Extra cooling advice and silence

Ronaldo7

I want to put an ultra quiet heatsink and fan for my pentium 4 2.5ghz. I also need two ultra quiet 80mm fans for my chieftec dragon full tower case. Does anyone also know where i would get any of that thermal paste(not sure it thats what its called) so i can put some more on my cpu because it always comes off when i change fans around and need to put some more on.

Cheers...

RicardoSmith

Artic Sliver

You can get in Maplins but I'd get it from the web somewhere myself.

The Brigadier

A lot of Heatsinks will also come with a small tube of paste...

Col_Loki

Hey, am not sure wheather your looking for a silent Heat Sink aswell.

Anyway....

Zalman 7000 Alcu Heat Sink - Has gotten very good reviews and zalman are known for silence.

Fans wise theres Papst or Sharkoon (ultra silent ed)...

The papst are good and quiet.... Here - Rated 12db .
The sharkoon can be adjusted using a Variable resistor that fits into your PCI slot... good fans (ive got em) ... Here (also available from elara).

www.hitide.ie (same company) have thermal compound aswell, ohh and you can pay by bank draft, cheque, etc (remember you saying you dont have a credit card).

Hope this helps,

Loki

ozt9vdujny3srf

How do they compare to thid zalman fan?--> http://www.peats.com/cgi-bin/shop/db.cgi?view=1&id=5993&type=6&sid=573561x0

Have you used these hitide people before? what are they like for delivery / produck collection.

Noise is BY FAR by biggest conisderation, much more important than heat dissipation.

Col_Loki

The one peats have is the older model zalman, i cant knock it have heard good things about that one aswell.

I dont have the Zalman 7000, but everyone who has it loved it . It has a variable fan and is aparently in-audable in silent mode. It can be turned up for overclocking, normal mode is still supposed to be quiet.

I have used hitide a couple of times and i found them very good. Quick delivery and the products they stock are top class and have really impressed me (there water cooling kits are brilliant, MSI Ti4200 i bought had every accessory under the sun.... the other things i got were very nice 2).

They dont accept credit cards yet, so you can pay by bank draft or postal cheque... etc , thats the only slightly awkward thing.

What is the biggest noise problem in your rig? Case fans? PSU? CPU heat sink?
How quiet does it have to be to make you happy (i ask because to get it silent you will prob have to go extreme)?

ozt9vdujny3srf

heh i will put it this way, i just bought an antec sonata case with silent psu and silent 120mm case fan, am going to go and buy a passive northbridge cooler (because my abit mobo has a noisy active one). I will get the 7000alcu if i can so through hitide sher its cheaper anyways .

gobby

for my p4 i used the stock cooler but didnt put any paste on. i just left the thermal pad on the sink. is it possible to remove the pad and apply paste??

Col_Loki

Have the sonata myself and its a great case, love it to bits .
And that fan is the one id go for if i didnt have water cooling......

One thing you have to hook up the 120mm fan to the "fan" power connector which the PSU has.... this will run it according to load levels (keep it silent) as apposed to running it full speed which is a bit noisey.

The PSU itself is known for being very quiet with only one fan so thats good .
I have the same problem with the NB on my NF7-S , the little fan's a bugger.... will be getting a passive cooler in a little while.

The only other thing is your graphics card, the fan on those can be noisey aswell. I got the Zalman graphics card cooler (heatpipe) from hitide and she's a gem.... 0db .

Looks like your system is going to be very very quiet, close to silent!! Another problem will most lightly be your harddrive, which you've prob never even heard before..... what make is it?

[edit] It is possible to remove the thermal pad and apply the paste, you will prob need very fine sand paper to remove all traces from the heatsink. Use acetone (nail polish remover to clean the core and heatsink..... then apply the paste and your grand.

Creamy Goodness

the zalman 7000 is great can't praise it enough

unkel

Zalman 7000Cu all the way :cool:

Bought mine last October. It lowered the CPU idle temp from 60 to 25 - 35 degrees celsius, depending on fan settings. My m8 was so impressed he binned his Thermaltake Aquarius CPU watercooling set which is both louder and lets the cpu get hotter than the Zalman. Watercooling is very much past it with the latest Zalman products.

Would also highly recommend the Zalman 400W PSU. It is rated 400W but scored max of 450W in a review (Toms or Anandtech, can't remember). All other PSU's scored lower than their rating iirc. The Zalman PSU is also silent. Was using two Zalman silent case fans in my last rig also

Col_Loki

My m8 was so impressed he binned his Thermaltake Aquarius CPU watercooling

The Aquarius water cooler is really a bit of a joke TBH, it struggles to keep up with mid range air coolers never mind top level ones. I wouldnt say water cooling is past it just yet .

Dont think the zalman can compare to a decent water cooling rig....... it gets great temps (almost as good as the ThermalRight SLK800/900) and is definetly a top class air cooler but compared to a good watercooling setup's temps & the fact that you can add your NB, graphics card & a second cpu to watercooling..... i think the watercooling is still on top.

