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Switched from Zalman 7000b to a XP-120 w/Nexus

G

grimlykindo

Senior member
I just got my xp-120 installed today and did some testing.

First off the 120mm Nexus is WAY quieter than the 92mm Zalman fan and seems to be putting out alot more CFM


Zalman 7000b @ 1600rpms:

idle: 45c load: 68c (Yes, its a Prescott)

Xp-120 w/Nexus @ 1080rpms:

idle: 40c load: 57 (plus the AS5 needs to settle yet)


I would say a 11c load difference is pretty huge! I was hoping for the heatpipes to work as well as they did.

Looks like my days of being a Zalman fan are over...

Apparently the Zalman just can't handle my Prescott.

That makes 5 120mm fans in my p180 now 😀
 
Thats awesome grim. I've had my xp120 since Sept 2004 and still I am amazed at the thermal performance and most of all, the QUIETNESS you can achieve w/ this HS.
 
Actually most 120 mm fans are quiter than there counterpart 92mm!!

With that said probably on wednesday I will start to bench this xp120!
By then the AS5 will have been 24/7 for 5days +......

So far I love the xp120 even with this 120mm Antec smart cool....

The only reason I haven`t ordered a different fan is I`m fixing to also order a new brand name PSU.....

Yep you heard me correct.....no more OKIA in my system...lolol
 
Grimlykindo --

Have you tried ducting your motherboard around the XP120 to exhaust the air from under the XP120's fins directly out the case-rear?

 
Also -- I'm thinking that you could continue to run the Nexus fan or any fan at the speed you've chosen, but you could probably afford to spin it up as high as 2,500 rpm (or a fan that goes at least that high) with Speedfan -- set to kick on at maybe 50C. That also might be worth a C or two . . .
 
Originally posted by: BonzaiDuck
Also -- I'm thinking that you could continue to run the Nexus fan or any fan at the speed you've chosen, but you could probably afford to spin it up as high as 2,500 rpm (or a fan that goes at least that high) with Speedfan -- set to kick on at maybe 50C. That also might be worth a C or two . . .
Click to expand...

I am a big silence freak when it comes to fans. Also Nexus are wired to only go around 1000-1100rpms MAX. My abit mobo runs it at 1080rpms and thats the highest I want it.

My perception of sound is much more sensitive than the average person. Most of my friends cannot tell if my comp is on because it is so silent and at LANs people always say that my comp is inaudible. But my hearing picks up every fan in my case even during gaming at a loud volume.
 
Well, I'm a cooling freak, worried about keeping my temps down, but this last week has been a revelation for me here on the forums.

With the foam-board ducting and some Spire-pads, I DID cut down the noise but was inclined to run my CPU fan at idle above 2,500rpm and at load -- full-bore for the Delta Tri-Blade at 3,700rpm.

Looking at the bench-tests in reviews for the CNPS-9500, the XP120 and the SI120, I realized they were collecting data on these things with the fans spinning below 1,000rpm, and the thermal resistance was still around 0.18 C/W.

I trimmed all my fan-speeds down. I discovered that I was only getting white-noise from turbulence with the Delta above maybe 2,200rpm, but there is a faint motor whine at the low-end around 1,500rpm!! Thinking of changing it to a Panaflo, and for this reason:

I'm going to do some more tests, but I don't think the CFMs arising from a 120x38mm fan spinning above 2,900rpm make any difference at all in load temperature, and it may be that the minimum thermal resistance is reached around 2,500. I'm not even noticing much in the way of chipset temperature increases from the CPU fan tuned down -- apparently the ducting and the lower CFM still keep the temps down on the chipset heatsink and surrounding mobo and memory modules.

I was especially interested in your rig, because I'm going to experiment with a 3.2E processor despite my earlier resolve to forget about Intel and build an AMD system next year, but my brother is due a computer upgrade for Xmas, I've got some spare OCZ's, so I thought I'd just replace the entire mobo, processor and heatsink. The replacement heatsink will be an SI120, and I anticipate almost breaking even from the overclocked 3.0C that's in there now. Your load temperature with your Prescott is higher than I want to go, but I was planning to run the fan about 600rpm faster than you do -- just at idle.

I still think you could cut your load temperature down a few C's with some foam-board, and it would further deaden the noise. But you'd have to have the inclination to do it and that's your business. Even though my duct is designed for "easy removal," it's still a minor PITA for accessing the mobo.

