A computer components & hardware forum. HardwareBanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » HardwareBanter forum » Processors » Overclocking
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Zalman 7000A copper cooler...disappointed?



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #11  
Old March 14th 04, 08:52 PM
j
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"Sydtech" wrote in message
...
Today I installed a Zalman 7000A copper cooler in my P4 2.8ghz machine
w/Antec Sonata case. The idea was to replace the noisy stock Intel heat

sink
and fan with something quieter and - hopefully - cooler (unfortunately no
place that was open today had a Zalman Northbridge heatsink, or I would've
gotten one of those as well). The system has an Abit IC7-G motherboard and

a
Leadtek FX5200 graphics card (until my 9800 Pro arrives). I'm not doing

any
overclocking at all (yet).

So far I'm not sure that I'm thrilled with the Zalman, and I'm wondering

if
I installed it poorly, or I just was expecting too much...

With the stock Intel heat sink and fan installed, at idle, I was getting
49-50 degrees celsius on the CPU.

With the Zalman hsf installed and the case on, at CPU idle, I'm getting
around 47degrees with the fan running at the full 2400rpm, and at 50 with
the fan at the lowest setting.

I "torture tested" the setup by running prime95 and ripping some random

CDs
with iTunes to max the CPU out. This pushed the CPU temp up to about 64
degrees (with the Zalman fan on max) and a scary 68 degrees (with the fan

on
the minimum setting). These numbers seem kind of high to me.

As far as I can tell, I've installed this properly:


- I removed the stock hsf, and thoroughly cleaned the existing thermal
compound off the top of the CPU with 91% rubbing alcohol.

- I installed the brackets on the motherboard.

- I then followed the instructions on the Arctic Silver website (rather
than Zalman's) and applied a small dollop of Arctic Silver in the center

of
the CPU.

- I then did my best at installing the (huge and heavy) Zalman HSF on top

of
the chip. I think I did OK, although it did slide around a little bit as I
got it situated.

- Getting the screws lined up with the aluminum brackets was a bit of a
bitchkitty. I got one of them in OK, but I managed to drop the other one
down next to the CPU, forcing me to remove the Zalman so I could fish it
out. When I did, I noticed that the Arctic Silver had spread into a nice
rough shape on top of the CPU, but that it was off-center to the right.
Before I put the Zalman back on top, I added another very tiny drop of AS

on
the center of the chip.


As far as I can tell at this point, I've got the thing installed properly,
but there's no easy way to check and see if the Arctic Silver is evenly
centered without actually uninstalling the Zalman, which I'd like to avoid
doing unless it's absolutely necessary.

So...did I botch the install, or were my expectations simply too high?

Thanks...



Certain abit boards have the problem of reporting cpu temps to be as much as
10c higher then they actually are. My IC7 Max3 is one of these boards, yours
probably is also. I'd suggest you check the abit forums to get an idea of
what's involved.

You say you have a 2.8 which I assume is a 2.8C. The Cs run hotter then the
Bs ( at least as I have experienced it) even though the Cs use a better
stock heat sink. The stock cooler however is a fairly good cooler I believe.

Why they put a low speed on that thing I don't know. You might actually get
better temps with the stock cooler than running at low speed.

Considering a possible temp reporting error your idle temps sound about
right. Your load temps sound a bit high though.

I'd certainly take a look at case cooling but also try reseating the heat
sink. The surface of my Zalman looked fairly well lapped at sight but as I
lapped it myself the pattern seemed to show that this was not the case.
It's an annoying block to lap because of the way the fins extend into the
bottom of the heat sink. It has a tendency to trip up on the sandpaper but
lapping it should help bring the temps down some.