Would also highly recommend the Zalman 400W PSU. It is rated 400W but scored max of 450W in a review

Yea i read that review aswell ..... its Here .
They left out the Fortron in the initial descussion about which power supply produced the most power "the 400-Watt PC Cooling Ultra-Silent, delivering 452 Watts, is the hands-down winner", but the Fortron 400w is the one that produces 452w as can be seen a little further on in the benchmarks...... i dont trust Toms much nemore after so many missleading reviews (PC power & cooling produces 432w btw).

The Fortron's are known for producing way over what there specified at, 300w is said to be between 380 - 400w , 350w ... 400w - 430w etc. Great power supply's and the one with the 120mm fan is suppose to be very very quiet (silent if you mod the fan to run at 5-7v).

unkel

Originally posted by COL_LOKI
The Aquarius water cooler is really a bit of a joke TBH, it struggles to keep up with mid range air coolers never mind top level ones

Aye the Aquarius is a bit of a Mickey Mouse watercooling set alright
Mind this was a very hot selling piece of kit last year, indeed cooling only the (one) cpu, last year going for €150 - €200 in these regions compared to the €50 for the Zalman that, we agree, produces much better results in both the cooling and the noise areas

Originally posted by COL_LOKI
I wouldnt say water cooling is past it just yet

Fair point m8

Watercooling of course can be much more than aforementioned setup. In fairness though, how would you rate a Zalman passive setup, comprising of the 7000CU Cpu cooler, the heatpipe GPU heatsink and northbridge heatsink compared to a top end watercooling system, especially when the Zalman total costs would be well below €100?

I suppose that when watercooling was first available, no one even contemplated that CPU / GPU / NB fan and case cooling would get as efficient / effective and quiet as it has

Story might be different for a multiple cpu setup - vaguely remember seeing a picture of a dual cpu dual 7000CU mobo the other day though - nice


EDIT: Thanks COL_LOKI for the remarks on Tom's PSU review. That is dodgy alright. I missed that on my first read of the review altogether

Col_Loki

In fairness though, how would you rate a Zalman passive setup, comprising of the 7000CU Cpu cooler, the heatpipe GPU heatsink and northbridge heatsink compared to a top end watercooling system, especially when the Zalman total costs would be well below €100?

Very good point, its almost impossible for a water cooling setup to compare price wise , performance wise & on silence (based on all 3) . Lets say the cheaper version of the performance water cooling setup which would set you back (innovatek) €139 would have pretty much the same temps as the Zalman setup (cpu wise).... then you add a GPU cooler and a NB cooler thats €190-200 ..... one thing is i think the Graphics card will prob be kept cooler and will give a better overclock..... aswell as the fact that you might have to buy a case fan or two for the Zalman Passive setup.

This taken into account i would definetly go with the Zalman setup, lower end setups dont have much apeal anymore especially when your talking twice the cost. Zalman are fantastic, i have the Graphics card Heatpipe myself and its brilliant.

Story might be different for a multiple cpu setup - vaguely remember seeing a picture of a dual cpu dual 7000CU mobo the other day though - nice

Would like to see a picture of that as no one seems to know what board the Zalman 7000's will fit (dual cpu boards).
For dual setups water cooling is a great advantage, everything can be cooler by 2 120mm fans on the rad running low speeds for nice quietness .... thats what im doing in the next few weeks. Granted my water cooling setup will have cost me just under €300 at that stage :rolleyes: (2xCPU, 1xNB, and mabye 1xGPU - or Zalman). If i was using the dual zalmans the heat inside the case would be too high and id need a few fans to extract it (wouldnt be that silent of a rig then).... am fitting it in a Sonata case aswell which wouldnt help.

That is dodgy alright

Yea you can say that again..

In toms hardware review aswell i noticed that they mentioned the be-quiet! power supply's which have gotten fantastic reviews from what ive read (ive read 4 and that PSU has won all of them).... toms seems to mention it a little...

"With its "Be-Quiet" power supply series, Lista offers temperature-regulated fans in the low speed segment from 1000 to 1200 RPM. "

Im just after reading the article again and i cant find the part where it critises the be-quiet on its power efficienty level...... either it was changed or im dreaming (both possible )

Would have loved to put one of those in there, might have stirred things up. The reviews ive read on them they have rock solid voltages, good power output (especially on the 12v line) , and theyre rated as very quiet PSU's due to massive heat sinks. There build quality has also been comented on as excellent......


"The best efficiency, at 78 percent, was achieved by the FSP400-60PFN. "
Love the way the mention the make of PSU...... if that was a Zalman that was the most efficient then its name would be repeated 20 times.

A big ammount of mistakes and obvious leanings toward certain PSU's...... funny the way these PSU's are apearing at the top of your screen in the advertisements eh? Zalman and PC P&P ...... annoy's me when i see this.

unkel

Originally posted by COL_LOKI
Zalman are fantastic, i have the Graphics card Heatpipe myself and its brilliant.