Here's my rig:

P4P800 (standard) ASUS mobo
2 GB OCZ EL Gold DDR500 @ DDR480
P4 3.0C @ 3.6 Ghz
dual Hitachi 160 GB's in RAID0
ASUS V9980 nVidia 5950 Ultra AGP
Creative SB Audigy 2ZS
Cooling by ThermalRight XP120 -- Delta Tri-Blade; VGA: Zalman ZM80D with OP-1
PSU: OCZ PowerStream 520
Case: 1995 Gateway 2000 full-tower

At a room-ambient of about 70F, the CPU idle is about 32C or 90F; Load under PRIME95 Large FFT is 46C or 115F.
 
57c load is actaully a very low temp for a prescott. If you search the forum for "prescott temps" you will find that many reach into the 70s and even the 80s degrees celsius :Q

With that considered I am very happy with my temps!
 
Even at 70C, the CPU will run fine and probably outlast your rig.

There is no need to use 91 octane gas if the engine is designed to run at 87. The same with a CPU that's designed for higher temp operation. The Zalman 7700Cu with a 120 mm fan should fall within 3C of the Nexus/XP120 combo.
 
i ahve an xp-90 i'm thinking of replacing my 7000cu with but i'm not sure i'll see much difference. i'm trying to tame a 3800x2 @ 2600 and up but the temps are tough.

seems it may be worth it looking at your results. i know you got the xp-120 but iirc the difference is only 1-2c.a
 
Originally posted by: rise4310
i ahve an xp-90 i'm thinking of replacing my 7000cu with but i'm not sure i'll see much difference. i'm trying to tame a 3800x2 @ 2600 and up but the temps are tough.

seems it may be worth it looking at your results. i know you got the xp-120 but iirc the difference is only 1-2c.a
Click to expand...

Yeah the xp-90 is very close to xp-120 in performance, but I opted for the 120 for the fact that 120mm fans can be run at much lower RPMS and still maintain powerful CFM levels.

But I bet Nexus's 92mm fan is almost as quiet as their 120mm. I love Nexus fans, the only problem is that fact that you have to dremel the corners to get them to clip onto the xp-90/120. But it only took me about 5 minutes to do it using a grout removal bit on my dremel.
 
In sheer cooling effectiveness, the original XP-90 is somewhere in between the XP120 and Zalman's CNPS-7700-Cu: thermal resistances in order: XP-90 = 0.17 or .18; XP120 = 0.167; CNPS-7700 = 0.19.

According to OverClockers.com reviewer-tester Citarella (Aug 27, 05) -- the ThermalRight SI-120, which looks almost identical to the XP120 -- has a thermal resistance of 0.14 with the fan spinning at near 2,900 rpm, and about 0.18 with the fan spinning only around 950+ rpm.

I just got an SI-120 delivered the other day, but the installation will involve a processor-mobo-memory-HSF swap-out, and I'm in the middle of rebuilding my file server. It's going to be a little while . . . .

But the heatsink-base of the SI model -- hefty, man! Hefty!
 
well, i took some time today while watching the patriots lose to pop in the xp-90. one of the reasons i was waiting was because i knew i'd have to lap it as the base was a bit concave.

so after lapping it down to get a flat and reasonably mirror finish i put it in and i'm glad i did.

at 2200rpm, the idle is down to ~32 from 38c and more importantly load has fallen to ~45c from 55c. thats running two F@H for an hour so far.

the only thing i noticed is the pwmic reading has risen ~ 6c which is somewhat surprising. i know the zalman design is a little at cooling surrounding components but still.

anyway, its only at 52c and i hear its good to twice that so no big deal. especially if it gets me the 270x10 i'm looking for 🙂

thanks for the post grimly, i'm glad your results made me do some work today 😉
 
Originally posted by: rise4310
well, i took some time today while watching the patriots lose to pop in the xp-90. one of the reasons i was waiting was because i knew i'd have to lap it as the base was a bit concave.

so after lapping it down to get a flat and reasonably mirror finish i put it in and i'm glad i did.

at 2200rpm, the idle is down to ~32 from 38c and more importantly load has fallen to ~45c from 55c. thats running two F@H for an hour so far.

the only thing i noticed is the pwmic reading has risen ~ 6c which is somewhat surprising. i know the zalman design is a little at cooling surrounding components but still.

anyway, its only at 52c and i hear its good to twice that so no big deal. especially if it gets me the 270x10 i'm looking for 🙂

thanks for the post grimly, i'm glad your results made me do some work today 😉
Click to expand...

Glad I could help modivate!
 
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