zalman 7000b-cu backplate - on or off ?

[bREwIn dOdgEr dUDe]

i know this question has been pondered back & forth, i'm in the midst of installing a zalman 7000b-cu cooler on an aOpen ak-86L mobo (A64 3200 954 NC) that's already installed in superLan-boy... a backplate came with the cooler, and cooler is compatible with 754-pin mobo... the cooler can be installed on the mobo without the backplate, but since the mobo is already installed i don't know if the mobo has a backplate to (or can) support the copper-weighted cooler... i'm trying to avoid taking apart the innards if possible to install the cooler-supplied backplate... any advice, comments or experience ?.?

 

[Dough1397]

put it on just to be safe.....

 

[imported_llama]

i will agree with that totally, it is a heavy lump of copper!

 

[hondAS2ooo170]

FOLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS

 

[Mucker]

Originally posted by: hondAS2ooo170
FOLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS

And make sure you use the correct Zalman brass nippples. The 754 nipples are shorter than the 939 nipples.

m

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: Mucker

Originally posted by: hondAS2ooo170
FOLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS

And make sure you use the correct Zalman brass nippples. The 754 nipples are shorter than the 939 nipples.

m

No they're not. I got one set of Athlon 64 nipples with my 7000A.

 

[Mucker]

Originally posted by: MDE

Originally posted by: Mucker

Originally posted by: hondAS2ooo170
FOLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS

And make sure you use the correct Zalman brass nippples. The 754 nipples are shorter than the 939 nipples.

m

No they're not. I got one set of Athlon 64 nipples with my 7000A.

YES they are, I got a set of brass nipples with my 7000Cu from Amazon. The retail package did not come with a backplate and the nipples came in a bag that said for Athlon 64 not differentiating between 754 and 939. The retail plastic packaging says "for 754".

When I contacted Zalman about getting a backplate for my 939 mb, they sent out a backplate, nipples, and washers and the nipples they sent were longer than the 754 nipples that came with the heatsink. Not only that, but the 939 brass nipples have fine threads, while the 754 nipples have coarse threads. You don't have to take my word for it, contact Zalman, they will tell you the same story...

m

 

[MDE]

They did switch from a metal to plastic\fiberglass backplate, you may have been supposed to get metal in your box, and they replaced it with the fiberglass one and the proper nipples for it.

Link

Components for AMD Sempron/AMD64 (Socket 754/939/940)
13) Two Nipples
14) One Backplate
15) Big washers (from component #12)

Zalman says there's one set of nipples and if you look at the pages for the 7000A and 7000B they show each different backplate.

 

[Avalon]

It wasn't until the A and B revisions that Zalman started including backplates and proper nipples for all motherboards. I had ordered a plain CNPS 7000-AlCu from ZZF. Had to call up Zalman to have a backplate shipped to me that would fit with my DFI board. The Zalman did fit just fine on my Epox board without any issues though. Your current board should already have its own standard backplate on it. You can give it a try and see if the HSF is compatible with it.

 

[Mucker]

All I know is that I have 2 different sets of Zalman brass nipples sitting in front of me as we speak. One is shorter and has coarse threads (754). Those are the ones I received with my retail 7000Cu package from Amazon. The other is longer and has fine threads (939). Those are the ones Zalman sent me out. Just want to make people aware that there is a difference, that's all.....

m

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: Mucker
All I know is that I have 2 different sets of Zalman brass nipples sitting in front of me as we speak. One is shorter and has coarse threads (754). Those are the ones I received with my retail 7000Cu package from Amazon. The other is longer and has fine threads (939). Those are the ones Zalman sent me out. Just want to make people aware that there is a difference, that's all.....

m

I'm just saying that I got one set of Zalman brass nipples with my retail 7000A-AlCu package from Fry's with instructions covering Sockets 754, 939, 940. The only conceivable way you have two sets of nipples is that you got a different backplate from Zalman than what you were supposed to get in your retail package. Like I said, they switched from a metal backplate to a plastic\fiberglass backplate.

 

[Mucker]

If you look on Zalman's site they show what is included in each package for the various HSF's. The 7000Cu package I got from Amazon came with only Intel brackets and screws for 478, nipples for 754, and a fanmate 1, and that's it. The 7000AlCu package is different. Just want to make people aware that if they have a sloppy fitting HSF, it may be because of the nipple length. The best practice is to follow the instructions and use the equipment they tell you to use. Zalman is not wasting their breath when they give you instructions, it's for a reason....

m

 

[bREwIn dOdgEr dUDe]

found this bit of info at silentPCreview forums, i believe to be on the safe side (probably smartest) is to use the zalman backplate, this issue goes too many ways back n' forth, me thinks:

SPCR Zalman Backplate

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: Mucker
If you look on Zalman's site they show what is included in each package for the various HSF's. The 7000Cu package I got from Amazon came with only Intel brackets and screws for 478, nipples for 754, and a fanmate 1, and that's it. The 7000AlCu package is different. Just want to make people aware that if they have a sloppy fitting HSF, it may be because of the nipple length. The best practice is to follow the instructions and use the equipment they tell you to use. Zalman is not wasting their breath when they give you instructions, it's for a reason....

m

All I'm saying is that EVERY Socket 754 heatsink will work on a Socket 939 CPU. Everything about the mounting mechanisms is the same. Hole location, socket height, etc. The difference comes in when Zalman decided to switch backplates. Look at the pictures on Zalman's site. One set of A64 nipples for each of the 7000 models.