Upgrade from Zalman 7000AlCU to XP-90 or XP120 worth it?

[fjinaz]

I have been looking at reviews and forums on this website for about 2 months now, and I hope to get some advice

This is my current computer.
CPU: P4 3.0E
MB: ABIT A17
HD: Seagate SATA 160GB
Memory: 2*256MB Corsair XMS DDR2700
Video Card: Nvidia GeForce4 MX 440
CD-ROM: Samsung CDRW/DVD I took from my old Dell
Floppy & Iomega Zip drive
Case: Antec Sonata
PSU: Seasonic Super Tornado 400W Rev.2
Heatsink: Zalman 7000AlCu with Zalman fanmate 2 @ lowest speed
Fans: 2 120mm case fans each with Zalman fanmate 2 @ lowest speed

My computer runs quiet enough for me (after reading this website a lot), but the CPU temps are worrying me a bit...

My computer currenlty runs at 50C idle, and around 70C~73C when running Prime 95 for 40 minutes. The case temp is around 30C.

I read the reviews for the Thermalright XP-90 and XP-120 over and over , and I was wondering if upgrading the heatsink would help decrease my CPU temps. I saw a lot of posts from multiple websites about the XP-90 or XP-120 decreasing the CPU temp by a large amount while keeping the noise level low, but I just wan't sure if that would be the case for me. I wish I could just buy an XP-90 or XP-120 and give it a try, but since I go to college, my wallet is just not fat enough to do that

Before considering the XP-90 or XP-120, I tried two things hoping to get the CPU temps lower.

1) Ran the 3 fans at full speed. This resulted in decreasing my CPU temp to around 68C when running Prime 95, but did not change the idle temp.

2) Re-wired the cables to improve the air flow. I was able to neatly wire the cables to some extent, but no luck in decreasing the CPU temps.

Any comments or help would be greatly appreciated!

[Pauli]

First of all, many Abit motherboards report temps anywhere from 7-12C TOO HIGH. So, your CPU is probably not as hot as being reported. A more recent BIOS may correct this. It makes sense in your case, because a load temp for 3.0 Prescott of 60C with a Zalman at lowest speed sounds about right.

That said, I performed this same upgrade (XP-90) and my temps only decreased around 3-5C at the same noise level (Nexus 92mm at full 1500RPM speed). Of course, I wanted it quieter, so I am now running the Nexus at only 1000RPM, which seems to make my CPU temps about the same as they were with the Zalman at lowest speed.

In summary, your temps won't be drastically lowered with an XP-90 but they might be with an XP-120. However, your Abit is probably reporting your temps too high anyway, so you probably don't need to make a change from your Zalman. If I were you, I'd just kick up the fan speed a couple notches and you should be fine.

[undefined]

Have you considered removing the Zalman, cleaning the CPU (alcohol or ArticClean) and applying a fresh layer of thermal paste?

In my former setup my CPU was idling at 59 - 61C (load temps were about 66C) - cleaning the Zalman (compressed air and alcohol) followed by thoroughly cleaning the CPU core and reapplying the thermal paste resulting in lowering my CPU temps to 50C idle and 58C load.

It's a low cost option that *can* offer high rewards. Then again, it may not change a thing.

[fjinaz]

Thanks for the quick reply and suggestions.

About the abit motherboards measuring higher temperatures, I found a website that performed a test using the Abit and ASUS motherboards and the temperatures that they found against the temp reading using a probe. The link is

http://www.bleedinedge.com/reviews/abit ... ps_01.html

which shows that the abit (or some abit) motherboards do show a higher temperature than the actualy temp.

By seeing this website and the suggestions from pauli, I feel more safe about my comptuers temps

About cleaning the CPU and the heatsink, I tried cleaning the CPU and heatsink using mineral spirits suggested as one of the cleaning methods on the arctic silver website and then applying the Arctic Silver 5 a couple of times. However, I was not able to see a dramatic difference in the temps (give or take 1C). But I did see the ArticClean, and I might give it a try. I'll post the results if I do try it, but no promises.

In any case, I feel much better and safer about my quiet computer, and thank you for your help.

But if I could ask another thing, it would be about my PSU. I currently have a seasonic super tornado 400W (Rev. 3, not 2) and the PSU temp reads about 63C when running Prime 95. I saw the seasonic website and it said that the operating temp for the PSU is 50C. This worries me a little too, since my readings are a bit higher. I wonder if this temp is also because of the somewhat inaccurate reading on my Abit motherboard or not...

Again, any help or suggestions would be appreciated

[undefined]

I have the same PSU - how were you able to see the PSU temps? I wasn't aware of any probe that would give me a reading of PSU temperature.

I only recently tried the ArticClean - great product! I don't know how it compares to using alcohol or mineral spirits, but I can say it is easy to use and doesn't stink... it smells like any other citrus based cleaner.

I don't know much about P4 CPUs, but it sounds like your temperature readings are off. I am running an Athlon 64 (754 Clawhammer) and my motherboard was reading about 10C off with the stock bios. With the upgraded bios I now sit at 36C - 38C idle (7000-Cu medium setting) and 44C - 45C full load (prime95 for 2 hours). I hear all sorts of good things about the 939 A64 chips running cooler, but I'm pretty pleased with running 6C - 8C over case temps. My system has always run hot due to having 7 x 7200rpm hard drives.

Another possibility would be to underclock / undervolt your CPU. You might be able to shave a few degrees C off by doing so. In my system it doesn't really help - running stock everything doesn't drop my CPU by a single degree vs. running stock voltage and 173mhz overclock. More than 173mhz and the CPU isn't happy (or maybe memory, I have cheap ram).

[Tibors]

That P4 you use starts to throttle when the CPU really reaches ~72°C. You can check this with a program called Throttlewatch. As long as there is no throttling and you system is stable, then your cooling is fine.

On the other hand; I had a P4 3.0E in a Sonata case and had to run my Zalman 7000-AlCu at full speed to be able to run F@H stable. After I switched to a XP-120 with a Nexus fan running at 80% PWM, it was much quieter.

[hvengel]

I have an ABit AV8 running a 3500 Winchester with the Zalam 7000 alcu and it was giving very high temp readings. At least 10C to 15C higger than I was expecting. At first I thought that I had made a mistake in installing the heatsink but after three tries I was still getting the same results. So I ran the CPU temp diode calibration that there is an artical about on this site. I found that my temp readings were about 17C over the actual temps. You might consider running the same set of tests and then you will know how far off your temp readings really are.

[JohnnieStalker]

Thermal paste does the trik