Sick of my AC Freezer 64... got a Zalman 9500 coming...

bryzzz · Post by **bryzzz** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 8:25 am

Been a lurker for a while... posting now b/c this place is great for silent freaks like me.

my Freezer was starting to whine... not to mention i get horrible temps for my cpu cooling w/ it. its like 50-55 C Idle during summer... now that its colder its aroud 45-50 C... but man... i only have a 3000 Newcastle... shouldnt it be like 15 C less. Someone told me soltek overshoots its #s... but i thought this is kinda ridiculous... so i got a 9500 for 53 from Xoxide's 1 hr sale... love that thing!

anyway... plans for the next few months include getting some new parts...

xfx 6800 gt w/ zalman vf700 (led to match my 9500)
p180
one of those new Antec HE power supplies... anything else you guys recommend?

Devonavar · Post by **Devonavar** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 11:31 am

If your Soltek is like my Soltek, it reports the shutdown diode, not what is usually called the "CPU diode". 50°C isn't bad for the shutdown diode. My 3800+ idles at ~70°C and easily hits 100°C under burn. It's completely stable though, so I don't worry about it.

Sounds like you have a taste for expensive parts. I'd only get those if your current system is unacceptably noisy. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Devon

By the way, Welcome to SPCR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bryzzz · Post by **bryzzz** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 12:02 pm

Hi Devonavar. thnx for the welcome.

anyway... my parts aren't anywhere near expensive as some of the guys that post here, but I have strange selection reqs for my parts.

1. I like things that hit the 75-80% power mark... like... I will buy hardware thats a good bang for the buck... like I won't be getting a dual core until it becomes part of the 75-80% band of most powerful stuff

2. I like looks as much as silence. If it looks cool, I'll get it. but I made that mistake w/ my OCZ power supply. I think the fan is a lil annoying. Does anyone know if modding the power supply fan is as easy as opening the power supply and popping in a new fan?

also... anybody own the 9500 w/ comments? I plan to get a zalman fan controller to control my 2 system fans, my cpu cooler...and possibly my vid card fan...

ryboto · Post by **ryboto** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 7:38 am

[quote="bryzzz"

also... anybody own the 9500 w/ comments? I plan to get a zalman fan controller to control my 2 system fans, my cpu cooler...and possibly my vid card fan...[/quote]
i like mine...the cpu is idle's around the case temp with cool n quiet enabled(26C)...although, i don't think my abit board is calibrated, cause, as soon as the clock adjusts, it jumps up a ton...i'm not even sure it scales the temps correctly. I do know that the thing is never hot to the touch. playing bf2 or hl2, or encoding a dvd, it's not even hot to the touch, i'd hardly say it's even warm. Cpu never rises above 45, and that's with all fans running sub 1000rpm...i think it's a great cooler, the fan isn't so bad, if you can get past the blue light. I replaced it, but i'm now discovering that the zalman may not have been the major factor in the noise i'm experiencing.

Humbucker · Post by **Humbucker** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 4:05 am

Another one with the AC Freezer 64 whining problem eh? I thought I was the only one. Is it like a windy, whistling type noise? I've had the same thing - what causes it for me is the air blowing in the silver fins. I've messed around with it so much, trying to change the angle of the fan etc that it stopped by itself. The whining can still be heard, but only very faintly. I haven't had any cooling problems with it, so am gonna keep it, at least for now. Hope you like your Zalman 9500 if you get it.

bryzzz · Post by **bryzzz** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 5:32 pm

i installed my 9500... wish i could take pics for u guys, but i dont have a camera other than the one on my cell. let me tell u some things about the 9500...

IT ROCKS!
i put it on 1400 rpm... i can't hear it above my 120 antec fans (i know some of u are gonna say u cant hear anything over antec fans! haha)

it looks freakin cool... so much better than the freezer... as for temps.. .they're lower... but i dont see that they are SIGNIFICANTLY lower... but then again... im running it at 1400 RPM w/o arctic silver... (used the zalman paste b/c im outta AC5)

idle temps around 47C, prior was like 53C

jermaink · Post by **jermaink** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 7:21 am

Isn't a Scythe Ninja a better HSF than the Zalman 9500 (when the fans are the same speed), so would be better for a quiet system?

bryzzz · Post by **bryzzz** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 8:24 am

ya everyone here seems to like the ninja better, but i gave it a thought... ninja and a fan were gonna come out to more than i paid for my 9500. i jus think the 9500 look much cooler... and at 1400 rpms... its quiet enough

jermaink · Post by **jermaink** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 6:39 pm

Yeah, but taking money aside (both are pretty expensive) isn't the Ninja better, 'pound for pound' (per amount of noise made)?

thetoad30 · Post by **thetoad30** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 7:42 pm

Let me just say this:

In the Antec P180 case, I have a very loaded system. 4 WD250 GB hard drives, a Seagate 120GB hard drive, 1.5 GB DDRII 667, X700Pro with a Zalman VF700-Cu, TV Wonder Pro, Audigy 2, 1 DVD DL Burner, 1 CD/DVD-ROM/CD-RW, an Asus P5AD2-E Premium, and a regular 1MB L2 Prescott at 3.4 GHz with the Ninja. All of this running on an S12-500.

I have replaced the two upper fans in the Antec case with Nexus fans running at stock 12V. The top blowhole fan is at INTAKE, with the back fan as exaughst. I have one of the TriCools that came with the case on low in the front of the case to help cool the Seagate and NB temps, and I kept the bottom fan in the PSU chamber on medium.

I have the Ninja without any fan on it. It is running at 35-40C idle, and 50-60C at load. The Ninja is one massive beast when it comes to cooling. I used to have an XP-120, and this thing blows that out of the water. I like the Thermalright products, don't get me wrong. I have owned 3 generations of them and still use them in my computer. But the Ninja, to me, is the best heatsink around. I still can't believe how absolutely quiet my computer is, and how absolutely loud a mini-fridge compressor can be.

jermaink · Post by **jermaink** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 6:40 am

If you're already running a few fans in you system, why not put a Nexus on the Ninja? A 5V or 7V one would hardly make a noise, but I'm sure it'd lower your CPU temps by a lot. (Or am I underestimating the heat production of the Prescott)

thetoad30 · Post by **thetoad30** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:40 am

I actually did test the Ninja with a fan on it. I found no real decrease in heat. I am thinking that it just plain messes up the airflow and causes heat buildup.

This arrangement I found to be not only the quietest, but the coolest.

jermaink · Post by **jermaink** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 3:23 am

Hmm. That sounds a bit counter intuitive, but if the temps aren't lower when the fan is on (which I'd usually expect to have a significant difference) then what you're doing sounds right.

thetoad30 · Post by **thetoad30** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 8:42 am

I know what you mean. It confused me too.

All I can think is that by putting on a fan it "overrides" the air from the top intake, mixing the internal case air with the outside cool air. This, I think, causes the heatsink to see a little bit warmer air than without the fan, thereby actually increasing the temps.

Other than that, I can't explain it at all.

jermaink · Post by **jermaink** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 11:32 pm

Did you try the fan in reverse as well?

thetoad30 · Post by **thetoad30** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 11:47 pm

Hmmm.... no I didn't try that. I would be hesitent to do so because the only place I have space for that would be at the rear of the HSF... and that might interfere with the exaughst of the rear fan...

But it might be worth looking into... especially since I'm expecting a new X800GTO2 coming soon that will be putting a little more heat into my case than my current X700Pro.