CPU Cooler Charts 2008: Part 4

[Fadamor]

I hate reviews that throw out absolutes like "never". They invariably end up contradicting themselves while providing a great promo line for the item being reviewed. The review of the Zalman CNPS9700 LED "Reference" cooler is a good example...

"Thanks to its good cooling efficiency, even our quad-core processor never exceeded a temperature of 65.5 °C."

...followed only a few sentences later by the contradiction...

"Once we reduced the fan speed to 1,150 rpm, the fan stayed pleasantly quiet, effectively cooling our CPU to a constant temperature of 76.5 °C, which we still consider acceptable."

Anybody want to place a bet on which of these two sentences is more likely to be used as a "Tom's Hardware Guide" testimonial in a Zalman ad? The current odds are 5000:1 in favor of the first sentence. Reviewers need to be more consistant throughout their reveiws if they expect me to take them seriously.

 

[anonymous x]

I would still get the zalman (if it would fit in my micro-atx case), since it looks a lot better then the ugly xigamtek (i like leds).
but again, that's my opinion, it probably doesn't apply to most people, so pick whatever cooler you like

 

[draxssab]

Good revew, but the Thermaright IFX-14 is still my favorite, for the noise/performance ratio. though, maybe the Xigmatc can do better with another fan

 

[master9716]

I think the test should show Cooling by noise level ratio , and price. You can have a cheap cooler at high speed and give great results. the Zelman cools good but with high noise = not to good in my case.


Noise :cool 😛rice ratio is what im looking for

 

[MovingUpp]

Well if they don't rectify the situation of excluding the superior products produced by THERMALRIGHT, then we can healthily begin to become skeptical about the HONOR of TomsHardware's CPU cooling business pursuit.

Let the events which follow determine our feelings for TomsHardware...

For Honor to the DEATH!

 

[Take_Out]

I have been using the CoolerMaster TX2 and it is great for all I have used it on including Q6600 at 3Ghz and E8400 at Forgot Ghz. Never seems to need to get busy sounding. Play Crysis high and CoD4 high 4-6 hours at a time almost every day.... Yeah, I am retired... Just build gaming puters for fun now... heh... what a job..

 

[Take_Out]

Above is me, forgot to add I get the CoolerMaster TX2 for like $20 on specials or $25 or so regular at the egg.

 

[sirrell]

The ThermalRight IFX-14 should have won! Maybe not for price, but performance. I'll bet you only used one 80mm fan not the three it can hold.
Retest with 3 fans if so please!

 

[Guest]

Having owned 2 Zalman coolers (7700Cu and VF700), I would not recommend any one of them on the basis of fan noise. Zalman uses poor quality fans that weren't all that quiet on their low setting out of the box and the VF has been making a grinding noise after only a few months use. And according to sites that specialize exclusively in cooling, all their newer designs are still plagued by noisy fans. Zalman may have been a key player in aftermarket cooling early on, but it hasn't kept up with the times. Also, with an ambient noise level of 36dB, TH isn't even remotely qualified to be doing noise tests IMO.

 

[asdasd123123]

I have a curious problem with my heat pipe sink, it's an Arctic Cooling with six little pipes, it's an almost exact copy of the noctua or the silentator. However, when the temperature lies little over 60c for a lenghty time, it will start to climb in temperature uncontrollably, reaching 100c and crashing my system...

All this on a 65nm amd black ed at 3ghz.

It's just as if the heat pipe stops working at a certain temperature and no longer removes the heat?! Anyone have any idea what is wrong with it? (I reverted back to water cooling and now never go over 50c)

 

[Guest]

I'll have to agree with others that TH should be including the higher-end Thermalright coolers. On the majority of other comparisons, the TRUE tops the charts by a healthy margin. The only reason I can think of for not including them, and for giving the IFX-14 such a low score, is to keep Zalman at the top of the list. The TRUE and IFX beat out Zalman's top of the line air-cooling by a considerable margin.

