Zalman 7000 vs stock AMD cooler with cool n quiet?

norman-ramsey · Post by **norman-ramsey** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 5:20 pm

I'm planning to build an HTPC that will be used primarily to record HDTV, to play back HDTV, and to transcode HDTV for burning to DVD. I will be running Linux.

I'm planning on

AMD Sempron 64 3100+ Palermo, which provides significant processing power at 67W high load, throttled back to 20W at low load using AMD cool n quiet.
Motherboard will probably be ASUS K8N
Passively cooled GeForce FX 5200 for graphics (which I will be using for the hardware MPEG-2 support).
PCHDTV HD-3000 tuner card.
Currently have a Maxtor 200GB hard drive. May add other large drives on sale

I've never before built a 'quiet' PC and will be happy with something that is reasonably quiet (as opposed to out-and-out silent). For example, I'm probably not serious enoughto suspend hard drives.

My question is about cooling: should I go with the stock cooler from AMD, or should I try a quieter cooler such as the Zalman 7000AlCu? I want to use AMD's 'cool n quiet' feature to lower power consumption at low CPU loads. It appears from the motherboard manual (page 2-16) that

This feature requires the AMD CPU heatsink and fan assembly with monitor chip. If you purchased a separate heatsink and fan package, use the ASUS Q-Fan Technology feature to automatically adjust the CPU fan speed according to your system loading.

The Zalman documentation suggests that I use the accompanying Fan Mate to set the CPU cooler's fan speed by hand once and for all.

So I guess I have these questions:

Can it possibly be true that Cool N Quiet won't throttle down the CPU unless I have the stock cooler?
Is there a way to let the motherboard control the speed of the fan on the Zalman cooler? (The BIOS can set 'Fan Start Voltage', 'Fan Start Temp', and 'Fan Full Speed Temp')
Is it worth fooling with the Zalman cooler?
If I go with the stock cooler at first, it is easy to change coolers later? (Other systems I have built had sticky use-once goo on the CPU for thermal coupling.)

Thanks for any help (my first post to SPCR).

P.S. If it matters, I'm considering either an Antec Sonata case with bundled PSU or else an Antec SLK3000B with Seasonic S12-330 PSU. Comments on this choice also welcome.

slashdotcomma · Post by **slashdotcomma** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 5:39 pm

Since no one has replied, I'll give it a try.

The Zalman 7000AlCu is far better than the stock, but it's several years old. The newer zalmans (7700 and 9500s will do a lot better), the scythe ninja, or the thermalright xp-90(c)/xp-120. Read the reviews and search for the lowest price, since I'm assuming that's your limiting factor. Any of these will make your ears happy so I guess it all comes down to cost.

Can it possibly be true that Cool N Quiet won't throttle down the CPU unless I have the stock cooler?

Cool N Quiet if drivers are installed and bios settings are turned on, will work regardless of any cooler.

Is there a way to let the motherboard control the speed of the fan on the Zalman cooler? (The BIOS can set 'Fan Start Voltage', 'Fan Start Temp', and 'Fan Full Speed Temp')

Speedfan will work or if you do go with ASUS, Asus probe/q-fan (in bios) will monitor fan speeds.

If I go with the stock cooler at first, it is easy to change coolers later? (Other systems I have built had sticky use-once goo on the CPU for thermal coupling.)

well, depends on what cleaning solutions you have available. Regular rubbing alcohol will do.

P.S. If it matters, I'm considering either an Antec Sonata case with bundled PSU or else an Antec SLK3000B with Seasonic S12-330 PSU. Comments on this choice also welcome.

take a look at the p150. Since price is a concern, whatever combo (slk300b+seasonic or p150) is cheapest will do, but some of the nifty features of p150 are worth taking a look at.

As always read, read, read.

Good luck!
and.....

WELCOME TO SPCR!!!!!!

norman-ramsey · Post by **norman-ramsey** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 6:42 pm

slashdotcomma wrote: The Zalman 7000AlCu is far better than the stock, but it's several years old. The newer zalmans (7700 and 9500s will do a lot better), the scythe ninja, or the thermalright xp-90(c)/xp-120. Read the reviews and search for the lowest price, since I'm assuming that's your limiting factor. Any of these will make your ears happy so I guess it all comes down to cost.

Thanks for your reply. Having read the reviews, I don't want the extra size or weight of the 7700 or the price of the scythe ninja. But it sounds like you think the 7000 is worth it over the stock cooler. (I figure the Sempron is going to run cool even when transcoding.)

Cool N Quiet if drivers are installed and bios settings are turned on, will work regardless of any cooler.

This makes sense to me, but I wonder why the motherboard manual says otherwise?

slashdotcomma wrote:
Is there a way to let the motherboard control the speed of the fan on the Zalman cooler? (The BIOS can set 'Fan Start Voltage', 'Fan Start Temp', and 'Fan Full Speed Temp')
Speedfan will work or if you do go with ASUS, Asus probe/q-fan (in bios) will monitor fan speeds.

