Thermaltake's 0dB Solution: SonicTower

Cooling Processors quietly

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frostedflakes
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Post by frostedflakes » Thu May 26, 2005 9:31 am

I think it all depends on where the weight is placed. I have a Scythe NCU-2005, which is passive w/optional 120mm fan, and probably 95% of its weight is made up of the large copper base. Because the base does not actually hang off, the torque caused by it is minimal.

So 500g+ total weight in the specs might seem kind of ominous, but you have to take into account that the majority is going to be the large copper base.

Still think it looks kind of rediculous, but hey, performance doesn't seem too bad.

mongobilly
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Post by mongobilly » Thu May 26, 2005 12:27 pm

It is quite top heavy, yes. But so far, it doesn't seem to be a problem. It's nothing for LAN party goers, that's for sure, but for the people who leave their PC stationary it shoudn't be too much of a problem. And it sure looks extreme if you got a window ;)

perplex
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Post by perplex » Thu May 26, 2005 1:59 pm

i think we need a review xp-120 vs this in english... :]

mongobilly
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Post by mongobilly » Fri May 27, 2005 5:50 am

I don't think you can really compare them. Sure temperatures at certain fan speeds is easily measured but the advantage of all the tower coolers is that they disturb airflow much less (can even HELP it if you do it right) compared to your garden variety heatsink.

XP120 is surely the better choice if you move the PC often. Else I'd go with one of the tower beasts.

shathal
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Post by shathal » Fri May 27, 2005 1:39 pm

One thing which hasn't been adressed yet, with seeing those ... HUGE HULKING TOWERS OF POINTLESSNESS (ahem - sorry - that went through with me) is ...

... HOW, pray tell, are we EVER supposed to close the case?

You can't use this in a tower, due to torque.

Try using it in a desktop ... I see the need for cutting a ... ThermalTake-shaped hole to get the damn thing closed :).

Even towers...

Man ... what DO they take, the mind boggles...

StarfishChris
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Post by StarfishChris » Fri May 27, 2005 3:59 pm

If your case takes 120mm fans you'll be fine. If it's 80mm, you might be able to gain additional cooling power by conduction with the case walls :)

pony-tail
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Post by pony-tail » Fri May 27, 2005 4:29 pm

You can't use this in a tower, due to torque.
I am using it in a tower -
in the short term at least the torque does not appear to be a major issue
as for the height it is a non issue in all of my cases (including a mATX)
all are towers, all have enough clearance to shut the side door.
4 out of 5 of my mobos will not take an XP-120 and the fifth it will not clear the PSU (even though Thermalright has it on their site as compatible)
so an XP-90 is not an option.
although Zalman 7000 series are THEY ARE WHAT I AM REPLACING.
their fans are not to my liking.
as for the Sonic tower - it works (and well)
Asthetics are irrelevant ! it is in a Sonata with no side window or any way that the cooler can be seen without pulling the case out.
So it has , for me many less issues than the XP-90
It is not perfect , but it does the job .
The mounting system could be improved though.

StarfishChris
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Post by StarfishChris » Sat May 28, 2005 5:30 pm

Found a UK source:
http://www.dcs-online.biz/shop/product_ ... ts_id/5077
I think I'll stick with a Freezer though, still don't fancy the torque. (Will be upgrading slightly to a Venice after selling the current system to my dad)

pony-tail
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Post by pony-tail » Sat May 28, 2005 9:27 pm

still don't fancy the torque
It would be a major issue in my lan box.
I primarily bought it to experiment with - but it works wellenough that I decided to leave it in the machine .
I would prefer a more substantial mobo mounting (ala SP-94) but what it has works . This thing is far from a perfect soloution but it is quiet in my case only the cpu fan that was already there - would not like to use it fanless with an 80mm exhaust though.

mongobilly
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Post by mongobilly » Sun May 29, 2005 12:28 am

More substantial MoBo mounting? I dunno, but I can hardly think of something more substantial than the mounting on my Asus A8V. I think it might make sense for ThermalTake to supply proper backplates for people (think Gigabyte boards) with plastik crapola... I could lift my board on mine, more mounting probably isn't necessary...

pony-tail
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Post by pony-tail » Sun May 29, 2005 10:48 am

I am using it on an Asus P4G8X with a 3.06 socket 478.
When I took the macine out to the kitchen to do some work on it I could actually see slight movement in the "Towers" I have no fans actually fitted to this so it is just the cooler.The "bar" thing (that goes on top of the heatsink base) that holds down the heatsink is not quite rigid.a non issue if you do not move your system around - but something to be aware of none the less!
I am using one of these on this machine because a Thermalright SP-120 will not fit , and this beast works very well .
But I do advise the most extreme caution moving the system with it attached!
I would not have known except I was carrying the case with the door off.I was only taking it out to remove the (very irritating) blue Leds and their wiring - trying to tidy up the wiring inside the case(birds nest) to get a bit better air flow
The case is a Sonata.

