler say it is silent, it is not quite true.
The key portion of the testing is obviously related to the thermal performance, and I moved on to that next. In previous notebook cooler reviews I used a thermal probe to measure the computer's skin temperature near the CPU, and Smart Fan to monitor the hard drive's temperature. With the latest version of
Speed Fan (4.31) downloaded, I spent a bit more time looking through the software, and was able to configure it to read hard drive, CPU, and GPU temperatures. So this time around, all measurements will be taken from the data provided by Speed Fan while the computer is set up to operate as I would usually use it. WinAmp was loaded to stream Internet radio, Trillian was loaded but idle, Outlook Express was loaded and set to check mail every minute, and the Maxthon web browser was loaded and set to refresh a page every 30 seconds. The system was then allowed to run for a period of 60 minutes, and the maximum sustained temperatures for each of the three components being monitored was recorded.
The chart above details the data recorded without a cooler, as well as with both Hiyatek coolers and the Cooler Master NotePal P1 installed on the test system while an ambient temperature of 21 degrees Celsius was maintained. It shows that the CF-6159-1 cooler provided the best temperatures for the CPU and GPU, and was a close second on HDD temperatures. The HY-CF-6157-01 is the second place finisher, and the NotePal P1 finished third out of three. Given that the HY-CF-6157-01 is aluminum and has three speed controlled fans, I didn't expect the CF-6159-1 to be the cooling champ, but that is exactly what happened.
