For the cooling performance testing we used the silent fan profile. This meant that the maximum fan speed we could get was 1500RPM. For me this was ideal because even though this was the “Silent” profile, it still wasn’t that silent relative to the competition.
With the stock settings on our i5 3570K we can see that the Enermax ELC 120 struggles to pull away from the Corsair H55 even though it has an extra fan and a thicker radiator. However, it does sit alongside a lot of other liquid CPU coolers all within just a few degrees of each other so these aren’t exactly unexpected results.
Overclocking is where I was hoping the Enermax ELC 120 would break free from the entry level liquid coolers and equal the performance of the new NZXT Kraken X40. Unfortunately it only managed to beat the Cooler Master Seidon 120M by two degrees and the Corsair H55 by one degree. This is surprising because both of those units use a single 120mm fan and 27mm radiator while the Enermax ELC 120 uses dual 120mm fans and 32mm radiator.
It probably just needs some fettling and refining. Rubber hoses definitely won’t go amiss. Maybe the gen 2 will provide just that.