Zalman CNPS7000-Cu on E6600 / Gigabyte S3

[mcurphy]

I found a retention bracket on the egg that will allow me to save some $$ on my new build by using my old cooler with a LGA775 board.

Will it give an E6600 proper cooling?

My video card is a passively cooled 7950GT, and the rest of the build is geared towards quiet solutions rather than maximum cooling. I only plan to run the FSB up to 400MHz, so I'm not looking for extreme OC'ing.

Will the Zalman perform well for my needs? Am I better off just using the stock cooler?

My next choice would be the Arctic Cooler Freezer 7 Pro, for $19 at eWiz, but I'd rather save a few bucks if the consensus agrees that the Zalman 7000 is adequate.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Operandi]

Yeah, the 7000 should handle that. A friend of mine has one on his 6400 running at stock speeds and it was vastly superior to the temporary stock HS/F.

You can also pickup a replacement 4-pin PWM fan for about $5 (not shipped) if you have problems getting automatic fan control with default 7000's 3 pin fan.

 

[mcurphy]

Originally posted by: Operandi
Yeah, the 7000 should handle that. A friend of mine has one on his 6400 running at stock speeds and it was vastly superior to the temporary stock HS/F.

You can also pickup a replacement 4-pin PWM fan for about $5 (not shipped) if you have problems getting automatic fan control with default 7000's 3 pin fan.

Thanks for the testimonial!

I'll have to do some research on PWM's. I've heard the term and know what the abbreviation stands for, but that's about it.

 

[zagood]

I'd be a little leery if you're running it at 400, but why not test it first? If it works it works, if not, replace it. I just have a feeling that you'll have to run the fan at a fairly high speed, and with your intentions that might not be the best solution.

Make sure you use TAT or Core Temp to gauge your temps. If you're basing your overclock temp on your motherboard's monitoring program it'll probably show lower temps than the cores are actually getting.

-z

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: mcurphy

Originally posted by: Operandi
Yeah, the 7000 should handle that. A friend of mine has one on his 6400 running at stock speeds and it was vastly superior to the temporary stock HS/F.

You can also pickup a replacement 4-pin PWM fan for about $5 (not shipped) if you have problems getting automatic fan control with default 7000's 3 pin fan.

Thanks for the testimonial!

I'll have to do some research on PWM's. I've heard the term and know what the abbreviation stands for, but that's about it.

Most of the machines I build are very quiet and automatic fan control can be incredibly useful, especially if your using moderately high-end hardware, which you will be.

Static fan speeds either leave you with compromised temperatures or compromised noise. Automatic fan control will give you low noise at idle and performance under load.

Pulse width modulation, basically instead of sending the fan a constant voltage (12v in this case) pulses are sent to approximate different voltages and consequently different fan speeds.

PWM has been used to control fans for years now but the 4-pin PWM fan differs in that the PWM circuitry is actually in the fan, the 4th PWM pin just tells the fan what speed to run at.

 

[mcurphy]

Originally posted by: Operandi

Originally posted by: mcurphy

Originally posted by: Operandi
Yeah, the 7000 should handle that. A friend of mine has one on his 6400 running at stock speeds and it was vastly superior to the temporary stock HS/F.

You can also pickup a replacement 4-pin PWM fan for about $5 (not shipped) if you have problems getting automatic fan control with default 7000's 3 pin fan.

Thanks for the testimonial!

I'll have to do some research on PWM's. I've heard the term and know what the abbreviation stands for, but that's about it.

Most of the machines I build are very quiet and automatic fan control can be incredibly useful, especially if your using moderately high-end hardware, which you will be.

Static fan speeds either leave you with compromised temperatures or compromised noise. Automatic fan control will give you low noise at idle and performance under load.

Pulse width modulation, basically instead of sending the fan a constant voltage (12v in this case) pulses are sent to approximate different voltages and consequently different fan speeds.

PWM has been used to control fans for years now but the 4-pin PWM fan differs in that the PWM circuitry is actually in the fan, the 4th PWM pin just tells the fan what speed to run at.

Thanks for the simple explanation. I have been reading a few articles on PWM since your last post and some of the technical jargon and wording made it seem very confusing. You summed it well!

One last question, is the variable speed controlled by software, or is it some type of built in hardware monitor? Do I just plug it in and let it do it's thing, or is there some type of adjustments I need to make for my needs?

Thanks again for the useful info!

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: mcurphy
Thanks for the simple explanation. I have been reading a few articles on PWM since your last post and some of the technical jargon and wording made it seem very confusing. You summed it well!

One last question, is the variable speed controlled by software, or is it some type of built in hardware monitor? Do I just plug it in and let it do it's thing, or is there some type of adjustments I need to make for my needs?

Thanks again for the useful info!

Well any board with a 4 pin CPU header should have some control over the CPU fan at the BIOS level. As far as I know it's up to the board manufactures to figure out how they want the fan control to work.

I don't think Intel really has any input so it varies from board to board. Some boards just have the option to enable or disable fan control while others offer very tight control with min and max speeds as well as temperature thresholds. I don't have any recent experience with Gigabyte boards so I'm not sure what options your board has.

Alternately from BIOS controls you can try SpeedFan to control the fans from in windows. If your board is supported the options are almost limitless but you may have to turn off the BIOS level fan controls to let SpeedFan take over.