Zalman 7000A-Cu and Thermalright SLK948U

Cooling Processors quietly

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hito
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Zalman 7000A-Cu and Thermalright SLK948U

Post by hito » Sun Jun 27, 2004 6:35 pm

I was planning on purchasing the Zalman 7000A-Cu but after searching for a bit on the boards it seemed to have a issue with a clicking noise and I don't really plan on doing a fan switch on it. Has the issue been resolved with the clicking?

In the meantime I was looking at the Thermalright SLK948U. How well do they compare to each other exactly? For the fan on the SLK948U, I plan on using either a 80mm Panaflo L1A or a 92mm Panaflo L1A.

PS: This is for a AMD64 3000+ which I plan to overclock.

krage
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Post by krage » Sun Jul 04, 2004 8:26 pm

I was about to post precisely the same question but browsed the first couple pages beforehand. I'm also looking for a nice quiet solution for a new athlon64 3000+ with some mild overclocking...

intx
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Post by intx » Mon Jul 05, 2004 12:18 am

The stock fan on the Zalman 7000A-Cu isn't exactly quiet. At silent mode it runs 'fairly quiet,' at about 20dba, but it doesn't perform all that well. If you plan on overclocking, you'd most likely be better off with a better heatsink, like the SLK948U, the SP97, or even the upcoming XP120. Use a 92mm or (XP120) 120mm fan.

According to a review on this site (heavyweights), the zalman 7000a performs better than a thermalright with a 80mm fan, so if you do use a thermalright, use a 92mm fan.

krage
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Post by krage » Mon Jul 05, 2004 12:26 pm

Thanks for the input, I think i'm gonna splurge and go with the slk948u with a SilenX 92mm on top.

intx
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Post by intx » Tue Jul 06, 2004 1:18 am

Actually I heard that's not such a good idea. The SilenX fans supposedly don't push enough air force and don't work well with the thermalright heatsinks.

But maybe what I read elsewhere is wrong? :)

Just a word of warning. It'd be quieter than any other heatsink, but it probably won't perform very well.

My recommendation is to use a panaflo or something else, based only on the experience I've read elsewhere.

CharlieChan
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Post by CharlieChan » Tue Jul 06, 2004 1:56 am

I have used both a Thermalright SP94 with Panaflo 92 1BX and Zalman 7000Alcu on a P4 3.0C and cannot recommend either of them unless you have a case with optimize airflow. I have a Lian Li PC60 and althought both coolers can be set to start quiet, you will have to ram up the fan after loading your CPU for a few hours. I currently have a aerocool HT 101 with a panaflo 80L at 9V blowing towards the rear of the case. A second panaflo 80L@9V exhaust the hot air out of the case.

Ralf Hutter
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Post by Ralf Hutter » Tue Jul 06, 2004 7:40 am

CharlieChan wrote:I have used both a Thermalright SP94 with Panaflo 92 1BX and Zalman 7000Alcu on a P4 3.0C and cannot recommend either of them unless you have a case with optimize airflow. I have a Lian Li PC60 and althought both coolers can be set to start quiet, you will have to ram up the fan after loading your CPU for a few hours. I currently have a aerocool HT 101 with a panaflo 80L at 9V blowing towards the rear of the case. A second panaflo 80L@9V exhaust the hot air out of the case.
I've had zero problems cooling my P4 3.0C with an SLK900+92mm L1BX running at 7-ish volts, and with a Z-7000 running at 1600rpm (maybe 6V?), but this setup is in a much more well ventilated SLK3700AMB, with one 5V 120mm L1A. What a difference a case makes... :)

CharlieChan
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Post by CharlieChan » Tue Jul 06, 2004 8:52 am

