Digit-Life Heat Piped Cooler Shootout

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 10:15 am

Digit-Life has a fairly extensive big CPU cooler roundup here.

Top honors went to the Zalman CNPS9500 LED in Silent Mode, the Scythe SCNJ-1000 with a 800rpm 120mm fan, and the Thermaltake BigTyphoon.

Noteably missing is the Tuniq Tower 120.

Decent review of the Tuniq with the Zalman and Scythe at X-bit here.

Image from the X-bit review:

diver · Post by **diver** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 10:36 am

I would not get too excited about the X-Bit Labs test. They run their 120mm fans @ 1600 rpm, at least double what is typical for a quiet PC. It seems that coolers with closely spaced fins provide more cooling at high airflows. The coolers with widely spaced fins work better at low airflows.

As for Digit-Life, there is no way that a Zalman 7700 running @ 980 rpm (their usual speed in the silent mode) is going to be quieter than a Ninja @ 800 rpm, unless they managed to find some really nasty fan to put on the Ninja. I know, as I have had both.

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 10:57 am

diver wrote:I would not get too excited about the X-Bit Labs test. They run their 120mm fans @ 1600 rpm, at least double what is typical for a quiet PC. It seems that coolers with closely spaced fins provide more cooling at high airflows. The coolers with widely spaced fins work better at low airflows.

Maybe jmke and/or MikeC will review the Tuniq Tower 120.

I currently have a ~1600rpm 120mm fan on my Ninja. I have yet to find a CPU that needs it--maybe my new E6 Sempron 3100+ will reward me.

Most tests have shown that 800rpm is the best performance/noise spot for the Ninja, so I wouldn't compain much about the higher speed in the X-bit tests. It is not like they did much sound analysis, and they did try to keep speed consisent. (and they let you link to their images.)

mrzed · Post by **mrzed** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 11:27 am

I think Mike may have already commented about the Tuniq in another thread. (too lazy to search).

Either way - it does not appear to be a good quiet cooling candidate. Loads of densely packed fins.

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 11:36 am

mrzed wrote:I think Mike may have already commented about the Tuniq in another thread. (too lazy to search).

That thread link is here.

JazzJackRabbit · Post by **JazzJackRabbit** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 7:44 pm

digit-life aka ixbt.com is probably the best source for cpu, video and sound card reviews, but not for anything else, that includes coolers as well.