TDX Performance and Overclockability

We testing the TDX with our test bench that consisted of the following components:

 - Intel P4 Prescott 3.0E 1mb cache 800mhz FSB
 - Asus P4C800E Deluxe
 - Danger Den Water cooling system w/ Maze 4 GPU, and Intel 865/875 Z-Block, D4 12v pump @ 12v, 1/2in Tygon tubing, 5 1/4in Bay reservior, BIX Micro II Radiator w/2x80mm 2500 Sunon fans at 1000 $ 2500 -RPM (low RPM/high RPM)
 - JetArt DT5000 fan controller
 - Visiontek x800 Pro Videocard
 - ThermalTake Butterfly 480W PSU
 - Lian Li PCV2000 Aluminum Case

     Using SiSoft Sandra 2004 burn-in tests, we waited 48Hrs for our Arctic Silver 5 to sure and commended with our thermal load tests. Temperatures were observed and logged using Mother Monitor 5.3.60, and we controlled our fan speeds with our JetArt DT-5000 FC controller using low-RPM's of 1000, and high-RPM's of 2500. The Lian Li case remains open on the system side and the overall ambient room temperature is in between 68-72F.

3.0Ghz Operation

     Set at the Asus defaults of 3.0Ghz at 200Mhz FSB (800Mhz Quad) our temperatures are very much under average temps for even a Northwood P4, and this is coming from a higher temperature-running Prescott! These are very impressive temperatures given that the Prescott has a reputation for running around 70C! Notice the small difference between low-RPM quiet operation to high-RPM's for loaded conditions. There is not a lot of variance between the two, and even the high- 2500 RPM operation is very quiet compared to a high-RPM air-cooled HSF.

3.7522Ghz Operation

Thats right we got our 3.0E up to 3.7522 with relative ease. It will even run at 3.8+ but with the fans on 2500 RPM all the time.

Final Thoughts on the TDX

     We prefer quiet PC operation with water cooling, but an extra 50mhz is just a reset away for conditions such as gaming where the added noise of your headphones or Klipsch speakers will drown out the noise of your cooling fans. Even though we managed to achieve 4.02 GHz using a Mach I cooling arrangement, we achieved a greater goal of having our test bed mobile for LAN Party's and overall user friendliness. I think that with a little help from Danger Den that we achieved our goals of overclocking a Prescott CPU. Given that the Prescott is a bit slower than the Northwood unless its overclocked, one of the main reasons no one really wants one is that they run at a considerably higher temperature, which not only heats up your overall system if you are using air cooling, but it can also take away from the confidence that a CPU can actually run reliably, and stable. With a little bit of water, maybe a Prescott is the way to go, since it scales better and is faster when overclocked compared to the Northwood. These are of course just opinions of ClubOC, but I think we proved the point that the Danger Den TDX is a great waterblock more than worthy of delivering the best water cooling of any waterblock we've tested so far at ClubOC. It comes very easy for us to recommend this as the water cooling product of the year!