Patron Behind-the-Scenes: Too Much Data (Patreon)

Part of helping us make content means that you'll occasionally get an inside look at the challenges we face in content production. I currently have a couple dozen data points for CPU coolers. We're working with the new Kraken series (all three), the previous Kraken series, the Corsair H100iV2 cooler, and the Predator 280 XLC cooler. I've also just added an air cooler to the mix.

Processing and  thinking about all this data, it turns out, is the hard part. I was able to improve our testing methodology for thermals to a degree of accuracy of 0.45C, meaning we have a 0.45C "uncertainty" in results. That could be caused by device/diode fluctuation or other external variables. The data is pretty damn accurate, but I'm currently struggling with how to present all the various fan speeds vs. the noise levels. If we just show CPU temperature and noise output on separate charts, the devices may look unrealistically good (or bad) in one aspect or the other. In this scenario, something in the middle of each chart would actually be the best -- which seems counter-intuitive from a first glance.

That first glance matters.

I am now playing with the idea of a scatter plot, with noise on one axis and CPU temperature on the other. I'd briefly looked at doing some sort of degrees/dB formula, but it's just not linear and won't scale in a fashion that makes sense.

With some help from the team, I think we've got a solution figured out. Our Kraken review content should go live on Saturday, it looks like. This was a major endeavor, but we've built the infrastructure for rapid CPU cooler reviews in the future. This is a scalable test platform that was architected for accuracy and fast testing turn-around. The only reason it's taking a while now, as you'd expect, is because we just tested everything all at once. Going forward, we'll be able to keep old data and just cycle new tests in and out as necessary.

That's the nice thing about CPU coolers. Once the platform is built, it's trivial. This isn't like GPU tests where we've got to update for new games and drivers all the time. Pretty excited to get back into more advanced cooler testing!

- Steve.