Zalman Fans

mynameisyoung · Post by **mynameisyoung** » Sat Apr 03, 2004 6:23 pm

Been searching for info about the Zalman Fans but no one seems to mention them much. I've been looking for a fan for the Thermalright SLK-900a.

The specs seem great, but kind of unbelievable for the 92mm.

92mm:
http://www.svc.com/92zalzm.html

80mm:
http://www.svc.com/80zalzm.html

So how do you these fans compare to the more widely praised ones like the Panaflo and Papst fans.

edcrane · Post by **edcrane** » Sat Apr 03, 2004 7:16 pm

yeah I agree with you about the 92mm. the whole 38cfm @20dba seems generous in one direction or another.

EndoSteel · Post by **EndoSteel** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 6:54 am

mynameisyoung
ZM-F2 is very good below 1000 RPM (completely inaudible at 700 while still pushing a decent amount of air), but at full speed it's definitely loud.

wumpus · Post by **wumpus** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 7:29 am

WARNING: The Zalman 92mm fan is awful. I am a huge fan of Zalman products, they are generally outstanding-- but for whatever reason, the Zalman 92mm fan is horribly noisy.. at least for the 2-3 samples I've owned.

pdf27 · Post by **pdf27** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 7:47 am

Yeah, I've got one too. It shifts quite a lot of air, but with the supplied 56ohm resistor it's very clicky. At full speed it's almost unbearably loud.
It really isn't a silent fan, despite the description.

I've replaced it with a Papst 3412, which is slightly louder at 12v than the Zalman is when fitted with the resistor. At 7v it's effectively silent, but doesn't shift a lot of air.

I've not tried the Panaflo or Accoustifan ones, but I have read that the Panaflo 92mms aren't all that great. The accoustifan ones are meant to be pretty good, but I didn't want the thermal control system.

Edit: If anyone wants it, I've got my 92mm Zalman for sale, going cheap

Post by **Rusty075** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 7:58 am

I'll second Wumpus on that one. The half dozen 92mm Zalman fans that I've gotten with their Flower heatsinks have all been awful.

Whiny at full voltage, clicky when undervolted. And by comparison with other fans, I'd say that their CFM and dBa numbers are an exaggeration.

POLIST8 · Post by **POLIST8** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 10:12 am

I used the resistor to knock the 92mm Zalman fan that came with the FSB123 down to 7v and it still was obnoxious. Needless to say I changed the fan to a panaflo and never looked (or listened?) back.

Vector · Post by **Vector** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 11:57 am

EndoSteel wrote:mynameisyoung
ZM-F2 is very good below 1000 RPM (completely inaudible at 700 while still pushing a decent amount of air), but at full speed it's definitely loud.

I would hope any fan would be inaudible at 700 RPM.

Post by **Rusty075** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 12:20 pm

Vector wrote:I would hope any fan would be inaudible at 700 RPM.

You'd be surprised.

For some fans the "click" get worse as you undervolt them further, so they actually get louder (or at least more annoying) as they get slower.

dasman · Post by **dasman** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 1:00 pm

pdf27 wrote: I've not tried the Panaflo or Accoustifan ones, but I have read that the Panaflo 92mms aren't all that great. The accoustifan ones are meant to be pretty good, but I didn't want the thermal control system.

I've got a couple 92mm acoustifans -- I like them better than the panaflo and papst 92mm's that I tried. Acousti is coming out with fixed speed versions (120mm is already out, tried it -- hated it) of their fans, so if you can wait awhile, then you can get them without the thermal monitoring.

Dave

TacoBellDog · Post by **TacoBellDog** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 3:33 pm

Had the 80mm as my CPU fan for a while - less clicky than the Panaflo with the resistor thingy hooked on, but a bit less air too.. quiet, but nothing special.

xoham · Post by **xoham** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 7:14 am

Rusty075 wrote:I'll second Wumpus on that one. The half dozen 92mm Zalman fans that I've gotten with their Flower heatsinks have all been awful.