I can testify that the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme works very well. With a low-speed scythe 120mm fan, my AMD Athlon X2 4200+ EE Windsor core overclocked about 10% runs at 28-30C at 100% load. The "reference" Zalman named here only kept me at 40-45C at the same load, even with the fan running at an over-volt. It was promptly exchanged for the TRUE.

 

[Ararat]

Agreed, it's probably the most popular enthusiast air coolers. You review so many obscure and irrelevant coolers, and yet ignore the TRUE. It's quite obvious that something is up, and it's a deliberate decision rather than an oversight that it hasn't been included. Is there something personal you guys have against Thermalright?

 

[asdasd123123]

You know, beyond the rather low quality mfg Zalman, all these other brands are totally unknown to me.

 

[ams_mas]

I have fan zalaman like that but I modified the fan low temp 30c in full performance 58c, the weather temnp between 35-40 c without air condition.
make the fan surface very compressed on the cpu

 

[theclintstone]

I would like to see how well these preform with a little dust in them. I have found that because the Zelman coolers spread out so much at the end of the fins they only collect dust directly under the fan. Other coolers that have close fins collect dust and clog like a dryer lint trap losing thier cooling performance.

Not sure how to make a test for this far. I alwaya look at the design to see if it looks like it would clog easily.

 

[Reynod]

Great article.

Could you please list all of the coolers in a table that don't require mobo removal for the AM2/939/LGA775 please?

This would be handy.

 

[dragunover]

Bullllshit review.Where is he testing this in? Africa? Death valley? Costa Rica?

 

[stromm]

I have to agree with others. I'm a bit annoyed that not a single Thermaltake cooler is on this list. The top cooler sellers around where I live are Zalman, Thermaltake and Coolermaster.

I have a Thermaltake Cl-P0401 (V1) on my Q6600 inside an Antec P182 case and it never gets above 42c. I know about 20 other people who "upgraded" to this cooler from Zalmans and others. They dropped at least 5c. Noise is a lot less too.

 

[yonith]

they should have included the king of all air coolers - the Tuniq Tower 120. im very disappointed

 

[mrmessma]

OK, for those that think Crysis is the End All Be All, when it comes to cpus, though it does work them, it isn't going to max out 4 cores. Also, a quad core is going to generate more heat :. get hotter than a dual core. Therefore because your cpu is running at xx celcius less than theirs @ ~70 doesn't necessarily follow that your cooling solution is better. It could be, but it's not a definitive comparison.

 

[Guest]

I also find it surprising that TH hasn't tested the cooler that most other sites find to be the best, and not just in this budget roundup, but in all the CPU cooler tests. It's certainly cheaper than the Zalman, if cost is an issue. If they didn't include a no-name cooler, then so be it, but this is one of the best known out there. Strange omission indeed.

 

[DCGMoo]

I second the request for the Arctic Cooling Freezer to be included.

I've seen it run on par with the TRUE and Xigmatek S1283 in comparison charts on other websites.

The AC Freezer 7 Pro can be bought for

 

[guyladouche]

Regarding the Zalman 9700--I have it and I use it, and there is NO WAY there is only a 3dB difference between it's lowest and higest speeds--it's actually quite loud when at max RPM. Too bad they didn't mention the fact that using the fanmate controller doesn't allow the fan to spin at it's max 2500rpm speed--more like 2100 rpm. Even at 2100rpm, it's still a lot louder than 3dB over the lowest speed...at the lowest speed, it's virtually inaudible (IMHO)--I'd say it's more like 42-ish dB at full (2500rpm) speed.

 

[asdasd123123]

The arctic cooling with six heat pipes was one of their very best in test ever. So not including THAT in a low cost shoot out is beyond me too..

 

[Guest]

I agree with many of the others here. I don't see why the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU cooler has not been tested. From the benchmarks I have seen, it is the best air cooler available. It is ridiculous that they are testing a $400+ water cooler (Reserator XT, in the part 2 article), but they won't test the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme, which costs $60!

I would also like to see how the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro competes against the other coolers that have been tested so far.