Thermalright XP-90 review

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Post by Ralf Hutter » Wed Nov 03, 2004 4:50 am

as530 wrote:does this HS work with socket 775 (the new one)?
Only with an adapter. Thermalright makes one that will work and it only costs $5.

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Thermalright backplate for XP-90 on a socket 775

Post by mbrochstein » Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:51 pm

Thermalright has a part called (something like) the LGA775 RM Adapter Kit which is basically a backplate and other parts that goes under the motherboard and is designed for mounting a XP-90 on a Socket 775 motherboard.

I have not tried either the XP-90 and/or this backplate but would be interested to hear if others have any experience with this combo.

[quote="as530"]does this HS work with socket 775 (the new one)?[/quote]

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Re: Thermalright backplate for XP-90 on a socket 775

Post by Ralf Hutter » Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:58 pm

mbrochstein wrote:Thermalright has a part called (something like) the LGA775 RM Adapter Kit which is basically a backplate and other parts that goes under the motherboard and is designed for mounting a XP-90 on a Socket 775 motherboard.

I have not tried either the XP-90 and/or this backplate but would be interested to hear if others have any experience with this combo.
as530 wrote:does this HS work with socket 775 (the new one)?
??

Umm, I already answered this about 7 hours ago in the post right above yours.

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Sorry, I goofed - Thermalright backplate for XP-90 on a sock

Post by mbrochstein » Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:17 pm

Sorry Ralf, I forgot to look at page two of this thread before I posted my reply re: Thermalright backplate for XP-90 on a socket 775

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Post by as530 » Fri Nov 05, 2004 2:32 am

cool, thanks for the info guys

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Post by PPGMD » Mon Nov 08, 2004 7:22 pm

Great review for a great heatsink. Purchased the XP-90 after my distributor went out of stock on the XP-120.

On my AMD Athlon 64 3000 system, paired with the Vantec Stealth 92mm fan I get 107-109 degrees at idle, and it pushes 118 degrees during 3D Mark 2003, cooling down quickly to idle temps.

Not bad IMO considered haven't done much more than slap it on inside my system, no cooling tweaks yet.

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Post by spacey » Tue Nov 23, 2004 7:42 am

eep, how quiet is the vantec stealth? sigh, unfortunately i'm having trouble finding any panaflo 92mm in canada that have rpm monitoring, i may have to settle for the vantec in the mean time. i'm not sure about the nexus, it seems like its too weak for my purposes. i do want to overclock my amd64 winchester a bit.

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Post by PPGMD » Tue Nov 23, 2004 12:34 pm

The 92mm Vantec Stealth is 20db @ 1750 RPM (28 CFM) according to the Newegg site. It's pretty quiet, and works well for me, though I should note, just in case, those temps are Fahrenheit.

I like to compare the temperature above room temperature.

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Post by MikeC » Tue Nov 23, 2004 1:53 pm

PPGMD wrote:The 92mm Vantec Stealth is 20db @ 1750 RPM (28 CFM)
Don't you believe that! It is absolutely no contest against a really quiet 92 like a Nexus or a PCPower&Cooling 92 (at least the ones they sold a year ago...). But a Panaflo 92 is not much better.

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Post by PPGMD » Tue Nov 23, 2004 2:46 pm

MikeC wrote:Don't you believe that! It is absolutely no contest against a really quiet 92 like a Nexus or a PCPower&Cooling 92 (at least the ones they sold a year ago...). But a Panaflo 92 is not much better.
I don't believe that, which is why I said, according to Newegg. But like I said it's fairly quiet and turns at about 1700 RPM according to speed fan. It's not a bad fan considering the selection at Newegg. In the future, I will be doing some changes, but I wanted to get my machine up and running ASAP without much dicking around with fan controllers and the other such.

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XP-90, LGA 775RM motherboard minor parts compatibility issue

Post by mbrochstein » Mon Nov 29, 2004 5:15 pm

I just finished installing a XP-90 and LGA 775RM onto an Asus P5AD2 Deluxe motherboard and found that the screws that come with the LGA 775RM are too short. You will need to acquire screws that are about one-eighth inch or so longer. Other than that the installation went smoothly.

Other comments and observations:

1. With the Thermalright recommended Panaflo fan, the heatsink fan (at full speed) is definitely quieter and has a better noise siganture than the stock Intel heatsink fan that was originally installed in the system.

2. When running CPUburn to get the 3.4Ghz CPU to 100%, the CPU's temperature rises from 48C to about 69C. This might improve as the thermal compound (Arctic Silver 5) sets in after being thermally cycled.

3. The idle temperature of the CPU went down about 3C compared with the stock Intel CPU cooler.

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Post by threevok » Mon Dec 06, 2004 11:24 am

It appears the XP-90 could provide significant air flow around the north bridge heatsink. Can anyone confirm this?