I don't think Speedfan works on Linux. But I should be happy with ASUS Q-Fan, if I know how to connect it. Do I just leave the Fan Mate out of the circuit? Or am I going to need to score a cable somewhere?

(Regarding case & PSU):
take a look at the p150. Since price is a concern, whatever combo (slk300b+seasonic or p150) is cheapest will do, but some of the nifty features of p150 are worth taking a look at.

Just read the review of the P150 and it does look sweet (HD suspension without pain, yay), but I can't find it for sale anywhere and so can't make a judgment about price.
And especially for a system that will be on all the time, I really like what I read about the Seasonic PSUs.

Thanks for all the help and the large blue WELCOME

Lawrence Lee · Post by **Lawrence Lee** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 9:14 pm

The Zalman 7000 has stood the test of time and is still a pretty good cooler. It will have no trouble cooling a Sempron 3100+ with C&Q enabled. It's also very pretty.

Post by **MikeC** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 11:35 pm

Agreed re-Z7000. Well worthwhile & inexpensive, relatively speaking. If you want even cheaper & maybe quieter but not quite as cool, there's the Arctic Cooling SS 64 Ultra TC. Identical to the P4 version we reviewed. Sometimes as low as ~$15.

The P150 is only just being released. I expect it will be reasonably well distributed by month's end. In its size class, nothing to beat it for low noise. The PSU is very good, too.

Disagree about generic rubbing alcohol. It's often just 70% alc & has too much oil. You want something more like 99%, otherwise a film gets left on the HS base & CPU. Isopropyl alcol -- and ask specifically for the high test.

PS --How is Harvard these days, prof? Was last there >20 yrs ago...

norman-ramsey · Post by **norman-ramsey** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 10:15 am

Thanks again for all the advice. It sounds as if the Z7000 is the right balance of price, noise, and cooling for my first foray into quiet computing.

Mike, thanks for the PS. Lots of changes at Harvard in 20 years. We now have an undergraduate degree program in CS and a spiffy new (5-yr-old) building to house it, along with EE. Look us up the next time you're in Boston.

shades_of_blue · Post by **shades_of_blue** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 2:15 pm

if your serious about the Sonata or SLK3000B, you really should consider suspending your HDDs. I can honestly say that the difference is night and day. Also, having used Maxtor drives in my SLK3000B at one time, i would go as far as to say it's a necessity.

for the record, my Zalman 7000cu fan produces a tone which is more audible that that of my Seasonic ST400 PSU. i would stick with the default cooler for now and down the road upgrade to something fanless from Scythe instead. although the 7000cu should more than adequately cool your processor on it’s lowest setting and can be found for a good price these days.

as for power supplies, you may want to consider an antec phantom 350. that is if the cost is not too much for you.

for fans, consider anything from Nexus or if whatever case you choose to buy has 120mm fans consider the LateLoon D12SL instead.

Slaugh · Post by **Slaugh** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 11:41 pm

shades_of_blue wrote:if your serious about the Sonata or SLK3000B, you really should consider suspending your HDDs.

Not with the Sonata (not sure about the Sonata II)... The drive cage isn't removable without cutting it, unlike other Antec cases. Also, the airflow of the Sonata is not that good compared to other Antec solutions, though it was improved a bit with the Sonata II. If you have to choose between these 2 cases, the SLK3000B with a good PSU (such as a Seasonic) is probably your best choice, or the upcoming P150 if you can wait a bit.

norman-ramsey wrote:
Cool N Quiet if drivers are installed and bios settings are turned on, will work regardless of any cooler.
This makes sense to me, but I wonder why the motherboard manual says otherwise?

Using a different cooler on a retail AMD processor will void the warranty (OEM processors are sold without a cooler normally). So, to stay on the safe side, motherboard manufacturers strongly suggest to use only the stock cooler in their manuals. The stock cooler is not necessary to use Cool'n'Quiet, and any cooler will do (including fanless solutions). In fact, I'm not using the stock cooler on my Athlon64, but a waterblock, and Cool'n'Quiet is working perfectly!

norman-ramsey wrote:Is there a way to let the motherboard control the speed of the fan on the Zalman cooler? (The BIOS can set 'Fan Start Voltage', 'Fan Start Temp', and 'Fan Full Speed Temp')

If you go with an Asus board, most of them (including the K8N) come with Asus QFan. QFan controls the CPU fan speed according to the CPU temperature, and you enable it in the BIOS. If you go with a Zalman cooler, I don't think you'll need QFan at all. Adjusting the fan speed with the supplied fanmate2 and enabling Cool'n'Quiet should be enough. To fine-tune your CPU fan speed and make sure your CPU stays at a safe temperature, a program like speedfan is very helpful. It monitors your voltages and CPU/chipset/HDD temperatures in realtime. One last thing, if your BIOS has a setting for ACPI 2.0 functions, make sure it's enabled. You need it for Cool'n'Quiet. On my K8N-E Deluxe, I had to enable it in order to use Cool'n'Quiet...