Zalman 7000A-alcu or thermalright slk-947U?

digerati · Post by **digerati** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 12:51 am

I am currently running an AthlonXP 2500+ with an asus a7n8x-deluxe in an antec sonata case, everything running at stock.

My current HSF is the vantec aeroflow with the tmd fan, it keeps my cpu very cool, but also makes quite a howl that I just can't take anymore.

I'm looking for as quiet a hsf combo as i can find for a reasonable price and amount of effort to set up.

I've been looking at either the Zalman 7000a alcu or the thermalright 947u with a 92mm papst or panaflo L1a fan.

My question is, which will give me quieter performance?

Both seems to require the same effort and price is reasonably comparable, I just want to know which one will draw the least attention while running at regular speed.

Thanks

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 1:23 am

if you were in australia, the 7000a would definitely be the way to go since it can be had for 45-50. 947u + fan here would be close to 100.

assuming the prices are closer for you, i think it doesn't matter which way you go.

personally, i'd go watercooling

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 3:08 am

Hello:

I would check two things before you buy:

Look around the Forum and see if the Zalman *fits* with that motherboard in the Sonata. I know that it fits with a 3700BQE, but the Sonata is somewhat shorter...

Figure out which way the heat pipes will fit and/or the way they will work best on that motherboard.

I would go for the Zalman if it fits, since it seems that it would work better with higher case temps and less fan speed. Just get the front air intake on the Sonata opened up a bit...

Arcanthis · Post by **Arcanthis** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 7:07 am

I have an Asus A7N8X Deluxe in a Sonata with a 7000A-Cu fitted. I was worried about it fitting before I bought all the parts, but a few people assured me it would, and indeed it did with room to spare (though not a whole lot).

With the fanmate attached and it turned all the way down, it's barely audible with the case open and my ear close to it. The stock Sonata PSU fan is by far (annoyingly) louder. And the 7000A keeps the CPU impressively cool.

jabbadegrassi · Post by **jabbadegrassi** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 1:46 pm

NeilBlanchard wrote:Hello:

I would check two things before you buy:

Look around the Forum and see if the Zalman *fits* with that motherboard in the Sonata. I know that it fits with a 3700BQE, but the Sonata is somewhat shorter...

Figure out which way the heat pipes will fit and/or the way they will work best on that motherboard.

I would go for the Zalman if it fits, since it seems that it would work better with higher case temps and less fan speed. Just get the front air intake on the Sonata opened up a bit...

Heatpipes? You must be thinking of the SP-97, the SLK-947 is a revamped SLK-900 that resolved some compatability issues...

nap_loaf · Post by **nap_loaf** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 2:15 pm

If low noise is your number one priority, an SLK with Panaflo is better than the 7000A. The 7000A's fan at 5V is pretty quiet but still not as good as a fan you choose yourself.

But if you want really good cooling performance and value for money, get the 7000A (especially since it comes with a Fanmate). You could always try running it at 4V like a recent review suggested.

Gxcad · Post by **Gxcad** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 7:13 pm

nap_loaf wrote:If low noise is your number one priority, an SLK with Panaflo is better than the 7000A. The 7000A's fan at 5V is pretty quiet but still not as good as a fan you choose yourself.

But if you want really good cooling performance and value for money, get the 7000A (especially since it comes with a Fanmate). You could always try running it at 4V like a recent review suggested.

I completely agree with naploaf, the 7000A-AlCu is a great deal and better at cooling than the 947U, but not exactly super quiet even at 5v. Fortunately I can run the zalman at less than 5v and this makes it extremely quiet and IMO preferable to a 947U with panaflo 80mmL1A @5v or 7v because it cools so well despite such a low noise level. With the right voltage, it is inaudible yet starts up consistently.

If you do not have a means to run less than 5v, I suggest going with the 947U because you can use your own fan. The Panaflo 80mm L1A @5v is completely inaudible in any practical purpose even at 3am, and I'd consider my noise tolerances to be on the tight side even in this community, not to mention the ambient noise where I live at 3am is very low. The downside it that it won't cool as well as the zalman at ~4v, and probably would be borderline for cooling a 2500+ at stock...if you undervolt by ~.15 vcore, that should keep the cpu stable and reduce the heat by quite a bit, which should allow a 947U with panaflo 80mm @5v to cool well.