  #12  
Old March 14th 04, 11:29 PM
Michael Peppas
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

I have a Zalman 7000cu. My 3.2ghz p4 runs @ 3.63 at default vcore 36 celcius
idle and 47-48 under full load with fan speed @ 2200RPM. Room temp is 24
celcious case temp is 27-28.
Other than that i have to tell you that my temps are taken from an Asus
board p4c800-e deluxe. I have heard that the Abit boards have a different
motherboard sensor which shows higher temps on the motherboard. Both mobos
use on-die thermistor but the temp is calculated differently in the Abit
mobos. Try running ur pc at full load with the case open and see if the
temps are lower - it could be a case airflow problem. If a case temp is much
higher than 30c even the best cooler cannot help because it cools down the
chip with hot air which is not very helpful . Also touch the heatsink
whilst at full load and check whether it really seems to be very very hot -
it may not be.
If noone of the above helps, you could try removing the heatsink and see
whether its surface is smooth enough. If it is not try lapping it with
sandpaper. In any case clean it again with alchohol and do the same with the
cpu core. After that apply an even Artcic silver 5 thin layer - it works
better than what Arctic silver recommends - the more smooth the cooler's
base is the less arctic silver you need to put. Do apply the arctic silver
by either sometrhing metal or with hard plastic and do not use your fingers
because they contain oil and reduce thermal conductivity. Please try not to
move the heatsink whilst installing as this creates gaps of air between the
cpu core and the heatsink by the move of the arctic silver material. Hope
this helps.


"Sydtech" wrote in message
...
Today I installed a Zalman 7000A copper cooler in my P4 2.8ghz machine
w/Antec Sonata case. The idea was to replace the noisy stock Intel heat

sink
and fan with something quieter and - hopefully - cooler (unfortunately no
place that was open today had a Zalman Northbridge heatsink, or I would've
gotten one of those as well). The system has an Abit IC7-G motherboard and

a
Leadtek FX5200 graphics card (until my 9800 Pro arrives). I'm not doing

any
overclocking at all (yet).

So far I'm not sure that I'm thrilled with the Zalman, and I'm wondering

if
I installed it poorly, or I just was expecting too much...

With the stock Intel heat sink and fan installed, at idle, I was getting
49-50 degrees celsius on the CPU.

With the Zalman hsf installed and the case on, at CPU idle, I'm getting
around 47degrees with the fan running at the full 2400rpm, and at 50 with
the fan at the lowest setting.

I "torture tested" the setup by running prime95 and ripping some random

CDs
with iTunes to max the CPU out. This pushed the CPU temp up to about 64
degrees (with the Zalman fan on max) and a scary 68 degrees (with the fan

on
the minimum setting). These numbers seem kind of high to me.

As far as I can tell, I've installed this properly:


- I removed the stock hsf, and thoroughly cleaned the existing thermal
compound off the top of the CPU with 91% rubbing alcohol.

- I installed the brackets on the motherboard.

- I then followed the instructions on the Arctic Silver website (rather
than Zalman's) and applied a small dollop of Arctic Silver in the center

of
the CPU.

- I then did my best at installing the (huge and heavy) Zalman HSF on top

of
the chip. I think I did OK, although it did slide around a little bit as I
got it situated.

- Getting the screws lined up with the aluminum brackets was a bit of a
bitchkitty. I got one of them in OK, but I managed to drop the other one
down next to the CPU, forcing me to remove the Zalman so I could fish it
out. When I did, I noticed that the Arctic Silver had spread into a nice
rough shape on top of the CPU, but that it was off-center to the right.
Before I put the Zalman back on top, I added another very tiny drop of AS

on
the center of the chip.


As far as I can tell at this point, I've got the thing installed properly,
but there's no easy way to check and see if the Arctic Silver is evenly
centered without actually uninstalling the Zalman, which I'd like to avoid
doing unless it's absolutely necessary.

So...did I botch the install, or were my expectations simply too high?

Thanks...




  #13  
Old March 15th 04, 12:11 AM
~misfit~
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Sydtech wrote:
Today I installed a Zalman 7000A copper cooler in my P4 2.8ghz machine
w/Antec Sonata case. The idea was to replace the noisy stock Intel
heat sink and fan with something quieter and - hopefully - cooler
(unfortunately no place that was open today had a Zalman Northbridge
heatsink, or I would've gotten one of those as well). The system has
an Abit IC7-G motherboard and a Leadtek FX5200 graphics card (until
my 9800 Pro arrives). I'm not doing any overclocking at all (yet).

