Cooling

Message

MarkKikken · Post by **MarkKikken** » Mon May 24, 2004 11:27 am

I have an AMD Athlon 64 3000+. Everything works fine, but the standard cooler supplied with it is just way too noisy. I'm thinking about buying a Zalman or Atric cooler. From what i've heard I'd say the Atric is the quietest and cheapest cooler, but it cannot keep the CPU as cool as the Zahlman does. And I don't want to overheat my amd64, not even a little if that would affect stability.
Is there someone amoung you amd64 users over here who can recommend me one of these coolers from personal experience? Tnx.

SiggiS · Post by **SiggiS** » Mon May 24, 2004 11:30 am

I use the zalman! Its perfekt. You didnt even hear it at lowest rpm. idle temp ist about 35 °C and load about 42°C. I have a thermaltake Xaser III case.
Hope that helps!

Greetings Marc

cryos · Post by **cryos** » Mon May 24, 2004 2:20 pm

I use the Zalman 7000A full copper CPU cooler - and it's great! Well worth the money, my idle temps are as low as 25 C (using cpudynd and powernow), and full load peaks at about 40 C (never seen it higher than this). I have an Antec 1080AMG case (2 PSU fans, 5 case fans, 1 GPU fan and a CPU fan!)

Surprisingly with all those fans it is all extremely quiet, using the cool and quiet feature too to turn the fans down when temperatures are low.

Desti² · Post by **Desti²** » Mon May 24, 2004 3:13 pm

I've the Arctic Cooler Silencer 64, it's really cheap (12 Euro) and has low noise level. It's not that powerfull as a copper cooler, but i've no problems with overheating.

MarkKikken · Post by **MarkKikken** » Mon May 24, 2004 3:55 pm

Right now my MSI bios indicates a CPU temperature of about 50C when i leave it running for a while, wich i find quite hot. I think I'll just go for the Zalman.... Thanks for your advice.

But Desti, what's your CPU temperature under load?

Lemma · Post by **Lemma** » Mon May 24, 2004 5:04 pm

I'm using the Arctic Cooler Silencer 64 and with it the CPU temp is between 31C and 50C, with a M/B temp of 40-45. I have lowered the voltage a bit so it is dead quiet and I only have two more fans, one 120mm out and the PSU in but all I can hear now is sound from the hdd and 50C is not that high a temp

. If I where to buy a computer from scratch today I'd go Zalman, but I am quite happy with what I have, it is not as good as it get's today but it is good enough.

burger · Post by **burger** » Mon May 24, 2004 6:35 pm

SiggiS wrote:I use the zalman! Its perfekt. You didnt even hear it at lowest rpm. idle temp ist about 35 °C and load about 42°C. I have a thermaltake Xaser III case.
Hope that helps!

Greetings Marc

wich Zalman cooler? The ZM-7000A-CU or the ZM-7000A-ALCU?
I'm interested in the difference in how they preform.

Corona688 · Post by **Corona688** » Mon May 24, 2004 9:52 pm

I'm using the Zalman AlCu cooler. They are awesome, cool and quiet. This review compares the alcu and the pure cu, and the difference doesn't appear to be all that much.

One problem with these heatsinks, though: They're big. I needed to remove 1.5 drive bays with tinsnips to get two of 'em to fit in my case.

cryos · Post by **cryos** » Mon May 24, 2004 9:53 pm

burger wrote:
SiggiS wrote:I use the zalman! Its perfekt. You didnt even hear it at lowest rpm. idle temp ist about 35 °C and load about 42°C. I have a thermaltake Xaser III case.
Hope that helps!

Greetings Marc
wich Zalman cooler? The ZM-7000A-CU or the ZM-7000A-ALCU?
I'm interested in the difference in how they preform.

I actually built two near identical Athlon 64 systems about two weeks ago. Mine with the Cu, and a friends with the AlCu. The AlCu is obviously lighter, which some see as a plus. His system does run about 3 - 5 C higher most of the time from what I could see. I used Arctic Silver 5 on both of them too. My case does have 5 80 mm case fans though, and his only has 1 120 mm case fan - although I ran both with the cases open in my initial tests too.

