Any difference between these two CPU coolers

[leeland]

Both Zalman 9700's

9700 for 58 dollars

OR

Zalman 9700 CNPS for 70 dollars

I see some minor differences (one has a fan control, the colors...) but I would like to know if you are going to get some sort of better performance from the more expensive one or if it is a waste of extra money...


Thanks in advance for any info...

 

[PCTC2]

You will not see any performance gain. The more expensive one is also aluminum, while the cheaper one is just copper.

 

[NatePo717]

You might see very slight improvement with the cheaper one. Copper > Aluminum in a heat sink.

 

[leeland]

Originally posted by: PCTC2
You will not see any performance gain. The more expensive one is also aluminum, while the cheaper one is just copper.

Please correct me if I am wrong but isn't copper a better conductor of heat vs Aluminum? or do I have it backwards....


Thanks again,

Leeland

 

[Operandi]

They are both the same heatsink, both are copper.

The NT is nickel plated and has a 4 pin PWM fan which is very useful for keeping noise low at idle, and performance up under load.

 

[leeland]

Sorry but what does PWM mean? is that the fan management module that allows you to increase and decrease the fan speed manually? or is that automatic based on the temp readings?

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: leeland
Sorry but what does PWM mean? is that the fan management module that allows you to increase and decrease the fan speed manually? or is that automatic based on the temp readings?

Pulse width modulation.

There is an IC in the fan hub that can reduce the speed of the fan based on the signal carried over the 4th wire from the motherboard.

 

[JEDIYoda]

drats beat me to it...

 

[PCTC2]

Originally posted by: Operandi
They are both the same heatsink, both are copper.

The NT is nickel plated

Actually, if you look on the Zalman site, it is aluminum, as Newegg also states. The difference between the performance in this cooler with copper or aluminum would be negligible.
But it is also more expensive because it carries the nVIDIA tag on it.
EDIT: Generally Copper is a better heat conductor but it is generally more expensive because you cannot extrude it. (Aluminum has a thermal conductivity of 237 J/(m*s*C) vs. Copper's 401 J/(m*s*C), however this cooler is quite mediocre to begin with, so with this PARTICULAR INSTANCE, there is no difference other than looks. For others, yes, Copper is generally better)

 

[Binky]

If you have a motherboard with a 4-pin CPU fan connector, you probably want the NT version because it can use the motherboard (i.e. Speedfan) to control the CPU fan speed. Some (but not all) motherboards can control a 3-pin fan (i.e. the non-NT version) on the 4-pin connector.

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: PCTC2

Originally posted by: Operandi
They are both the same heatsink, both are copper.

The NT is nickel plated

Actually, if you look on the Zalman site, it is aluminum, as Newegg also states. The difference between the performance in this cooler with copper or aluminum would be negligible.
But it is also more expensive because it carries the nVIDIA tag on it.
EDIT: Generally Copper is a better heat conductor but it is generally more expensive because you cannot extrude it. (Aluminum has a thermal conductivity of 237 J/(m*s*C) vs. Copper's 401 J/(m*s*C), however this cooler is quite mediocre to begin with, so with this PARTICULAR INSTANCE, there is no difference other than looks. For others, yes, Copper is generally better)

If you look even closer they also list the 9700 LED as Copper and AL too. The weight for the heatsinks is also the same so the two would almost have to be the same aside from the nickel platting on the NT.

My guess is the AL portion must be the top portion over the base that makes contact with the mounting hardware.

As far as it being mediocre thats only true if your only looking for pure performance. If you in the market for performance and low noise in the same package the Zalmans are some of the best.