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Zalman 7000A AlCu cool to the touch?

G

Gowry

Junior Member
I have a Zalman 7000A AlCu and was messing around with it yesterday. I'd been playing EQ2 for a long time so the system was pretty much under 100% load. MBM5 Showed the temp as being 52C. I reached in and touched the heatsink and it was cool to the touch. I let my fingers follow it down to the base and it was cool all the way down. 52C doesn't seem hot enough to say the heatsink isn't touching...but it seems that the heatsink should be really warm.

Any share any experiences?

Thanks,

Gowry
 
It's normal. I have the same cooler; the fins around the top don't even feel warm, and if I reach in and touch the very bottom where they meet the base and are very compacted they still only feel slightly warmer. And this is in a case using 8cm Panaflo L1 @5V for airflow with the Zalman at 5V as well.

edit: think about it this way. You have one of the lowest power consumption cpus available, less than 50W at max load. The Zalman 7000 has about 150 cooling fins. That means each only has to dissipate ~0.3W.

 
I use an 7000B version of the AlCu and I play EQ2 myself, but my case isn't in a location that would let me fondle the cooler while it was running EQ2, so I really don't know if it gets hot to the touch 🙂 At the temps you're seeing tho, its not too much warmer than body temperature, so depending on how sensitive you are to heat, it might not feel very warm. When I'm playing EQ2, my diode temp gets to around 53C, but a secondary probe inserted in between the blades of the AlCu only register 47C, which really isn't all that hot to be able to "feel" it very well.

R
 
i just ordered my computer along with the 7000a, and was wondering if i made a bad decision to go with this instead of the 7000b or what. I'm just wondering if the 7000b is a lot better or not.
 
Originally posted by: drpootums
i just ordered my computer along with the 7000a, and was wondering if i made a bad decision to go with this instead of the 7000b or what. I'm just wondering if the 7000b is a lot better or not.
Click to expand...

The main difference is that they switched from a metal backplate to a plastic backplate. The fan is still the same and cooling should be identical.



 
I was never clear on the distinction between "A" and "B" -- I know there is a "Cu" all-copper model, and an "AlCu" which uses the two metals. I also heard that for performance, they are about the same. Figure that the thermal sensor -- I can't remember for sure, but it is either in the processor or the mobo. What you'd really want to do is stick a tape-on thermal sensor to the bottom of the HSF near to the processor but not pinched between the CPU cap and the heatsink. My temps taken that way were only about 4F different than the internal thermal reading of the mobo software.
 
I can't believe those are cool to the touch, I remember an old cooler-master that would burn you if you went near it... things have sure improved. I may have to get one of these to replace my ALPHA PAL8045.

-spike
 
Thanks for the replies!

I just thought it was odd because I remember my old Voodoo3 3000. I could burn my hand on the board much less the chip itself 😛

Gowry
 
Does installing one of these void your warranty on a retail cpu? I read the warranty, didn't seem like it. I suppose if it became thermally damaged. I had a spike the other day on a system that said it went up to 86C cpu out of nowhere. I shut it down. System has been running 32-36 for over a yr 24/7 still is now. I was getting some beeps once in awhile. All this over the course of a few days after I installed a wacom usb tablet. Totally weird don't see how they can be related, however I thought I might install a better heat sink anyway. I actually don't see it being likely the pc could go from 32-86 doing very little then be fine after that. Tho I know it is possible. The spike may be the enhanced driver for the board tho. I did update that. Haven't noticed any real system problems tho. occasional pausing/delay of a program (no lockups) since sp2, but I am sure that is windows🙂 I thought the system would shut down at hw level, but I couldn't really find specifics on that. I inspected and cleaned had no beeps or anything since...about a day. These coolers come so highly recommended. I don't want to use a silver paste I know they DO VOID warranties and can screw up a system if you get it anywhere.

Intel 2.6c
1gig pc3500 hyperx
thermaltake 480w ps w/ pfc
asus p4p800 Deluxe
asus 9600xt
 
Most high-quality heatsinks aren't hot to the touch. My XP-90 is very cool to the touch, even with my CPU running load at 45C. I imagine most Thermalright and Zalman coolers are well built and dissappate heat quickly.
 
Originally posted by: live2game
Zalman All Copper Rocks
Click to expand...


Yes it does, assuming the weight of it doesn't tear a whole in your mobo when you stand the tower case up 😉 I wanted on of the all-copper units but when I looked at the weight of it, the AlCu was my choice 🙂

R
 
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