I think basically the solid copper costs more, and runs cooler. I am glad I bought the solid copper, I think it's worth the extra money. The AlCu cooler does still run pretty cool though! Very good, very quiet CPU coolers - I would recommend them both but I do think the little extra for the Cu model is worth it personally.

Pax-UX · Post by **Pax-UX** » Tue May 25, 2004 6:09 am

I've been running with the stock heatsink and it runs idle at about 40-42 depending on room temp. Then up to 54-55 under load with a case temp of about 40. I did a quick DIY job and moved the box close to a window attached a duct to suck in cool air, this can drop the case temp to about 26-29 but the CPU still stays up at 54-55 under load no matter the case temp (idle on a very cold day it will go down to about 38 but that's not common). I don't think much of the stock fan that comes with the AMD64, but it's not the worst one I've used for a CPU.

What's people experences is removing AMD64 heatsink and changing to a new one? Is it hard to clean off the thermal grease? Has any used the CNPS7000-AlCu on a MSI Neo board?

Also out of curiosity has any compared different speed CPU's heat. Mean what heats does a 3000, 3200, 3400 give off?

Lemma · Post by **Lemma** » Tue May 25, 2004 7:40 am

Pax-UX wrote:What's people experences is removing AMD64 heatsink and changing to a new one? Is it hard to clean off the thermal grease?

Changing the heatsink, nah, it is not that hard but you may have to unscrew the MB so keep good watch where (and how) all those cables are attached - you'll need to put them back later

. To clean off the thermal grease is easy as pie, use a piece of cloth (or toilet paper, or ...); to make it even more easy, use alcohol, any will do but 1- or 2-propanol (2-propanol = iso-propanol) is a good choice. If you go ethanol, pure is best (only alcohol and x % water), do not use whiskey or anything "dirty" but a properly destilled homebrew should be fine

; methanol or acetone should work fine too as long as they are "clean".

burger · Post by **burger** » Tue May 25, 2004 7:41 am

Pax-UX wrote: What's people experences is removing AMD64 heatsink and changing to a new one? Is it hard to clean off the thermal grease? Has any used the CNPS7000-AlCu on a MSI Neo board?

Also out of curiosity has any compared different speed CPU's heat. Mean what heats does a 3000, 3200, 3400 give off?

I'm planning to change my stock cpu cooler on my MSI K8T Neo-FIS2R with a CNPS7000A-Cu cooler... but the pure copper one is heavy... isn't there a risk that you break the motherboard?

With my stock cpu cooler on my 3200+ I get max 50 C when 100% cpu load(fan speed at 3600 rpm) and about 42 C when idle..

Lemma · Post by **Lemma** » Tue May 25, 2004 7:56 am

burger wrote:I'm planning to change my stock cpu cooler on my MSI K8T Neo-FIS2R with a CNPS7000A-Cu cooler... but the pure copper one is heavy... isn't there a risk that you break the motherboard?

I don't think the risk is high enough to take notice of under normal use, but I have friends who remove the heavy Cu- or Cu/Al pice if they move the comuter like going to a LAN-party, over the summer an so on.

cryos · Post by **cryos** » Tue May 25, 2004 8:39 am

My pure copper Zalman 7000 heatsink is attached to an MSI K8T Neo FIS2R motherboard. I used the backplate supplied by Zalman rather than the one shipped with the motherboard. I have not had any problems with it, but I am always careful when I move the PC around.

Built a friends with the same motherboard/CPU but the AlCu Zalman, and it is a fair bit lighter. From my own tests my CPU temps seem better though (both using Arctic Silver 5). It is possible the thermal grease wasn't applied quite as well to his though? Or the temperature sensor in his CPU reads higher anyway possibly.

They are both great coolers though. I use my PC a lot more, and tend to leave it running 24/7 with SETI, compiling stuff under Gentoo or running simulations etc so I wanted the best cooler I could get that was fairly quiet too.

SiggiS · Post by **SiggiS** » Tue May 25, 2004 4:28 pm

@burger

Cant tell you wich version I have. My bill says CPU cooler Zalman CNPS 7000CU.
Hope that helps.

