XP-90 or XP-120?

Sleepy · Post by **Sleepy** » Wed Sep 29, 2004 4:12 pm

I'm pretty sure I'm going to get the Thermalright XP but I can't decide between the 90 or the 120. Any ideas?

Wraith · Post by **Wraith** » Wed Sep 29, 2004 4:40 pm

I'm guessing people will say, "If your board can fit it, get the 120, else get the 90."

SilverBeard · Post by **SilverBeard** » Wed Sep 29, 2004 5:10 pm

Wraith wrote:I'm guessing people will say, "If your board can fit it, get the 120, else get the 90."

Took the words out of my mouth!

I have ordered the new DFI 754 MB which can fit the 120, so that is what I am getting. It all comes down to bigger fan = quieter fan.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 5:51 am

I recently got an XP-90 to test so I mounted on my test rig and did some real quick, basic tests.

So far, my initial results are showing that, with a 5V 92mm L1A, the XP-90 cools about as well as the Zalman 7000 running at 5V. The performance of the XP-90 at 5V is about 4-6°C worse than the XP-120 with a quiet 5V fan.

Based solely on that little bit of testing, I'd definitely go with the XP-120 if it fits your board.

Smitty · Post by **Smitty** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 6:16 am

Hi, this is my first posting here. I am assembling a new system and recently bought a new DFI 754 NF3 250 UT mb and A64 3400+ 1mb CPU along with a XP-90 HS. I do plan to OC this machine and am pairing with OCZ 3700EB memory. I dont want to run any louder than I need to so am wondering if I made a mistake purchasing a Panaflow 92mm High flow fan for this HS. I did not know about the L1A at the time so am wondering if I can undervolt the high flow fan to 5V and get same results as with L1A? It is not worth returning a $10 fan so would you try this or just order a lowflow L1A instead? If it works this fan would have some overhead for OC'ing. Also I am trying to decide between the OCZ powerstream 470 PSU and the Seasonic SS 460. WIth this setup, which would you choose? Thanks.

Mats · Post by **Mats** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 6:46 am

Ralf Hütter: I don't know if you agree, but shouldn't the XP-90 and the XP-120 be tested with the same fan (ok, maybe that's what you 've done)? If you run them both on your favorite 120 mm fan, what will happen? Maybe you think it's a bad idea since the XP-90 is not made for 120 mm fans (some DIY work won't scare you, right?!), but I'm interested in the results when using the same fan. Maybe mounting the 120 mm fan offset on the XP-90 so the blind spot under the hub won't be right over the CPU and the "unused" part of the fan gives some cooling to NB and/or RAM. Stupid? Yeah, maybe. Just a thought.....

Smitty: Welcome to SPCR!!!

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 12:00 pm

Mats wrote:Ralf Hütter: I don't know if you agree, but shouldn't the XP-90 and the XP-120 be tested with the same fan (ok, maybe that's what you 've done)?

I can dig what you're saying, and generally, as per the SPCR Heatsink Testing Protocol, I try and test all heatsinks with the "standard" 80mm L1A to make sure I'm testing the heatsink and not the fan. However, things are changing in the heatsink world. Many of the new heatsinks use 92mm fans (and 120mm in the case of the XP-120) and have no provision to even mount an 80mm L1A without some degree of ghetto hacking. There's not a lot I can do about this so for my testing of the XP-120 I stuck with 120mm fans. Yes, it's sort of "apples and oranges" but the XP-120 is specifically designed to use nothing but a 120mm fan.

The new XP-90 does have the provision to use an 80mm fan as well as the standard 92mm, but without some bubblegum and rubber bands, a 120mm fan won't work on it so I initially just used the fan recommended by Thermalright, which is the 92mm L1A.

