p4 abit is-7 heatsink help

[laichi]

My very first post, hoping someone can help me out...

I am running a p4 2.6g 800fsb on a abit is-7 mobo in a antec lanboy. I need some help on selecting a good heatsink/fan combo. I'm trying to keep the budget down, so around $40. This is my first machine I am trying to build, and was hoping to overclock sometime in the future. I am really new to this one, so is there anyone who can give me some pointers or suggestions on what kind of hsf's are good for this setup?

 

[RaymondY]

I'm running a similar mobo/cpu combination as u. My HSF of choice is the Zalman 7000Al-Cu. Excellent performance while running quiet

 

[laichi]

I was looking into this one as well as the vantec aeroflow. Both seem to be decent, but vantec seems to have a vibrating issue, something I do not like to hear when this machine may last me a long time (unless my overclocking attempts blow up in my face)...

I also wanted to ask about the aluminum vs copper issue. It seems people are quite split about this, and I wanted some input as to which is truly the better, if there is such a thing. While scanning through, it seems some are mixtures, while others are pure...

Thanks for the quick reply. Always good to know I can get help here, appreciate it!

 

[Corporate Thug]

Zalman 7000 or slk 900

 

[laichi]

i have been also looking at the slk 947u, which is supposed to be pretty good. however, it seems a little expensive, and it requires the removal of the brackets. is that a good idea for a beginner, like me? i worry i might snap something...

 

[RussianSensation]

Many credible websites showed that Zalman 7000AlCu or 7000CU beat any thermalright SLK series cooler unless the thermalright's heatsink has a fan that can push a lot of air (at least 55CFM). Of course with that comes noise.

In terms of Aluminum Vs. Copper it all depends up to you. I go to school in another city and not where I live at home so for me taking my computer to school doesnt require taking off the aluminum heatsink since it weight 445g <450 specification of both AMD 64 and P4. However copper solution weighs 773 grams so you must remove it in travel.

If travel si no concern, copper oxidises over time and it decrease its performance significantly. On top of the fact that it will not look pleasant to say the least. However, this is a minor point since I do not have a copper cooler and can't comment from personal experience on this.

Currently the 7000A-ALcu cools my p4 2.6@3.2ghz - load 53*C on Abit IS7 so thats pretty good considering with the stock cooler 2.6@3.0 in my system was 64.5*C with the same diode. It is a quiet cooler and you can use it on socket 754 if you ever desired. This isnt a large point either since socket 754 has very short life expectancy so if you upgrade in the future it will probably be to socket 939 if you go amd path.

hmmm..Also you can probably find the aluminum version for $30. I got mine at Microcenter for that much but the copper was 39.99 before tax. Unless you find it just as cheap it doesnt make sense since it will give you 2-3*C improvement maximum.

 

[beatle]

I have a Zalman CNPS7000A-AlCu on my IS7. It works great and is even compatible with Zalman's giant NB heatsink.

 

[beatle]

Post once, get another for free!

 

[laichi]

does the zalman's require bracket removal, or does it just fit right into it?

i don't travel much, so i am not worried much about weight. however, since i have a lanboy, mobility would be kind of cool. from what i now understand, copper does better, but only for a while, right? so would it be better to get a copper/aluminum mix, or straight up aluminum? this computer should last me a while, and i don't think i will be fiddling around with this area very much...

again, appreciate the advice!

 

[laichi]

i have a quick question. some of these say that it handles "up to 3.06g" a or some other number. does that mean that if i overclock my 2.6 to anything over 3.06, it won't be sufficient to keep it cool?

 

[RussianSensation]

When the cooler is released the specifications for it are finalized at that time. When Zalman 7000 came out 3.06 was the cpu that dissipated the most heat. If they had p4 3.5 they would have put that as the max handling capability. In essence since Thermal Dissipation value - say 0.23*C/Watt for 7000 Alcu model on Normal mode. If the CPU dissipated 83Watts - 3.2ghz p4 - then the temperature will rise 83*0.23 = 19*C over the case temperature. This is not a very good explanation because you can have cpu dissipate 83 watts of heat in both idle and load at least thats what sisoftware sandra will show you but of course under load the Thermal Dissipation coefficient increased from idle at 0.11-0.14 to 0.23-0.29. Hopefully that makes more sense. Basically under more heat stress the heatsink is unable to dissipate heat as fast because it does not leave the fins fast enough so the number increases.

Anyways, the case temperature is affected by the heat emmited by all other components + ambient room temperature. P4 does not start to scale back in speed until 65- 70*C depending on the model. So even if the case temperature is 35*C you have 30*C of room to heat the cpu (not precisely this exact number). So basically you can easily dissipate 120Watts with the Zalman 7000 which will put you around 3.4 to 3.5ghz p4.

I would personally recommend the Aluminum-Copper version

 

[RussianSensation]

oh yeah for p4 you dont need to remove the bracket you simply slide the 2 horizontal pillars and screw the heatsink to them with 2 bolts its fairly simple just take your time. Screw one side first a bit then another and then the first one again and the other tightening them slowly on each side. The zalman website has a diagram of the installation process here: Installation Procedure

 

[laichi]

i imagine this heatsink does not come with the thermal compound already applied. since i will be doing this myself, any suggestions on which to apply, and any secrets on good methods for applying it?

 

[beatle]

Ceramique and Arctic Silver 5 are both good compounds. Detailed installation instructions are available on their website.

 

[th3Godfather]

i have the is7 with a p4 2.6c in an antec slk3700amb and i have an slk900u mounted on it with a smart fan 2 with a vantec nexus fan controller so that i can turn that bish down when im trying to sleep. i'm overclocked to 3.2 right now, depending on your chip you may be able to oc high with little voltage change or a lot. as5 is the way to go, i have as3 and the bracket removal is painless if you have tiny wire cutters. otherwise its horrible. as for results, my mobo says idle round 39 with a sys temp of 32 (but we all know about abits high temp recording so take these temps for what they are worth) and a max of 48 when i play call of duty.