Zalman CNPS7000A on an Asus P4C800 - impressive

[pm]

I just finished putting a new system together tonight. I have a 3.2GHz Pentium 4 and I put it into a Asus P4C800 Deluxe. At first I used the Intel retail heatsink/fan that came with my older 2.4GHz Pentium 4, but now that I have sold the old CPU, the heatsink needed to go with it. Besides the temperatures were reaching 49C (during the demo for Tron 2.0) and the heatsink was almost too hot to touch at that point.

So I bought a Zalman CNPS7000A from Newegg. I bought it entirely because they advertise it as being very quiet and because it's one of the few that explicitly says that it supports 3.2GHz. It arrived today, and I just finished putting it in.

My first impression upon unpacking it was that it was very pretty and much heavier than I thought it would be. The bottom of the heatsink is a very flat, shiny surface that formed a vacuum seal to the CPU the first time that I put the two together - no grease, nothing. Installation was ok. The included thermal grease is a little more liquid than I am used to, and I was actually more pleased with it than others that I have used. Getting the screws into the little crossbars was trickier than I thought that it would be - especially while moving the screwdriver through the blades of the fan.

Once I turned it on, I was certainly impressed. It is far quieter than the retail heatsink/fan with the fan speed maxed out - I haven't even tried the included fan speed dial. And the temperatures at idle (@1.5V @ 3.2GHz) are an almost unbelieveable 32C - with the room being about 23C right now. Under load (the Tron 2.0 demo), the max temperature dropped to 41C - down from 49C on the retail under the same task.

Overall an impressive heatsink and a fairly easy installation - although this is only in comparison with my experiences with an older retail.

Now I just need to find a way to cool down my memory... those things get hot. And they are only DDR266. I have to wonder how much hotter DDR400 would be.

 

[Corporate Thug]

very nice temps there

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

Originally posted by: shady06
very nice temps there

 

[stevejst]

Zalman makes great products, most of all they are all quality products, they don't make junk. I am using their fans for some time, quiet and powerfull fans, with speed adapter and all that for $5.

 

[MournSanity]

I bought one the other day from Fry's. I'm going to build an Athlon system within the next couple of months or so and I can't wait to try it out. Hopefully it will cool an Athlon 64 well if I decide to go that route.

 

[pm]

very nice temps there

I didn't realize how nice until I read some other threads. The CPU is an engineering sample and it appears to run cooler than the retail parts. Plus the case has 8 fans - it's a Lian-Li PC-65. 2 HD fans on my two removeable drive bays, 2 lower front case fans, 1 top blow-hole fan, the power supply fan and 2 back case fans. They are all low-rpm so they are all quiet, but they move a fair amount of air.

 

[lookouthere]

where did you get engineer sample P4?

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

Originally posted by: lookouthere
where did you get engineer sample P4?

pm works for Intel. The bigger question is, why didn't you get dual 3.06 Xeon w/1 MB cache engineering samples?

BTW, did you get the all copper version or the half-Cu, half-Al version?

 

[pm]

pm works for Intel. The bigger question is, why didn't you get dual 3.06 Xeon w/1 MB cache engineering samples?

Yes, I got them because I work for Intel through the Intel employee beta processor program. As far as dual Xeon's, I have one of those under my desk at work, but I didn't get those because the powers that be didn't offer them to me. Maybe next time. I'm more than thrilled with what I got.

BTW, did you get the all copper version or the half-Cu, half-Al version?

I couldn't believe that I didn't mention it anywhere in there, but I guess I didn't. I got the AlCu version - mainly due to the weight. As I recall the AlCu weighs a little less than half the solid Cu version, and the thermal resistance difference is fairly small.

 

[Sohcan]

Originally posted by: lookouthere
where did you get engineer sample P4?

Our group got a nice present a few weeks ago. I'm putting my system together this week with the same Zalman cooler...I guess it'll be a little faster than my previous 800 MHz Celeron system.