But since I'm in a good mood today, just for you, I went ahead and put a 5V 120mm L1A on top of the XP-90 and ran 2 x CPUBurn. This lowered the temps by about 2°C over the 5V 92mm L1A, but I'm not too sure what this proves. Thermalright has designed the XP-90 for either an 80mm or a 92mm fan. I suppose you could MacGyver a 120mm fan onto it, but it would be pretty half-assed.

acaurora · Post by **acaurora** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 12:12 pm

Half-assed indeed. Maybe a convertor of some sort could do the trick... i'm sure there are some 80 to 120mm fan adapters somewhere... our planet is pretty big.

lenny · Post by **lenny** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 12:25 pm

Ralf, can you estimate what are the difference in noise levels between the 92mm and 120mm, both at 5V, when they are mounted on their respective heat sinks? Or better, at what voltage is the 120mm equivalent in sound level to the 92mm at 5V?

I'd like to know what it sounds like when mounted on the heat sink because of possible turbulence noise caused by blowing / sucking air through the fins.

Thanks.

lenny · Post by **lenny** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 12:28 pm

acaurora wrote:Half-assed indeed. Maybe a convertor of some sort could do the trick... i'm sure there are some 80 to 120mm fan adapters somewhere... our planet is pretty big.

Here you go.

While it will fit, I don't see how it can ensure that you get the same performance as a 120mm fan. With a 120mm, your airflow will be strongest at the perimeter. Not so with the adapter if you're using it to step up a smaller fan to a bigger opening.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 12:32 pm

lenny wrote:Ralf, can you estimate what are the difference in noise levels between the 92mm and 120mm, both at 5V, when they are mounted on their respective heat sinks?

Well, YMMV since I've got some pretty quiet 120mm L1As, but at 5V my 120mm L1A's are actually a tiny bit quieter than my 92mm L1As. The 92mms have a bit louder click and a slightly higher pitched "whine". Both of these types of sounds tend to stand out and bug me.

lenny wrote:Or better, at what voltage is the 120mm equivalent in sound level to the 92mm at 5V?.

It'd be a guesstimate, but I'd say around 4V.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 12:34 pm

lenny wrote:
acaurora wrote:Half-assed indeed. Maybe a convertor of some sort could do the trick... i'm sure there are some 80 to 120mm fan adapters somewhere... our planet is pretty big.
Here you go.

While it will fit, I don't see how it can ensure that you get the same performance as a 120mm fan. With a 120mm, your airflow will be strongest at the perimeter. Not so with the adapter if you're using it to step up a smaller fan to a bigger opening.

Those types of adapters won't work with the XP-90 (or any of the SLK series for that matter) because the fans are mounted with clips on the flange.

caber · Post by **caber** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 12:31 am

Hello there, newbie/lurker here.

I got a xp 120 with the 120 mm panaflo for my 3.0C gaming rig on the Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000 and a 430 antec truepower (unmodded)

The race car engine is amazing but because of my bad generic case design/layout/knowledge, the 120 mm panaflo's thickness is blocking quite a bit (25%?? really rough guess)of my PSU's airflow.

Oh yes, my heat sink barely fits but then it's size is too big and blocks my airflow so i rather have a smaller one... (but it is damn cool to have a racing engine in your PC ) =)

Hope i kind of helped

pony-tail · Post by **pony-tail** » Mon Oct 18, 2004 10:36 pm

Well, YMMV since I've got some pretty quiet 120mm L1As, but at 5V my 120mm L1A's are actually a tiny bit quieter than my 92mm L1As. The 92mms have a bit louder click and a slightly higher pitched "whine". Both of these types of sounds tend to stand out and bug me.

Either I have bad 120mm panaflo fans or you have bad 92mm panaflo s .
I have had both in my sonata case (92 on the CPU and with all 3 fans on the Antec Fan only connector I can only hear the very faint rumble of the rear 120 mm panaflo - until th psu speeds up a little then I hear the 80mm panaflo M that has been put in the PSU (because it ran too hot with a panaflo L )
Do you not get any low speed rumble from your 120mm fans ?

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 6:18 am

pony-tail wrote: Do you not get any low speed rumble from your 120mm fans ?

Not that I can hear. They are run at 5V and are mounted using EAR isolators.

The clicking and whining noise from any of my six 92mm L1As is much more annoying to my ears than the noise generated by the 120mm L1As. Perhaps it's a subjective perception, that's why I stated "YMMV" in my initial post.

XP-90 or XP-120?

XP-90 or XP-120?

New system and XP-90