(I tried adding this to the comments field in the latest review, but kept geting an error...)
Re: Ambient temps - "Room temperature is measured before beginning the cooler tests and is maintained in the 20 to 22C (68 to 72F) range for all testing."
It would help if the ambient temps were measured and stated (within the on-going, cummulative chart) for each and every review. It's certainly reasonable limits and effort on your part, but the problem is the nature of these types of reviews and the "impression" it gives the readers...
Let's assume for the sake of discussion (ie. Hypothetically) that the Ultra 120 eXtreme happened to be tested with that 2C advantage... that could put it behind 4 other coolers tested (in the idle chart), instead of on top of the heap. It could also make something like the Infinity, Noctua 12 or Max Orb leap-frog 'ahead' of 5,6 or 7 (respectively) other coolers on the load chart, for example.
I'd also note that at least one user has done testing and at least with his particular cpu and system setup, each 1C of ambient accounts for a 2C rise in cpu temps... if this turns out to be the case in your test setup, we'd be talking about 4C variances... in a chart where the top 6 ranks are within 4C of each other (oon the load chart) and a DOZEN configurations fall in the 36-40 (4C) range, it could certainly make your charts look quite different.
I think this may also potentially affect some of your 'top oc reached' testing. If a cooler is on the bleeding edge of it's cooling ability, a 2C swing of ambient temps (one way or the other) could be the difference in reaching that oc or not.
Now, having said all of that, I personally don't think 2-3C cooling differences are enough to worry about (or at least enough to place more 'value' on one cooler over another), simply due to the fact that there are any number of issues that could account for 2-3C swings in such reviews, but many folks tend to look at the resulting charts as somehow being "gospel" and defining absolute performance differences between various HSFs...
In a chart where there are often 4-5 HSFs with the exact same cooling numbers, but yet they have to be listed in 'some' order, there are already inherit 'perceptual' problems, without having to worry if some cooler had a 2C ambient advantage in testing - that's just one more variable that could easily be accounted for (well, going forward, at least) if the actual ambient temp was listed for each review.
Re: Ambient temps - "Room temperature is measured before beginning the cooler tests and is maintained in the 20 to 22C (68 to 72F) range for all testing."
It would help if the ambient temps were measured and stated (within the on-going, cummulative chart) for each and every review. It's certainly reasonable limits and effort on your part, but the problem is the nature of these types of reviews and the "impression" it gives the readers...
Let's assume for the sake of discussion (ie. Hypothetically) that the Ultra 120 eXtreme happened to be tested with that 2C advantage... that could put it behind 4 other coolers tested (in the idle chart), instead of on top of the heap. It could also make something like the Infinity, Noctua 12 or Max Orb leap-frog 'ahead' of 5,6 or 7 (respectively) other coolers on the load chart, for example.
I'd also note that at least one user has done testing and at least with his particular cpu and system setup, each 1C of ambient accounts for a 2C rise in cpu temps... if this turns out to be the case in your test setup, we'd be talking about 4C variances... in a chart where the top 6 ranks are within 4C of each other (oon the load chart) and a DOZEN configurations fall in the 36-40 (4C) range, it could certainly make your charts look quite different.
I think this may also potentially affect some of your 'top oc reached' testing. If a cooler is on the bleeding edge of it's cooling ability, a 2C swing of ambient temps (one way or the other) could be the difference in reaching that oc or not.
Now, having said all of that, I personally don't think 2-3C cooling differences are enough to worry about (or at least enough to place more 'value' on one cooler over another), simply due to the fact that there are any number of issues that could account for 2-3C swings in such reviews, but many folks tend to look at the resulting charts as somehow being "gospel" and defining absolute performance differences between various HSFs...
In a chart where there are often 4-5 HSFs with the exact same cooling numbers, but yet they have to be listed in 'some' order, there are already inherit 'perceptual' problems, without having to worry if some cooler had a 2C ambient advantage in testing - that's just one more variable that could easily be accounted for (well, going forward, at least) if the actual ambient temp was listed for each review.