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Post by Ralf Hutter » Mon Dec 06, 2004 12:40 pm

threevok wrote:It appears the XP-90 could provide significant air flow around the north bridge heatsink. Can anyone confirm this?
Yes it could, depending on which way the XP-90's fins were oriented. If they weren't pointing towards the NB heatsink, I doubt that you'd get a whole lot of airflow onto it.

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Post by threevok » Mon Dec 06, 2004 2:36 pm

Thanks for the reply. It looks like there is only 1 orientation that would preclude air flow to the north bridge (heat pipes down). If the heatsink can be installed in either of 2 180 degree positions (heat pipes up) then all would be well. I am trying to get rid of a Zalman brackett, otherwise changing from the stock P4 heatsink (fan disconnected) would not be worth the effort. I can't find any pictures with the XP-90 installed on a motherboard with my CPU orientation: Soltek SL-865-GR. I'd provide a link, but I can't connect to the Soltek site, as usual.

Edit:
Never mind. I found the answer:
http://pcmoddingmy.com/lp/albums/userpi ... p90/21.jpg

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Post by fanerman91 » Fri Dec 17, 2004 2:09 am

In the review, is there any particular reason you didn't have the Panaflo 80L blowing up as well as down like the two 92m fans? Just curious.

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Post by as530 » Sat Jan 01, 2005 4:40 am

hello people

I have just received my XP-90, but the K8 bracket is missing from the box. Now, i'm not too sure what K8 means, but all I know is that I also have an AMD 3000+ s939 Winchester in a box, plus am going to order an nforce4 mobo as soon as they're available (either Asus A8N or Gigabyte K8NXP-9).

My question is, do I need the K8 bracket? if so i'll have to contact my supplier and get a new one posted to me.

thanks

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Post by Qwertyiopisme » Sat Jan 01, 2005 4:58 am

as530 wrote:hello people

I have just received my XP-90, but the K8 bracket is missing from the box. Now, i'm not too sure what K8 means, but all I know is that I also have an AMD 3000+ s939 Winchester in a box, plus am going to order an nforce4 mobo as soon as they're available (either Asus A8N or Gigabyte K8NXP-9).

My question is, do I need the K8 bracket? if so i'll have to contact my supplier and get a new one posted to me.

thanks
A64 = K8, but I'm not sure if you need the bracket. you probably will, but it would be best to wiat untill someone with an XP-90 replies.

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Post by Edward Ng » Sat Jan 01, 2005 7:58 am

It is not good that your K8 bracket is missing, not good at all. You need to speak to your dealer about getting the missing bracket in order to use with any S754, S939 or S940 chip.

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Post by as530 » Sat Jan 01, 2005 3:15 pm

hi, thanks ed

will try to get a replacement

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how easy to change CPU HSF?

Post by as530 » Wed Jan 12, 2005 8:22 am

following up my previous post here, my replacement XP-90 (this time hopefully with the K8 bracket), is going to arrive in about one or two weeks' time, but the rest of rig (mobo & case) are coming tomorrow.

If i can't wait, i'll build the system tomorrow with the AMD HSF, and switch to the XP-90 + Nexus 92mm when the XP-90 arrives

If I can wait, i'll just wait until the XP-90 when it arrives, i.e. 1-2 weeks.

My question is, how easy will it be to replace the stock AMD HSF (which came with my 3000+ Winchester) with the XP-90 and Nexus? In particular, does fitting the XP-90's K8 bracket require access to the underside of the mobo - and if so, won't this mean that i'll have to disassemble the entire system to change the HSF?

Also, I have some arctic silver 5 - is there enough in one tube for 2 applications, and is it easy to clean off the stock HSF, and will i need to clean & re-apply onto the CPU or can i just leave it there from the previous application?

For reference, the mobo i'll be using is the new Asus A8N-SLi deluxe (couldn't wait for the Premium!)

Many thanks for any help / advice / comments.

[EDIT: added this] actually, one final question: am i right in assuming that, for optimal CPU cooling, i should have the Nexus 92 blowing down onto the XP-90?

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xp-90 + 775 +asus p5gd2

Post by frankgehry » Wed Jan 12, 2005 9:07 am

I too have an xp-90 w/nexus 92mm fan mounted on an asus P5GD2. It has something called a coolstack behind the cpu that is merely a double thickness of printed circuit board material. This is why you need screws that are slightly longer. Otherwise there should be no unexpected problems with the 775 adapter.

I will add that when installing the xp-90, be sure to follow the instructions that describe hooking the mounting brackets on one side and then pressing the mounting brackets on the otherside to lock the xp-90 in place. Don't push down on the xp-90, just the brackets. It will fall into place much easier. I didn't read the instructions and grabbed the fins for a lever. No damage was done, but it works easier the other way as it seems a lot of pressure is needed to lock the xp-90 in place.