As a point of reference, I use the zalman 7000A-AlCu @ ~4v and it can cool a 2ghz tbred B @ 1.6vcore folding@home (full load). My ambient is 21c most of the time but I have pretty good case cooling (3 120mm fans all at ~4v). Temps reach around 54c at load using arctic ceramique.

-Ken

Jan Kivar · Post by **Jan Kivar** » Sat Feb 14, 2004 11:40 am

Gxcad wrote:As a point of reference, I use the zalman 7000A-AlCu @ ~4v and it can cool a 2ghz tbred B @ 1.6vcore folding@home (full load). My ambient is 21c most of the time but I have pretty good case cooling (3 120mm fans all at ~4v). Temps reach around 54c at load using arctic ceramique.

OT: How do You get 4V easily? Or do You just use one of those Sunbeams?

Cheers,

Jan

SebRad · Post by **SebRad** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 4:49 pm

Hi, I just got a Zalman 7000A AlCu. It's cooling a Barton 2500 @ 2200MHz (3200+ speed) with slight Vcore increase from 1.65 to 1.675. It's connected to the fan mate (at max) and then to the Zalman multi-fan controller. The fan mate is simply there to drop the voltage a bit. Max speed is reduced from 2500 to 2350rpm and the minimum is below the 1350rpm that my motherboard will register. Two fan mates would probably work the same, or maybe an inline resistor with one fan mate.
Using 80mm Panaflo case fans at minimum (~5V) and the 7000a at minimum the CPU (diode) temp runs in the low 60s°C at full load (D2OL all night). Turning just the Zalman up reduces that to mid 50s°C. Turning up the case fans as well brings the temp down to high 40s°C.
I've isolated the 7000A's fan using thin rubber sheets on both sides of the mounting screws; I don't know how much difference this makes.
For reference below ~1350rpm my 7000A is not identifiable as a separate noise source over the 80mm Panaflo L1As, my Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer on low is!
How this helps and I haven’t rambled too much!
Seb

aston · Post by **aston** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 3:15 pm

Jan Kivar wrote:OT: How do You get 4V easily? Or do You just use one of those Sunbeams?

I've been trying to come up with a way of getting < 5v into my 7000A-AlCu as well. I haven't tried this myself, but if you fed 5v or 7v into the Zalman Fanmate, couldn't you get lower than the 5v you'd normally get at the lowest setting?

[edit]I just tried it and it doesn't work. Ah well.

[/edit]

crypt0r · Post by **crypt0r** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 3:10 am

How about speedfan? Zalman starts with speedfan @ 25% voltage or something (I forget...built the system several weeks ago)...that would make it around 3-4V, I believe.

silvervarg · Post by **silvervarg** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 6:15 am

Aston:
I've been trying to come up with a way of getting < 5v into my 7000A-AlCu as well. I haven't tried this myself, but if you fed 5v or 7v into the Zalman Fanmate, couldn't you get lower than the 5v you'd normally get at the lowest setting?

As you already found out it does not work to do that with the fanmate.
What you can do is add something after the fanmate to lower the voltage.
A resistor or a few diods will work fine.
These will ofcourse also lower the miximum voltage that you can feed the fan.
The advantage with diods is that they are very consisten with different fans. Resistors are slightly more sensitive to the fan you are using.
This can be an issue if you like to use them with an external controller and want the fan to spin even on the lowest setting.
With a fanmate this is not really an issue, since you can see if the fan stops when you turn down the fanmate.

The easiest stock solution is to use one of the resistors that zalman sells. There are two versions 56ohm and 100ohm. They look like a very short fan extension cable with a resistor on the +12 line (red wire).
Since you just want to drop 1 volt or so you will do fine with the 56ohm resistor.
If you want full +12 volt you can quickly disconnet the resistor.

The zalman resistor cables are ~$1.
If you like to solder you can just put a resistor or diods on the fan +12V wire. Just remember to use shrinkwrap so you don't risk to short something out. Make sure you use resistors/diods that can take enought wattage.
A normal resistor is ~$0.02.

Zalman 7000A-alcu or thermalright slk-947U?

Zalman 7000A-alcu or thermalright slk-947U?

2 things to check...

Re: 2 things to check...

less than 5V