According to our SPCR reviewers, the Zalmau AlCu has "modest noise" and is listed second best. http://www.silentpcreview.com/article30-page1.html. I use one and I am very satisfied with its lack of noise output. However that is a very subjective opinion and I would not bother with modding a heatsink with a better fan.

pdf27 · Post by **pdf27** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 7:38 am

That probably isn't the same fan - the one we're slating was the one used with the earlier flower coolers and the like. The standalone 92mm certainly isn't all that good.

ez2remember · Post by **ez2remember** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 10:34 am

xoham wrote:
Rusty075 wrote:I'll second Wumpus on that one. The half dozen 92mm Zalman fans that I've gotten with their Flower heatsinks have all been awful.

According to our SPCR reviewers, the Zalmau AlCu has "modest noise" and is listed second best. http://www.silentpcreview.com/article30-page1.html. I use one and I am very satisfied with its lack of noise output. However that is a very subjective opinion and I would not bother with modding a heatsink with a better fan.

Also the full review mentioins at its lowest setting 5v its only equivalent to a panaflo 80mm L1a at ~9v. Quiet enough for many specially in a damped case. I run most of my Panaflos 80L below 7v. This fan is not the same fan as the Zalman 92mm with frame that is supplied with their older flower coolers and currently sold seperately as a quiet/silent fan.

I've had quite a few of them in the past and at the lowest setting on a fanmate (5v) they are about as loud a Panaflo 80L at a full 12v.

blackstar · Post by **blackstar** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 4:22 am

POLIST8 wrote:I used the resistor to knock the 92mm Zalman fan that came with the FSB123 down to 7v and it still was obnoxious. Needless to say I changed the fan to a panaflo and never looked (or listened?) back.

i tried four papst low airflow 80mm's, two 92mm's and a 120 then some panaflo 92mm's (three 92mm's) for various cooling applications.
the only fans i liked from those were the Zalman 92mm, and a Panaflo 80mm L1a. i really didnt like Papst low noise (

) at all.

for CPU cooling, i had to use a 92mm fan.
comparing all the 92mm's, my experience was that they all shifted a very low amount of air @ the same noise level as a 92mm zalman overall (i tested three of these also), and they all clicked somewhat @ whatever voltage except zalman.
the clicking noise of these was more clearly audible in a quiet environment then any noise the zalmans produced.
@ 12v the difference in CPU temperature between Panaflo L1a's and Zalman 92mm's on a SLK900 was 20degrees Celcius, meaning that even if they were quiet i couldnt have used them. the only one shifting enough air was a Zalman el cheapo fan

which luckily didnt click.

i know people say that Papst/ Pana whatever are so quiet you only hear the clicking, but that didnt tie in with what i found - the Zalman was the one fan that cooled my 3200+ down @ 5v and didnt click. not at all what i expected (owise i wouldnt have bought all the other fans to test them, and instead bought a passive watercooling radiator)

maybe i found a magic shipment of zalman or something, but everytime i see that people recommend panaflo/ papst 92mm's over zalman 92mm's i think panaflos/ papsts process must be HIGHLY variable as their clicking noise drove me nuts, at any voltage...

maybe its the noise signature but i really cant stand clicking - i find its very hard to dampen out.

blackstar · Post by **blackstar** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 4:55 am

Rusty075 wrote:
Vector wrote:I would hope any fan would be inaudible at 700 RPM.

You'd be surprised.

For some fans the "click" get worse as you undervolt them further, so they actually get louder (or at least more annoying) as they get slower.

thats exactly what i found. i think the clicking noise with some fans remains constantly loud but is partially masked by airflow noise at higher volts - so that when you drop to 5v or so, the only noise is clicking which is more annoying imo then airflow noise (in the sense that i listen for the clicks). rubber mounting didnt help here, either.