The xp-90 works so well in fact, that I have ordered an xp-120 and nexus 120mm fan. I have read that it will fit my board. I don't expect to get a lot more cooling, but I'll be able to use the nexus 120 which is virtually silent at 700rpm. If the xp-120 doesn't fit, I'll be perfectly happy with the xp-90. - FG

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Nexus 120mm on XP-120

Post by as530 » Wed Jan 12, 2005 3:56 pm

question for frankgehry (and others of course): i was wondering, how are you planning on attaching the nexus 120 to the XP-120? According to SPCR's XP-120 review, you need notches on the lower fan flange. Now, I know the review describes how you can make these holes on e.g. the Globe, but on the orange nexus 120mm case fan i have, there are solid vertical plastic bars which extend almost to the lower edge of the fan. for this reason i thought it would be extremely difficult to fit the nexus 120 to the XP-120. any thoughts on this?

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Re: Nexus 120mm on XP-120

Post by Edward Ng » Wed Jan 12, 2005 5:35 pm

as530 wrote:question for frankgehry (and others of course): i was wondering, how are you planning on attaching the nexus 120 to the XP-120? According to SPCR's XP-120 review, you need notches on the lower fan flange. Now, I know the review describes how you can make these holes on e.g. the Globe, but on the orange nexus 120mm case fan i have, there are solid vertical plastic bars which extend almost to the lower edge of the fan. for this reason i thought it would be extremely difficult to fit the nexus 120 to the XP-120. any thoughts on this?
I personally had no trouble installing them to the XP-120 even without cutting out the corners; the clips are flexible enough to skew them a bit so the fan still gets firm attachment, even with the closed corners. Of course if you want to you, you can still just cut out the corners using a rotary for thoroughness.

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Oh

Post by frankgehry » Wed Jan 12, 2005 5:37 pm

I just got my xp-120 today and mounted it, and now I see what you mean. The fan in the review seems to have less plastic in the corners where the xp mounts go, but it looks like the same problem. The mounting wires will hold the nexus on, although not very securely, without any modifications. So since I don't have a dremel tool or other power tool to do this, I will just use a small round file to take away enough material for a secure fit. This wasn't a problem on the xp-90 but you just need a little bit more of a ledge for the wires to hold tightly. I'm sure some others have done this and maybe they can comment. - FG

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Thanks E

Post by frankgehry » Thu Jan 13, 2005 3:46 am

I was able to get the wire clamps on the fan but they weren't very secure. I will probably try again and if necessary, I will do some filing. - FG

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Post by Spod » Sat Jan 15, 2005 12:22 am

I used a hacksaw, then cleaned up with a file - see the thread in my sig for a full description. The plastic's not hard, but it'll take a while to file away.

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Re: how easy to change CPU HSF?

Post by hmsrolst » Sat Jan 15, 2005 5:01 am

as530 wrote:
My question is, how easy will it be to replace the stock AMD HSF (which came with my 3000+ Winchester) with the XP-90 and Nexus? In particular, does fitting the XP-90's K8 bracket require access to the underside of the mobo - and if so, won't this mean that i'll have to disassemble the entire system to change the HSF?

Also, I have some arctic silver 5 - is there enough in one tube for 2 applications, and is it easy to clean off the stock HSF, and will i need to clean & re-apply onto the CPU or can i just leave it there from the previous application?
I did the same thing you are doing (although my board is an A8V). You just remove the two screws from the topside of the board, replace the bracket, and put the two new screws in. However, it's much easier to mount the XP-90 while the board isn't in the case.

You use very little AS5 (check their instructions), so a single tube has many applications. You should clean and re-apply it.

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Post by Trip » Thu Jan 20, 2005 10:49 am

bad link under article section on main site.

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Post by burcakb » Sun Feb 06, 2005 3:11 pm

Just a little note.

The review says nothing about a fan and the packaging is the standard brown box.

Well, I just got mine and surprise! It's a clamshell with a nice 92mm on top!!

Naturally the fan is going to get replaced with my precious Nexus, but the stock Thermalright fan isn't bad at all.

In fact, it sounds very much like my Panaflo 92mm L1A. Physically they're totally different though. Plus it's a doubleballbearing fan. Specs are: 2400 rpm 44.79 cfm, 35 dBA. Very loud at stock but usable when undervolted. Undervolted click is there but very smooth.

No model or make on it except a T&T embossed on the plastic so I can't make out the manufacturer.

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Post by PPGMD » Mon Feb 07, 2005 6:55 am

Where did you buy your XP-90 from? Because I have purchased quite a few, and none of them have came with a fan.

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