My next wee project I think

Originally posted by COL_LOKI
A big ammount of mistakes and obvious leanings toward certain PSU's...... funny the way these PSU's are apearing at the top of your screen in the advertisements eh? Zalman and PC P&P ...... annoy's me when i see this.

:mad: Have heard this said about Tom's before, but never noticed it that much. Will definitely read their reviews with a very critical eye the next time

Col_Loki

I think this review is much more reliable ........ http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1841&p=1 , worth a look mabye.

unkel

Yes, much better

Interesting to see that the Fortron and Zalman are almost identical

I'm sorted for the next few years with my Zalman, but in case other people are looking for a PSU - where do you get Fortron over here? Checked usual suspects (Komplett, Elara, Peats, Overclockers.co.uk, hitide) but no joy

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by unkel
Yes, much better

Interesting to see that the Fortron and Zalman are almost identical

I'm sorted for the next few years with my Zalman, but in case other people are looking for a PSU - where do you get Fortron over here? Checked usual suspects (Komplett, Elara, Peats, Overclockers.co.uk, hitide) but no joy

Where did u get the Zalman?

unkel

Bought it in a shop in Holland

hitide.ie have them here for €49 (cupper)

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by unkel
Bought it in a shop in Holland

hitide.ie have them here for €49 (cupper)

Where on the site are they. All I can see are be quiet! PSU's and the cheapest one is €61.

unkel

Ah sorry, thought you meant the cooler

Got the PSU in same shop in Holland - have not come across the PSU here yet. Your best bet is probably UK on line stores

jow

Originally posted by COL_LOKI
Very good point, its almost impossible for a water cooling setup to compare price wise , performance wise & on silence (based on all 3) . Lets say the cheaper version of the performance water cooling setup which would set you back (innovatek) €139 would have pretty much the same temps as the Zalman setup (cpu wise).... then you add a GPU cooler and a NB cooler thats €190-200 ..... one thing is i think the Graphics card will prob be kept cooler and will give a better overclock..... aswell as the fact that you might have to buy a case fan or two for the Zalman Passive setup.

This taken into account i would definetly go with the Zalman setup, lower end setups dont have much apeal anymore especially when your talking twice the cost. Zalman are fantastic, i have the Graphics card Heatpipe myself and its brilliant.

Hi,
price wise you are absolutely right.....but please do not forget the following:
I think the big disadvantage of aircooling is the amount of air getting "shifted" through your case. I do not know where you live (ok, I know but I won't tell anybody ) but the amount of dust in my area is unbelievable (Clontarf, Coastline). So when you using air cooling you can open the case very 4 weeks and clean the cooler with a vac cleaner. And believe me: because of the very "fragile" design of the Zalmans copper fins, they attract dust ;-)... and then the temperatures rise slowly but steadily.
So with atercooling you get reduced maintenance in comparison to air cooling and of course like you said: add GPU, NB and Harddrives into the system. But it is expensive, no doubts.

Regards,

jow

RicardoSmith

Make sure the vac doesn't make the fans go backwards. Can blow a motherboard that.

Col_Loki

Yes, much better
Interesting to see that the Fortron and Zalman are almost identical

Yea that one was a supprise to me too. I know sparkle use re-branded and slightly changed Fortron PSU's...... There an amazing price for the quality of the PSU's you get.

I'm sorted for the next few years with my Zalman, but in case other people are looking for a PSU - where do you get Fortron over here? Checked usual suspects (Komplett, Elara, Peats, Overclockers.co.uk, hitide) but no joy

Only place ive seen Fortron's & Zalmans on sale is Here - French Site . €48 for the 350w version which outputs 400w+ ....... nice PSU.

unkel

The 400W is €75 which is not a bad price either - didn't check shipping etc

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by unkel
The 400W is €75 which is not a bad price either - didn't check shipping etc

Umm you can buy a Sonata case with 380w PSU for about €130. I think thats a better deal myself.

Col_Loki

Umm you can buy a Sonata case with 380w PSU for about €130. I think thats a better deal myself.

Its all realitive to what you need it for. If you need a power supply to power a heavy machine like a Dual CPU one then the 380w PSU on the sonata is of 0 use to you..........

A PSU for €75 that is very quiet (and can be modded for silence) that will power it nicely.........thats what id call a good buy !!

unkel

Originally posted by COL_LOKI
A PSU for €75 that is very quiet (and can be modded for silence) that will power it nicely.........thats what id call a good buy !!

I agree. Paid €97 for my Zalman in a shop 3 months ago and it is worth every cent

It seems that people only really appreciate these products (in my case the Zalman PSU and the Zalman 7000Cu) once they have used them. I read the reviews etc. before buying but now I've used them, I love them to bits. Haven't seen / heard a single instance where someone using either of them was not 100% satisfied