StarfishChris
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Post by StarfishChris » Sun May 29, 2005 12:19 pm

Well I'm joining the club, coupled with a Venice it *should* have no problems running fanless at load. I think I might give it a bit more support with some stringy stuff and the support bar in the Sonata, or alternatively prop it up with something telescopic. Moving around is the least of my worries (by the time it's had damping fitted it won't be easy!)

500th post :)

metalac
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Post by metalac » Sun May 29, 2005 12:52 pm

well I guess thermaltake's solution is not bad, but what about some other heatsinks that are designed for with-fan use? Having a Thermalright SI-97 work fanless would be great, since it's a much smaller heatsink and it seems to do way better than this elephant of a tower :) in the situations when there is a fan applied to both.

I'm gona get me an SI-97 one of these days and test it out, so I'll post some results.

niels007
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Post by niels007 » Sun May 29, 2005 12:59 pm

Although I have found a 'review' of this cooler used on socket A, I can't really see how it is mounted. For sure it uses the mobo holes around the socket, but I can't find out if it comes with a backplate or that its all hanging from the PCB..

anyone? :)

pony-tail
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Post by pony-tail » Sun May 29, 2005 2:49 pm

Having a Thermalright SI-97
I have an SI-97 on an Athlon XP 3200+, No way would it cool the 3200+ passive but is the best cooler for that cpu that does not require mounting holes. I also have an XP-120 which might be a very good cooler (it fits 2 of my mobos) but none of my current motherboard/case combinations . The Sonic tower fits 4/5 of my current systems so has fewer compatability issues and cools nearly as well - but I am hoping that the XP-120 will fit a new system I am building based on an Asus A8N-sli.(the mobo being the only part so far purchased )

mongobilly
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Post by mongobilly » Sun May 29, 2005 11:24 pm

StarfishChris wrote:Well I'm joining the club, coupled with a Venice it *should* have no problems running fanless at load. I think I might give it a bit more support with some stringy stuff and the support bar in the Sonata, or alternatively prop it up with something telescopic. Moving around is the least of my worries (by the time it's had damping fitted it won't be easy!)

500th post :)
Evem a Winchester 3000+ is easily cooled passively at load in my SLK3700 with ONE 600RPM 120mm Yate Loon fan in the back. That is if you can live with 60° CPU temp under load (you can, the spec says stay below 65). If you drop the voltage to 1.25V (works just fine) it stays clearly under 60° with the same setup. With 27° room temperature I boosted the fan to still nearly inaudible 1000rpm to get the HDs to stay below 40°.

I suppose one could go completely fanless in a proper case but I don't want to fry my HDs nor does it make much sense to leave the fan away if you can't hear it over the HDs even at 800RPM.

StarfishChris
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Post by StarfishChris » Wed Jun 01, 2005 5:01 pm

Received it today (the parcel from DCS had a note inside saying "Thank you for ordering, your package will arrive on Wednesday"! Confident, aren't they? ;)). I took a couple of photos for you to look at:

Image
Get an idea of the centre of mass thanks to a spare felt tip pen (copper base is quite heavy)

Image
and of its size, compared to your average 330ml can of orange, peach and passionfruit carbonated drink

Since I'm going to test the new board/proc with the stock heatsink first, I can give a comparison of the two at stock and undervolted load/idle.

Q to existing users: which way do you have yours mounted? I can see potential for mounting it fan-horizontal (don't try this with a sleeve bearing fan, kids) and it'll also provide two holes via the fan bracket to thread through and support from above, but it'll probably impact on cooling performance.

perplex
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Post by perplex » Thu Jun 02, 2005 2:15 am

are you going to test it passive with that newcastle?

pony-tail
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Post by pony-tail » Thu Jun 02, 2005 7:15 pm

Get an idea of the centre of mass thanks to a spare felt tip pen (copper base is quite heavy)
I did not actually think of checking the centre of mass . but it would change substantially if a fan (or fans wre fitted)

PositiveSpin
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Post by PositiveSpin » Fri Jun 03, 2005 2:00 am

Actually this might work well in a tower case - it could be anchored by the dents it makes in the other side of the case - could even get some extra cooling by conduction into the door...