 

[infinite012]

Does the Zalman cool better than a Thermalright SLK-800(u) with panaflo L1A? If so then I guess I will have to go with the Zalman and sell my slk-800...

 

[orion7144]

Originally posted by: pm
I just finished putting a new system together tonight. I have a 3.2GHz Pentium 4 and I put it into a Asus P4C800 Deluxe. At first I used the Intel retail heatsink/fan that came with my older 2.4GHz Pentium 4, but now that I have sold the old CPU, the heatsink needed to go with it. Besides the temperatures were reaching 49C (during the demo for Tron 2.0) and the heatsink was almost too hot to touch at that point.

So I bought a Zalman CNPS7000A from Newegg. I bought it entirely because they advertise it as being very quiet and because it's one of the few that explicitly says that it supports 3.2GHz. It arrived today, and I just finished putting it in.

My first impression upon unpacking it was that it was very pretty and much heavier than I thought it would be. The bottom of the heatsink is a very flat, shiny surface that formed a vacuum seal to the CPU the first time that I put the two together - no grease, nothing. Installation was ok. The included thermal grease is a little more liquid than I am used to, and I was actually more pleased with it than others that I have used. Getting the screws into the little crossbars was trickier than I thought that it would be - especially while moving the screwdriver through the blades of the fan.

Once I turned it on, I was certainly impressed. It is far quieter than the retail heatsink/fan with the fan speed maxed out - I haven't even tried the included fan speed dial. And the temperatures at idle (@1.5V @ 3.2GHz) are an almost unbelieveable 32C - with the room being about 23C right now. Under load (the Tron 2.0 demo), the max temperature dropped to 41C - down from 49C on the retail under the same task.

Overall an impressive heatsink and a fairly easy installation - although this is only in comparison with my experiences with an older retail.

Now I just need to find a way to cool down my memory... those things get hot. And they are only DDR266. I have to wonder how much hotter DDR400 would be.

I think if you would have used the retail cooler that comes with the 3.2 you would see about the same temps. The one with the 3.2 has a copper core. I tried the same Zalman as you on my 2.4C and was not impressed by the 1-2 degree difference from the retail HSF. It would be interesting if you could get ahold of one of the retail 3.2 HSF combos and test that as well. Maybe I just got a dud Zalman.

 

[stardust]

i get exactly the same temps with my TT spark 7, a very doubted TT product.
I am running a 2.6C @ 3270ghz with 1.5V so speed wise, it should be very similar to your fan. I guess many ppl buy zalman for its quietness and build quality, but the Spark 7 comes with a thermally controlled fan speed sensor so it remains quiet most of the time.

Is the bottom of that zalman round?? or is there a square block beneath the heatsink?

 

[pm]

I think if you would have used the retail cooler that comes with the 3.2 you would see about the same temps. The one with the 3.2 has a copper core. I tried the same Zalman as you on my 2.4C and was not impressed by the 1-2 degree difference from the retail HSF. It would be interesting if you could get ahold of one of the retail 3.2 HSF combos and test that as well. Maybe I just got a dud Zalman.

You are probably right on the temps with the retail - although I would bet that the Zalman is quieter. I agree that it would be an interesting test, but there's pretty much no way that I'm going to get a retail 3.2GHz cooler to test. It's not impossible, but it's certainly going to be more work and phone calls than I want to sign up for.

FWIW, right now my desk clock weather station thing says it's 25.5C in this room. And my "Asus Probe 2" has my CPU reading at 28C idle while I type this... which seems improbable to me but. The 25.5C room temperature seems about right, but I wonder if my Asus board isn't miscalibrated. Just now, I fired up the latest (Pentium 4 optimized) binary for Prime95 and the temperature lurched up to sit at 42C.

 

[Icewind]

Man, you guys worry about the weight to much. i've been toting around my 7000cu on my P4C800-E with no problems. I guess you guys are just harder on your stuff