Ralf Hutter wrote:
CharlieChan wrote:I have used both a Thermalright SP94 with Panaflo 92 1BX and Zalman 7000Alcu on a P4 3.0C and cannot recommend either of them unless you have a case with optimize airflow. I have a Lian Li PC60 and althought both coolers can be set to start quiet, you will have to ram up the fan after loading your CPU for a few hours. I currently have a aerocool HT 101 with a panaflo 80L at 9V blowing towards the rear of the case. A second panaflo 80L@9V exhaust the hot air out of the case.
I've had zero problems cooling my P4 3.0C with an SLK900+92mm L1BX running at 7-ish volts, and with a Z-7000 running at 1600rpm (maybe 6V?), but this setup is in a much more well ventilated SLK3700AMB, with one 5V 120mm L1A. What a difference a case makes... :)
If I was building a new PC I would off course start with a well ventilated case. The PC60 use to house a P3 1.4S with none of this silly heat problem, once I upgraded I found I had build a slow cooker. Using the best cooler did not help, as the case temperature rise so the effectiveness of the cooler drop. The solution was to buy a new well ventilated case or to find a way to expel the heat generated by the CPU in the PC60. I chose the latter and was surprised at how little effort was required to achieve a 7oC(compared to the thermalright) drop in case temperature - just choose the right components for the job.

Kevin Ar18
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Post by Kevin Ar18 » Tue Jul 06, 2004 9:39 am

CharlieChan wrote: If I was building a new PC I would off course start with a well ventilated case. The PC60 use to house a P3 1.4S with none of this silly heat problem, once I upgraded I found I had build a slow cooker. Using the best cooler did not help, as the case temperature rise so the effectiveness of the cooler drop. The solution was to buy a new well ventilated case or to find a way to expel the heat generated by the CPU in the PC60. I chose the latter and was surprised at how little effort was required to achieve a 7oC(compared to the thermalright) drop in case temperature - just choose the right components for the job.
Could you tell me exactly what you did to take care of the temperature? (including parts)

CharlieChan
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Post by CharlieChan » Tue Jul 06, 2004 10:53 am

Kevin Ar18 wrote: Could you tell me exactly what you did to take care of the temperature? (including parts)
I don't want to send you off on a wild goose chase as what I used is basically right for my setup. I just want to point out that choosing the best heatsink and fan will not give the best result if it is in the wrong type of case. I see from other threads you are seeking to build a new PC. I have to admit I cannot find the How to build a quiet PC article, I am sure it is somewhere may be someone could point you to it.

krage
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Post by krage » Tue Jul 06, 2004 8:43 pm

I think I should be ok the with SilenX fan. The 92mm at 12V is rated at 14dBa, 2000RPM, and 36 CFM. That's only 6CFM less then a panaflo L1A at 12V and with nearly half the dB. This will be sitting in my Antec P160 with a 120mm intake and a 120mm exhaust (probably also silenX 14dB/58CFM, though I haven't finalized it yet). I've also got an arctic cooling vga silencer on my r9800pro so I think my temps should be reasonably good.

intx
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Post by intx » Wed Jul 07, 2004 5:12 am

hmm, well, I read silenx and thermalright heatsinks don't mix :) Something about how the way silenx pushes air doesn't work well against a heatsink, but works much better as a case fan. But hey, maybe whoever said that just didn't know how them. I have no personal experience with it.

krage
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Post by krage » Wed Jul 07, 2004 11:14 am

Heh, well I'll give it a try at any rate. If it doesn't work well I can always pick up a panaflo instead :)

intx
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Post by intx » Wed Jul 07, 2004 1:40 pm

excellent! :) now we'll have a SPCR member (I'm bias, generally SPCR members are smarter) who'll have experience with it!

krage
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Post by krage » Tue Jul 20, 2004 5:50 pm

Well quick update, got the system all put together. At all stock settings the SilenX 92MM + Thermalright SLK948U seems adequate. I'm a little incomfortable with these temp levels, probably just a product of using some particularly cool chips for the last few systems I've had. I'm probably going to pick up a panaflo soon just to compare and see what I can do in the overclocking department. Current details:

Idle 43C
Load 54C
Ambient ~23 C

A64 3000+
MSI K8N Neo Platinum
Antec P160 aluminum case
Ahanix 400W 14dBa psu
120mm silenX case fan
80mm vantec stealth @ 5v blowing over northbridge (northbridge was hitting low 50's, added a fan and it rarely hits 40 now)
r9800pro w/ vga silencer rev3

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