Ralf Hutter
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Post by Ralf Hutter » Fri Jun 03, 2005 4:10 pm

PositiveSpin wrote:Actually this might work well in a tower case - it could be anchored by the dents it makes in the other side of the case - could even get some extra cooling by conduction into the door...
Right on bro! :D

(If I had any spare L1A Japanaflos, I'd send you one for being the winner of today's most humorous post)

niels007
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Post by niels007 » Sat Jun 04, 2005 2:25 am

The always very kind guys at http://www.freezinghardware.nl (/plug) told me there is NO backplate for socket A which sounds a bit scary but its nothing a simple piece of metal with some holes can't solve..

StarfishChris
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Post by StarfishChris » Sun Jun 05, 2005 2:14 am

PositiveSpin wrote:Actually this might work well in a tower case - it could be anchored by the dents it makes in the other side of the case - could even get some extra cooling by conduction into the door...
Like I said... maybe only with 80mm fan cases, because it doesn't with mine. (Not that it would've helped now I have all the sound dampening installed :P)

My initial reaction is good. Mounting was a little awkward on the PSU side screw (do this one first) but it seems very firm and not much different from any other heatsink mounting. I didn't get the wobbling about - I don't feel uncomfortable at all with this in a tower esp. with the metal mobo bracket.

I constructed a little duct from a cereal packet and stuck it to the case/now CPU fan. It lays on top of the end of the heatsink. Edit: duct is useless as it only seals off half an inch of space. Duct is now in bin and following still applies: After undervolting to 1.1v I get 40°C when folding (35° with boxed cooler), all this with just the stock Sonata case fan at 30% and sound dampening material installed. Ambient is 21-22°. PSU fans are behind the heatsink blowing in, so they aren't likely to provide much cooling capacity.
Last edited by StarfishChris on Sun Jun 05, 2005 3:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

The Greek
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Post by The Greek » Sun Jun 05, 2005 2:52 pm

I really like the looks of this! think I'm going to get one 8)

pony-tail
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Post by pony-tail » Sun Jun 05, 2005 10:06 pm

Duct is now in bin and following still applies
I see you found that out too !
not enough clearance for a "Duct" to be of any wothwhile use.
From what you have said , it seems to be a little more secure on an athlon 64 than a socket 478 - not that it is not secure on a 478

niels007
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Post by niels007 » Wed Jun 08, 2005 6:34 am

A second (next to the already mentioned in this thread) test confirms that sandwiching the fan gets considerably better results:

http://www.tweakers4u.de/artikel/therma ... htm?page=2

ixce
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Post by ixce » Thu Aug 11, 2005 2:23 pm

Sorry to revive an old thread but I just got a Sonic Tower, I am completely amazed. It won't break your board, i was afraid it would, and it performs very nicely when paired up withthe athlon venice's.

Stock 3000+ at 1.3v idles at 29C (warm ambient too mind you) and loads around 34 - 35C.

Overclocked, currently at 2.5ghz 1.62v and I'm seeing 48C loads and 34C idles.

room temp is near upper 70's and low 80's.

I have yet to put a fan on it, there is no need. I used Arctic Silver Ceramique (the high density one not alumina).

grandpa_boris
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Post by grandpa_boris » Thu Aug 11, 2005 5:09 pm

ixce wrote:I have yet to put a fan on it, there is no need.
what other fans do you currently have in the system (intake, rear fans, etc)? how were you cooling that system before?

i am considering re-working my quiet system (P4/2.8, slightly undervolted), which as of late had been getting noisier. i considered Sonic Tower as an option, so i am wondering how well it would work if i were to simply replace the old CPU HS/fan combo with a fanless Sonic Tower and change nothing else in the configuration of the case.

pony-tail
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Post by pony-tail » Fri Aug 12, 2005 10:43 pm

I am using mine on a 3.06ghz at standard volts and full clock speed - with at present , the stock Sonata fan on the fan only connector - no overheating problems as yet . It has got to 53c (as reported by Asus Bios not totally reliable) but so did the Zalman 7000 I was using previously - But that was while compiling a Gentoo system , after 16 hours of very heavy code chewing.

ixce
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Post by ixce » Wed Aug 17, 2005 8:19 pm

grandpa_boris wrote:
ixce wrote:I have yet to put a fan on it, there is no need.
what other fans do you currently have in the system (intake, rear fans, etc)? how were you cooling that system before?

i am considering re-working my quiet system (P4/2.8, slightly undervolted), which as of late had been getting noisier. i considered Sonic Tower as an option, so i am wondering how well it would work if i were to simply replace the old CPU HS/fan combo with a fanless Sonic Tower and change nothing else in the configuration of the case.
I've got a 120mm outtake (kinda weak very silent though) and a seasonic 120mm pulling up. 80mm intake from the front. using a coolermaster centurion 5 so the whole front is open. On a cold day I hit 26C. But i would recommend decent airflow for this cooler.

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