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Thermalright XP-90 vs Zalman CNPS7000B

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DigbyT

Junior Member
I swear, every day my reading/research reveals another component of my soon to be built monster I must rethink. Today it is the HSF. I've read nothing but good things about both the Thermalright and Zalman products, and I just can't make up my mind. Though the reviews all seem better for the XP-90 I really want to know if people feel it is worth the extra $15 or so over the Zalman. The best I can tell either will fit with no real hassle on the MSI board, though the Zalman does seem to be a simpler install. Any input on these HSFs or perhaps a third option to cool my machine would be tremendous.

Thanks

Digby

[Edit: Changed to Zalman CNPS7000B and to ask if your recomendation is the XP-90, what size and brand of fan would you recomend?]
 
While the correspondent immediately above and another associate across town from me swear by the CNPS-7000-CU and ALCu, let me offer this.

We have compared systems on the same day and time, same room-temperature. The ThermalRight is just noticeably more efficient at removing heat than the Zalman. Further, I read one German language review and another US review in which a series of tests were run with several fans. The German review made a comparison with several heat-sinks of different manufacture including both Zalman models; the US reviewer chose fewer for comparison but included the Zalman CNPS-7000.

The numbers show that the ThermalRight keeps systems slightly cooler -- a couple degrees Centigrade at least -- and as I recall from the test results.

But look for comparisons among the reviews to satisfy yourself.

Even if the TR models performed the same or slightly worse than the Zalman, they are nearly 400 grams lighter. Not that I've ever heard anyone complain about shortened motherboard life-expectancy with a Zalman CNPS 7000 . . . . For me, it was worth it to be able to mount a h-u-u-u-g-g-e 120x38mm fan on an XP 120 and still fall about 200 grams under the Zalman's weight.
 
By the way -- if I didn't aready say so -- it would seem the XP90 is every bit as effective as the XP120.

You should probably look at Panaflo 92mm fans for an XP90, but their top speed and CFMs are a little lacking for me. Some people -- unphased by the potential noise -- choose the Vantec Tornado with 119 CFM.

I would pick a fan that has low dB's of noise at speeds that cool adequately, but which can be run up above 3,200 or 3,500 rpms automatically or manually through a controller.

Zalman 92mm fan -- needs a controller, but is quiet -- runs at nearly 3,000rpm.
ThermalTake Blue LED 92mm -- some motor whine at the top speeds around 3,600, but reasonably quiet and has decent throughput.

But don't take my word for it. Take some time to do some web-investigations and build a table of findings:

MAKE/MODEL (all 92mm) -- RPM -- CFM -- dB(noise) -- Bearing(ball/sleeve) -- MTBF(hrs) -- Weight
_________________________________________________________________________________

[Ball-bearings last longer, I think. Sometimes, they don't report MTBFs. Other times, they don't report CFMs, and other times, they don't report dB's.]
 
i never said i swear by it, i just happen to be happy with it. 🙂 for the price difference it keeps my cpu cooler than stock and since i don't overclock i didn't need to spend 65 on a heatsink (plus a fan on top of that). i don't run the fan controller on mine, but since i have 5 case fans i can't hear it over them anyhow.
 
I'm looking into the new 7700 AlCu unit from Zalman. It's $45 including the fan and shipping at Newegg, and it looks pretty damn sweet. The reviews I've seen are pretty good, although I haven't seen any direct comparisons to the XP-90 or XP-120. What I like is the silence. The reviews said that at the lowest setting, the fan was completely silent, while still outperforming (slightly) even the Prescott stock fan, which I imagine is pretty good to deal with that blast furnace of a processor. At the high setting, most reviewers said it was no more than a whisper, yet it whooped the crap out of a stock fan in performance. I don't know if it's as good as the Thermalright, but I do know that it provides good, quiet performance, and it's cheaper than the XP-90 and WAY cheaper than the XP-120, especially when you add in the cost of a good fan. Plus, you can't deny it's pretty damn cool looking in your PC. I've pretty much decided on it for my new nForce4 PC, as long as it will fit.
 
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