So far I'm not sure that I'm thrilled with the Zalman, and I'm
wondering if I installed it poorly, or I just was expecting too
much...

With the stock Intel heat sink and fan installed, at idle, I was
getting 49-50 degrees celsius on the CPU.

With the Zalman hsf installed and the case on, at CPU idle, I'm
getting around 47degrees with the fan running at the full 2400rpm,
and at 50 with the fan at the lowest setting.

I "torture tested" the setup by running prime95 and ripping some
random CDs with iTunes to max the CPU out. This pushed the CPU temp
up to about 64 degrees (with the Zalman fan on max) and a scary 68
degrees (with the fan on the minimum setting). These numbers seem
kind of high to me.

As far as I can tell, I've installed this properly:


- I removed the stock hsf, and thoroughly cleaned the existing
thermal compound off the top of the CPU with 91% rubbing alcohol.

- I installed the brackets on the motherboard.

- I then followed the instructions on the Arctic Silver website
(rather than Zalman's) and applied a small dollop of Arctic Silver in
the center of the CPU.

- I then did my best at installing the (huge and heavy) Zalman HSF on
top of the chip. I think I did OK, although it did slide around a
little bit as I got it situated.

- Getting the screws lined up with the aluminum brackets was a bit of
a bitchkitty. I got one of them in OK, but I managed to drop the
other one down next to the CPU, forcing me to remove the Zalman so I
could fish it out. When I did, I noticed that the Arctic Silver had
spread into a nice rough shape on top of the CPU, but that it was
off-center to the right. Before I put the Zalman back on top, I added
another very tiny drop of AS on the center of the chip.


As far as I can tell at this point, I've got the thing installed
properly, but there's no easy way to check and see if the Arctic
Silver is evenly centered without actually uninstalling the Zalman,
which I'd like to avoid doing unless it's absolutely necessary.

So...did I botch the install, or were my expectations simply too high?

Thanks...


I'm wondering about your case temps. You can have the best cooler in the
world but it it's trying to dump heat into an already warm environment it
ain't gonna do squat.

That's why I've never bought into the expensive after-market HSF thing.
(Although I wouldn't mind a Vantec Aeroflow). I just cut a hole in my case
side directly above the stock HSF, fit a case fan and wire finger-guard, and
duct the cooler, outside-case air to the CPU HSF. (Section of plastic cup or
similar and hot-glue to the case fan with a few mm clearance to the HSF).
Costs about a fifth of a fancy cooler and works about three times as well
(10°C as opposed to 2-5°C temp drop) going by my friend's experience with
the fancy stuff.

It can be made to look neat and tidy easilly, you can even have an LED fan
or somesuch if that's your bent.

I have an XP1800+ running at 2.1Ghz, 200Mhz FSB, with just such an
arrangement. It runs cooler that it did at stock speed without the case-mod.
*And* you get the satisfaction of 'doing it yourself' instead of just being
a fitter.
--
~misfit~


  #14  
Old March 15th 04, 12:11 AM
~misfit~
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Max wrote:
"ElJerid" wrote in message
...
Conclusion is in fact that the stock Intel cooler is not so bad !
There is a lot of marketing and advertising about all kind of
esoteric coolers, but best of them will not decrease the cpu temp by
more than 3 to
5°C compared to the original boxed Intel. And it's always a trade
off: you have to make a choice between noise or cooling (with all
steps between).




Bull****.

I have an Aero Iv and it knocked 9°C off.Its quiet too so stick tht
in ya pipe


You have good air-flow through your case though Max?
--
~misfit~


  #15  
Old March 15th 04, 12:12 AM
~misfit~
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Woger MKII @wogerbox.co.nz wrote:
On Sun, 14 Mar 2004 00:31:27 -0800, "Sydtech"
wrote:

Today I installed a Zalman 7000A copper cooler in my P4 2.8ghz
machine w/Antec Sonata case. The idea was to replace the noisy stock
Intel heat sink and fan with something quieter and - hopefully -
cooler (unfortunately no place that was open today had a Zalman
Northbridge heatsink, or I would've gotten one of those as well).
The system has an Abit IC7-G motherboard and a Leadtek FX5200
graphics card (until my 9800 Pro arrives). I'm not doing any
overclocking at all (yet).

