Zalman Flower in A7V? / What is a Shim?

[Guest]

Hi folks,

Two questions for this situation:

I have an A7V board with a T-bird at 1.0 Ghz (not overclocked). I currently have a CoolerMaster on it with a noisy fan. I added the fan b/c the stock fan let the cpu creep up past 60C--now it stays in mid 50's. What I would like to do is get a new HSF that is quieter but provides the same or better cooling. Here are my questions:

I was thinking about getting one of the new Zallman 6000ALCU units--but I'm not sure that will fit. Does anyone here have an A7V in an Enlight case? I think the "petals" of the flower my end up bumping up against the PSU. Which way do the petals spread--parallel to the attaching clip or perpindicular? Oriented one way the expanding petals would be in the clear but oriented the other way it will probably hit the PSU. Anybody have any experience with that?

The other option I was looking at was the new Alpha (8065?) with a slow fan. But when I looked at that there was also an option to buy a "shim". What is a shim, and would I need one?

Thanks for the help, guys. If anyone has any other suggestions for quiet HSFs I would appreciate it. I don't have a lot of links to hardware sites, either, so I'd love to get some good leads.

Thanks,
owcoin

"If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour....you're going to see some serious sh*t...."
--Doc Emmett Brown

 

[HonestJhon]

well, the zalman has been judged crap by most people.
well, maybe crap is harsh.
it just doesnt cut it when it comes to cooling...
it works, but you can get better.
the alpha is a nice one i think...and with a nice fan, it could be pretty quiet.
a shim, to answer the second question, is a piece of material that is sold as an aftermarket addon for the athlon/duron/athlonxp line of cpus.
they make some for p3's, but most people have a problem with the amd chips.
what it does is add to the surface that the heatsink/fan sits on, to stabilize it, and prevent the hsf from rocking and crushing/cracking/chipping the core on the processor.
they are good for people who are just starting to put computers together, and dont have much practice installing heat sinks, or for people who move their computer a lot.
i am probably going to get one for myself because of how much i move my computer...
it is just an extra level of protection for the glass-like silicon core.
just make sure, if it is possible, that it is a nice quality one, glass like finish on the copper, or anodized for aluminum ones.
and get one that is compatible with athlon xp's, so that you can use it in the future, in case you want to buy a new processor.
some people say it is an un-neccessary part of a computer set up, but i personally have seen crushed cores due to hsf rocking, either during installation, or removal of the hsf, or even during moving the computer, like if the system got bumped or something.

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply, HJ.

I think I'll take a look at some of the others I've seen mentioned here: the 462, the Siverado, and the Volcano 7. I really just want to cut down on the noise, but my current CoolerMaster can't cut it with a slower fan and the one I have on it now is just too plain loud. Some of these new HSF's apparently have 80mm fans now and I think that will probably be the direction I'll go.

I appreciate the shim explanation, too.

owcoin

 

[HonestJhon]

yeah, the 80mm fan is a good idea, cuts the noise, and increases the airflow..
i am planning on getting a volcano7 as soon as i can...
hopefully about the same time i get my xp!
i like thermaltakes new product lines...the active ramsinks...
hehe
and it all looks as cool as it works...
but yeah, i would stay away from the zalman...i wanted one because it looked cool...but then people told me how it performed.


-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-