XP-120 vs. CNPS7700alcu to cool a passive northbridge?

grenadier · Post by **grenadier** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 4:32 pm

I'm trying to decide between a XP-120 and a CNPS7700alcu right now and its come down to which one will cool my passively cooled (blue zalman chipset cooler) northbridge better. I'm also using a Gigabyte X800 Silentpipe that could use any additional airflow it can get. Which heatsink do you think would be the best at keeping down my northbridge / vga temps?

Mar. · Post by **Mar.** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 6:00 pm

Not having personally used either, my gut feeling is that the XP-120 would be better, but it depends on what fan you use.

grenadier · Post by **grenadier** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 6:25 pm

I'd probably be ripping out the 7700 fan and replacing it with a 120mm yate loon @ 5v. Same fan config for the XP-120 minus that whole having to rip out a poorly made fan routine.

Mar. · Post by **Mar.** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 8:01 pm

The XP-120 will hold the fan further away from the board, allowing the air to spread out more in a cone-shaped pattern, opening toward the motherboard. However, the fins will block some of the air, so it won't be perfect. The Zalman will end up blowing most of the air straight out, but with more resistance before it does so, resulting in lower velocity I would think.

This is purely speculation of course. In realistic terms I wouldn't expect to see a noticeable difference between the two if you pitted them against each other.

hightower · Post by **hightower** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 10:20 am

i've tried both zalman 7700 and northq 3312 on an asus premium 925xe, where the NB is located close to the cpu. Honestly, at low speeds, neither of them cools a lot, maybe 1-2 degree celcious. You'll need to run them at medium or full speed, before you could call it serious cooling.

grenadier · Post by **grenadier** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 10:42 am

hightower wrote:i've tried both zalman 7700 and northq 3312 on an asus premium 925xe, where the NB is located close to the cpu. Honestly, at low speeds, neither of them cools a lot, maybe 1-2 degree celcious. You'll need to run them at medium or full speed, before you could call it serious cooling.

Actually, after switching my Arctic Freezer 64 for a 7700alcu my northbridge temps at load have dropped around 10C!