Airtop3
power and thermal
tests

Airtop3 incorporates both Core i9 9900K (95W) and Quadro RTX 4000 (160W) both passively cooled in a 7.5 liter housing.

Apparently, this setup is considered unusual. Some find it unlikely that such a system can work under load for a long period of time without overheating. Insufficient cooling could result in system crash, reduced performance (throttling) or damage to components and devices. It is not unheard of for system builders to cap the power of the CPU or the GPU below their designated power envelope in order to avoid overheating.

Below are the results of some thermal tests executed internally at Compulab. These tests should provide an indication of how Airtop3 behaves under continuous load.

Please check the following independent reviews of Airtop3. 

CPU
thermal test

In this test Aida64 stability test was executed.

  • CPU: Core i9 9900K
  • Run time: 30 minutes
  • Ambient temperature: 24ºC

Results:

  • Max CPU power: 180W
  • Max CPU package temperature: 88ºC
  • Throttling: none

Note: NVMe temperature stays approx. 30ºC below that of the CPU and does not exceed 56ºC throughout the test. This is thanks to the dedicated thermal zone of the storage devices.

GPU
thermal test

In this test FurMark was executed.

  • GPU: Quadro RTX 4000
  • Run time: 30 minutes
  • Ambient temperature: 24ºC

Results:

  • Max GPU power: 160W
  • Max GPU temperature: 87ºC
  • Throttling: Gradual throttling once GPU reaches 87ºC (after 25 minutes). GPU performance stays above 90% throughout the test

Max power
test

In this test Prime95 (for loading CPU) and FurMark (for loading GPU) were executed simultaneously.

  • CPU: Core i9 9900K
  • GPU: Quadro RTX 4000
  • Run time: 30 minutes
  • Ambient temperature: 24ºC

Results:

  • Total peak power: 325W
  • Total sustained power: 275W
  • Max CPU package temperature: 92ºC
  • Max GPU temperature: 87ºC
  • CPU throttling: none
  • GPU throttling: Gradual throttling once GPU reaches 87ºC (after 22 minutes). GPU performance stays above 85% throughout the test
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