Cooling Black Ridge clone from Taobao

thelaughingman

SFF Guru
Original poster
Jul 14, 2018
1,413
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Hi, since I'm based in Vietnam there is no way to buy a real Black Ridge directly before let alone now during the human malware situation. So it came to my surprise quite a number of people in the Vietnamese ITX community post their pictures using the cooler. Turns out it's a clone / copy from Taobao so I took a plunge to see what it's like. Cost me 39 USD so about 20% cheaper than OCUK.

Will do some tests tomorrow and show the comparison with L9a then. Good night all!
 
Last edited:

thelaughingman

SFF Guru
Original poster
Jul 14, 2018
1,413
1,566
Here is my test:
  • Cold restart, 5 consecutive Cinebench R20 runs
  • Monitored and logged via HWiNFO64
  • Everything is the same - hardware, software, except the cooler itself
    • Fan used is NF-A9x14 Chromax, orientation set is intake from side panel blowing air towards the motherboard
  • Ambient temperature of 27C
And here is the result



Takeaway:
  • The Black Ridge clone is 3-4C cooler than L9a with fan duct
  • With better temp, my 3900X boost clock was 100Mhz higher, this translated to a +36 scores on Cinebench R20
  • I run the 3900X in Eco mode all the time so if it was stock, the gap would have been much bigger since the L9a would probably reach temp limit and causes throttle
To sum up it is worth the purchase - better performance both noise and thermal AND cheaper than the L9a. Very happy with it!
 
Last edited:

rfarmer

Spatial Philosopher
Jul 7, 2017
2,588
2,702
Here is my test:
  • Cold restart, 5 consecutive Cinebench R20 runs
  • Monitored and logged via HWiNFO64
  • Everything is the same - hardware, software, except the cooler itself
  • Ambient temperature of 27C
And here is the result



Takeaway:
  • The Black Ridge clone is 3-4C cooler than L9a with fan duct
  • With better temp, my 3900X boost clock was 100Mhz higher, this translated to a +36 scores on Cinebench R20
  • I run the 3900X in Eco mode all the time so if it was stock, the gap would have been much bigger since the L9a would probably reach temp limit and causes throttle
To sum up it is worth the purchase - better performance both noise and thermal AND cheaper than the L9a. Very happy with it!
Very decent results, it is too bad you don't have vlp ram so you could test it with a 120mm fan.
 
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Poblopuablo

King of Cable Management
Jan 14, 2018
816
465
What is the stock fan? And did you use a nf-a9x14 in your testing, or a stock fan? Also, what orientation fan. (I believe the BR come with exhaust, but intake offers better performance).
 
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thelaughingman

SFF Guru
Original poster
Jul 14, 2018
1,413
1,566
What is the stock fan? And did you use a nf-a9x14 in your testing, or a stock fan? Also, what orientation fan. (I believe the BR come with exhaust, but intake offers better performance).

Have all the accessories except the fan - had the option to order the NF-A9x14 together with the cooler but already had the Chromax one on hand so I ordered cooler only. I used the NF-A9x14 Chromax and set it as intake from the side blowing air towards the motherboard
 
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