So far I'm not sure that I'm thrilled with the Zalman, and I'm
wondering if I installed it poorly, or I just was expecting too
much...

With the stock Intel heat sink and fan installed, at idle, I was
getting 49-50 degrees celsius on the CPU.

With the Zalman hsf installed and the case on, at CPU idle, I'm
getting around 47degrees with the fan running at the full 2400rpm,
and at 50 with the fan at the lowest setting.

I "torture tested" the setup by running prime95 and ripping some
random CDs with iTunes to max the CPU out. This pushed the CPU temp
up to about 64 degrees (with the Zalman fan on max) and a scary 68
degrees (with the fan on the minimum setting). These numbers seem
kind of high to me.

As far as I can tell, I've installed this properly:


- I removed the stock hsf, and thoroughly cleaned the existing
thermal compound off the top of the CPU with 91% rubbing alcohol.

- I installed the brackets on the motherboard.

- I then followed the instructions on the Arctic Silver website
(rather than Zalman's) and applied a small dollop of Arctic Silver
in the center of the CPU.

- I then did my best at installing the (huge and heavy) Zalman HSF
on top of the chip. I think I did OK, although it did slide around a
little bit as I got it situated.

- Getting the screws lined up with the aluminum brackets was a bit
of a bitchkitty. I got one of them in OK, but I managed to drop the
other one down next to the CPU, forcing me to remove the Zalman so I
could fish it out. When I did, I noticed that the Arctic Silver had
spread into a nice rough shape on top of the CPU, but that it was
off-center to the right. Before I put the Zalman back on top, I
added another very tiny drop of AS on the center of the chip.


As far as I can tell at this point, I've got the thing installed
properly, but there's no easy way to check and see if the Arctic
Silver is evenly centered without actually uninstalling the Zalman,
which I'd like to avoid doing unless it's absolutely necessary.

So...did I botch the install, or were my expectations simply too
high?

Thanks...




You did not say if you speaded the paste over the CPU..?


He said he followed AS's instructions, I think it's self-evident.
--
~misfit~


  #16  
Old March 15th 04, 12:15 AM
end user
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

The original poster does have the right to post his results. Due to
his system configuration/hardware his end results may be way diff
than yours.

Locust

On Sun, 14 Mar 2004 14:26:55 +0100, "Max" wrote:


"ElJerid" wrote in message
...
Conclusion is in fact that the stock Intel cooler is not so bad !
There is a lot of marketing and advertising about all kind of esoteric
coolers, but best of them will not decrease the cpu temp by more than 3
to
5°C compared to the original boxed Intel. And it's always a trade off: you
have to make a choice between noise or cooling (with all steps between).




Bull****.

I have an Aero Iv and it knocked 9°C off.Its quiet too so stick tht in ya
pipe

max




  #17  
Old March 15th 04, 12:18 AM
~misfit~
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

BRanger wrote:
"Sydtech" wrote in message
...
So far I'm not sure that I'm thrilled with the Zalman, and I'm
wondering if I installed it poorly, or I just was expecting too
much...

With the stock Intel heat sink and fan installed, at idle, I was
getting 49-50 degrees celsius on the CPU.

With the Zalman hsf installed and the case on, at CPU idle, I'm
getting around 47degrees with the fan running at the full 2400rpm,
and at 50 with the fan at the lowest setting.

I "torture tested" the setup by running prime95 and ripping some
random CDs with iTunes to max the CPU out. This pushed the CPU temp
up to about 64 degrees (with the Zalman fan on max) and a scary 68
degrees (with the fan on the minimum setting). These numbers seem
kind of high to me.


I am running a P4 2.6c at 3.25GHz and using the Zalman 7000-AlCu. I
get 45C on the CPU at full load with the Zalman fan on full. Sounds
like you might have an install issue. It's a loaded case with dual
Raptor hard drives, a 200GB Maxtor HD, and a Radeon 9800 so there's a
lot of stuff to generate heat. The case is decently ventilated.