Greetings Marc

cryos · Post by **cryos** » Tue May 25, 2004 4:43 pm

SiggiS that looks to be the all copper one - with the CU at the end. Otherwise it should have said ALCU or somthing like that. Just putting my Zalman to the test right now, using it at about halfway (best noise/cooling ratio I found on FanMate), and running DVDRIP at 100% load. It has touched 40 C a couple of times but mostly sits at 39.5 C - it's been encoding for about an hour now too at 100% CPU load. Again using the all copper Zalman with Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound instead of the Zalman supplied goop...

Little Nemo · Post by **Little Nemo** » Tue May 25, 2004 5:01 pm

I have a Zalman copper cooler on an Asus K8V SE Deluxe mainboard. At low speed you don't hear the fan at all, and an idle Athlon 64 3200+ CPU runs at about 10 degrees above room temperature (24 degrees above room temperature under really heavy load). You can cool it down further by increasing the fan's speed, but I prefer a truly silent system.

Corona688 · Post by **Corona688** » Tue May 25, 2004 6:00 pm

burger wrote:I'm planning to change my stock cpu cooler on my MSI K8T Neo-FIS2R with a CNPS7000A-Cu cooler... but the pure copper one is heavy... isn't there a risk that you break the motherboard?

That risk certainly exists, if you move the PC around a lot... it says in the manual for the AlCu to remove the heatsinks before shipping the PC anywhere, and I believe it. If you're really worried, you can get a desktop case instead of a tower to prevent them potentially twisting the mobo.

On the other hand, installation of my OEM opteron heatsinks was hellish. Any operation involving a hammer and screwdriver is bound to be much more dangerous to your motherboard than a big weight.

Installation for the Zalman was easy: two standoffs, and two screws. Genius. Why didn't anyone else think of that?

Corona688 · Post by **Corona688** » Tue May 25, 2004 6:11 pm

Lemma wrote:I don't think the risk is high enough to take notice of under normal use, but I have friends who remove the heavy Cu- or Cu/Al pice if they move the comuter like going to a LAN-party, over the summer an so on.

As an aside, were I do do that, I'd probably disconnect motherboard power too. Forgetting to put the heatsinks back on would be interesting, but I doubt I'd do it more than once.

burger · Post by **burger** » Tue May 25, 2004 7:57 pm

SiggiS wrote:@burger

Cant tell you wich version I have. My bill says CPU cooler Zalman CNPS 7000CU.
Hope that helps.

Greetings Marc

OK... I have just orderd a Zalman CNPS7000ACu cooler now =) I hope that I get it on friday or early on next week...

rc · Post by rc » Sun Jun 06, 2004 4:29 pm

Hi,
i didnt read the whole thread.
I just want to tell my experiences. Hope they help a bit.
I use the Arctic Silencer 64 too.
It runs quiet and cool (aprox. 37°C CPU-Temp with Seti running in background).
Only thing is that i had to remove the pre mounted plastic frame at the top-side of my Mainboard because the Cooler is quite big and wouldnt have fit properly with it.
Note: I use an Elitegroup KV1 Deluxe Mainboard (dont ask me whats so deluxe about it

)
The plastic frame on the bottom side was "glued" to the Mainboard, but the screws fit.

greetings,
rc

altrent · Post by **altrent** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 1:51 pm

Hi,

I also installed the Arctic Silencer 64, and I am very pleased with it, very silent. Now I can only hear my old hard drive 'buzz' noise.
However, I was less lucky and had to remove the metal frame on the bottom side of the motherboard. I was really a pain in the neck and I broke a resistance doing so, but it still is working fine.

Cheers

Little Nemo · Post by **Little Nemo** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 2:07 pm

altrent wrote:However, I was less lucky and had to remove the metal frame on the bottom side of the motherboard. I was really a pain in the neck and I broke a resistance doing so, but it still is working fine.

I tried to remove the plate from an Asus K8V which seemed impossible without breaking the board. So I searched the net for some tips and tricks on removing it. Some people recommended to leave it alone for a while and it would come off easily. I returned to the board, and the plate had fallen off all by itself!

Cooling

Cooling

I use a Zalman 7000A Cu too