Anyone else using a Zerotherm Nirvana on an AM3 board?

[angry hampster]

I just installed my Zerotherm Nirvana CPU cooler on my new motherboard & CPU combo after using the stock cooler for a couple weeks. I was always impressed with its cooling ability on my Core 2 Duo setup. Anyhow, I am very disappointed with how high my temps are right now. I'm stress testing with OCCT and temps are steady at 68*C at 3.5GHz...on par with the stock cooler. Has anyone used a Zerotherm cooler in an AM3 board before? Do they not seat well? It feels firm, but not tight like the stock cooler was.

I'm using OCZ Freeze TIM. I also have a tube of AS5 in the closet, but I've read that the two are pretty equal in performance.

 

[EliteRetard]

I think theres a problem with the stock mounting system (the old 939 system seemed vastly better, 6 clips instead of 2). I had a freind try on a new AC Freezer Pro and got temps much worse than the stock cooler despite several remounts thermal pastes and fiddling to try and get it to work. Theres no reason it shouldnt work, but just didnt. Finally decided to say screw that and got a bolt through cooler (212Plus) and his temps are much better, idle ~30c load ~50c.

So yeah, my guess is not a bad cooler or paste (since what your using are known to be good), but a bad mounting system. You can try bending the rentention mechanism so it clamps down harder (but with only 2 clips thats risky, you could break a tab), if thats not possible you might need somethng that can bolt through.

 

[Vesku]

My Kingwin XT-1264 cools well, and it's a clip attached cooler. It's clip tension is VERY high though, I think many coolers just don't give the required tension for a good seating. Perhaps they are afraid people will break their sockets trying to remove them, I know this XT-1264 is a pain to remove.

 

[angry hampster]

Pulled off the Nirvana and re-seated the puny stock cooler with the OCZ Freeze TIM. I also bumped up the overclock to 3.6GHz (200x18). So far I've maxed at 53*C. Kinda sucks..I really liked this cooler with my Core 2 Duo. It looks great and performed brilliantly. Guess I'll sell it to someone with an Intel setup.

 

[nyker96]

I used the cheaper version of nirvana (fz120) on an am2+ board, cools pretty well, no complaints, just skip the included tim, use something better like as5. yours probably a mount problem I suspect. That cooler should do a decent job.

 

[angry hampster]

Stock cooler is keeping it at 27*C idle, 54*C max temp during a 3 hour stress test. OCZ Freeze thermal material is incredible.