I did spread the Arctic Silver 3 all over the heat spreader very
thin. It was before they changed the install recommendations. More
recently I build an Athlon 64 3200+ and I used the Zalman 7000-Cu
with Arctic Silver spread via the new recommendation (dot in the
middle). I don't break 45C there under load either.


Thanks for the heads-up, I didn't know AS had changed their install
instructions. That sounds bloody stupid to me, I sure as hell wouldn't do it
that way, regardless of what AS say. Anyway, I don't use AS anymore,
although I still have 3/4 of a 3g tube of AS3. I had a wee problem with the
conductive **** getting places where it shouldn't (installer error) and have
used cheap-ass stuff ever since. I don't notice a difference to be honest.
And I used to be a big AS fan. I just use the AS on other people's systems
now, they're sold on the hype and it gets me a few extra beers for doing it
for them (HSF installs that is) with AS3.
--
~misfit~


  #18  
Old March 15th 04, 01:08 AM
Sydtech
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"~misfit~" wrote in message
...

I'm wondering about your case temps. You can have the best cooler in the
world but it it's trying to dump heat into an already warm environment it
ain't gonna do squat.


Right now, the case temp is reporting at 28C, and the CPU is reporting at
48C. I'm using Speedfan, and I've got the CPU fan set at 80% and the NB fan
set at 35% - this seems to me to be an acceptable balance between noise and
cooling.

The fan is a stock Antec Sonata, with a single case fan in the back. I've
got the cables arranged neatly out of the way so they're not getting in the
way of the airflow.

At this point, I'm suspecting that maybe the Abit IC7-G is reporting
temperatures that are higher than they actually are...after googling around
a bit based on j's post, this does seem to be a problem with this particular
moboard.

I also saw another post somewhere suggesting that the Zalman needs to be
installed in a specific orientation - that it's possible to install it
flipped around the wrong way, causing it to sit off-center of the CPU. Based
on what I've seen, I'm not sure this is true.

There's only one way to find out, but I'm waffling over whether I want to
yank the Zalman out, clean it off and reapply the Arctic Silver, and
reinstall. This process was such an enormous pain in the ass the first time
that I really don't relish the thought...




  #19  
Old March 15th 04, 04:57 AM
David Maynard
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

j wrote:

snip

Certain abit boards have the problem of reporting cpu temps to be as much as
10c higher then they actually are. My IC7 Max3 is one of these boards, yours
probably is also. I'd suggest you check the abit forums to get an idea of
what's involved.

You say you have a 2.8 which I assume is a 2.8C. The Cs run hotter then the
Bs ( at least as I have experienced it) even though the Cs use a better
stock heat sink. The stock cooler however is a fairly good cooler I believe.

Why they put a low speed on that thing I don't know. You might actually get
better temps with the stock cooler than running at low speed.


They do it for lower noise as not everyone is seeking "better temps."


snip

  #20  
Old March 15th 04, 05:49 AM
Sydtech
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"David Maynard" wrote in message
...
j wrote:
Why they put a low speed on that thing I don't know. You might actually

get
better temps with the stock cooler than running at low speed.


They do it for lower noise as not everyone is seeking "better temps."


Exactly. I'm not interested in having the absolute lowest temperature
possible; I just want a semi-quiet machine without cooking the CPU or
chipset in the process...the stock CPU and (especially) the Northbridge fan
on that IC7-G were just screaming in my ear. The combination of the Zalman
and Speedfan are alleviating that somewhat...although I'm still not sure
whether my lackluster results from the Zalman are a result of an imperfect
install or the motherboard misreporting the temperatures....



 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Moving w/ large Zalman copper cooler Usenet User General 9 August 5th 04 10:54 AM
Zalman Video Card Cooler Ed Forsythe Overclocking 8 February 21st 04 05:00 PM
SLK-900U / NF7-S / Zalman passive northbridge cooler Alex Overclocking 4 November 11th 03 08:36 PM
Problems installing Zalman 7000A on Abit KD7 Bob Overclocking 3 October 27th 03 11:14 AM
Abit IC7 NB Cooler Vs Zalman ZM-NB32J Metaphoid Overclocking 1 August 5th 03 01:22 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 05:55 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 HardwareBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.