Need some thoughts on the XP-120

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kill4killin

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Jul 3, 2006
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Ok, i know that the XP-120 is in the sticky at the top, but im looking not for a professional, or one persons opinion on it. I would like to know about anyone heres experience with the HS. What fan you use, your temp drops, your processor and any other info like temps before and after. That kind of stuff.

Im trying to make a decision on whether or not getting the XP-120 is worth it. Right now i have a Zalman CNPS700b and it works ok, but at 2.7Ghz, my temps are still almost at 35-40C and my room temperature is far lower, usually as low as 17C in the morning and 24C in the afternoon. I would think i should get lower temps than that when i have such cold air going into the case. Not to mention i have ducting that connects my A/C unit directly to my computers intake fans.
 
I had a 7000b and upgraded to a Big Typhoon-temps dropped roughly 5c (both idle and load)

I don't know if that helps or not :p

I have used the XP-120 before, and I've learned that without a very powerful 120mm fan (100cfm+), it doesn't really perform that well. It needs a lot of air pushed through its fins to be up there with the top dogs like the BT and Scythe Ninja.

Unless you want to deal with the noise and extra cost of the XP-120, I'd suggest going with something like a Big Typhoon or Scythe Ninja.
 
m3ta1head said:
I have used the XP-120 before, and I've learned that without a very powerful 120mm fan (100cfm+), it doesn't really perform that well. It needs a lot of air pushed through its fins to be up there with the top dogs like the BT and Scythe Ninja.

Unless you want to deal with the noise and extra cost of the XP-120, I'd suggest going with something like a Big Typhoon or Scythe Ninja.
Click to expand...

Way not true. Not trying to sound rude, but that is not even close to true.

Also, the SI-128 is the newest Thermalright heatsink, in the XP-120 style. I have one and love it. My idle temp is 28C and my load is 34C after long gaming sessions.

My vote for fans are as follows. Yate Loon and Papst for good airflow yet remaining quiet. Panaflo for great airflow, but medium noise. Aerocool for pretty good airflow, LED lighting, but a little on the noisie side.
 
Anavel0 said:
Also, the SI-128 is the newest Thermalright heatsink, in the XP-120 style. I have one and love it. My idle temp is 28C and my load is 35C after long gaming sessions.
Click to expand...

Unless you live in the arctic, I won't beleive those temps. What CPU? Are you undervolting?

35c load is very low. If you're actually getting that, well then good for you :eek:

Anyway, back to topic: a very powerful fan will drop temps by as much as 5c with a XP-120, but that'll create significantly more noise. Don't try to defend the heatsink just because you own it-there are better solutions out there.

Again, Big Typhoon or Scythe Ninja is the way to go. If you wanna stick with Thermalright, check the Ultra 120.
 
when you say that the aerocool is a little on the noisie side. Are we talking like typhoon/tsunami loud or are we talking like average 80mm fan loud? Do you have a dBa number you can quote for each of those. If its a 120mm fan i try to keep the noise level below 30dBa if i can, but the lower the better. And also, ill look at the 128, but xoxide has the 120 on sale for $33 so i like that price. I'll also probably get a fan that does about 80CFM since i think i found one of those that does about that with only about 30dBa
 
kill4killin said:
when you say that the aerocool is a little on the noisie side. Are we talking like typhoon/tsunami loud or are we talking like average 80mm fan loud? Do you have a dBa number you can quote for each of those. If its a 120mm fan i try to keep the noise level below 30dBa if i can, but the lower the better. And also, ill look at the 128, but xoxide has the 120 on sale for $33 so i like that price. I'll also probably get a fan that does about 80CFM since i think i found one of those that does about that with only about 30dBa
Click to expand...

80cfm for 30dba? That's a pretty good tradeoff...though, if I were you, I'd shoot for a 100cfm/35dba fan. Remember, you can always undervolt.
 
how do you undervolt a particular fan? Also, i like to keep my cpu fan away from my fan controller on the front so that i dont have anyone at a lan part turning off my cpu fan as a "joke" (it happened once and thank god for cpu throttling is all i can say)

anyway, i would consider the Ninja, but that damn thing is so big! idk if i want something that big putting all its weight on my motherboard...


::EDIT::

also, has anyone tried the cnps8000?
 
Promise I'm really hitting them. I thought my temp monitors were all busted or something. So I've had them all checked and they are working fine. It's at 29C right now just browsing [H]ardocp. I tried to do a print screen to show you, but it keeps coming out so small you can't really read it. If you know how to make it bigger I'll post it. Oh and if you read my sig it's an AMD Athlon 64 4000+ NOT undervolted at all, nor is cool and quiet on. Just a Lian-Li PC-V1000 Plus II case and a Thermalright SI-128 to cool the proc. :)
 
Ok, well iv been doing a little research here for the last few minutes that i have had this thread open and it looks like its a tie between either:

Zalman CNPS9500
Thermalright XP-120
Thermalright SI-128
Scythe Ninja

The other thing is, my CNPS is NOT hooked up to the fanmate 2 that it came with...if i hooked that up and cranked it up, would it make the fan spin faster than just having it plugged into the fan port on my motherboard?
 
kill4killin said:
when you say that the aerocool is a little on the noisie side. Are we talking like typhoon/tsunami loud or are we talking like average 80mm fan loud? Do you have a dBa number you can quote for each of those. If its a 120mm fan i try to keep the noise level below 30dBa if i can, but the lower the better. And also, ill look at the 128, but xoxide has the 120 on sale for $33 so i like that price. I'll also probably get a fan that does about 80CFM since i think i found one of those that does about that with only about 30dBa
Click to expand...
The aerocool is here. Aerocool Xtreme, the X means it's good. It's 89cfm at 32dBa. When I say noisy I mean it is louder than the three 120mm fans that came in my Lian-Li. Uh is it super annoying meh not really, but I like to leave my comp on at night. So when all is quiet but the Aerocool fan, that's when it's annoying.

The Yate Loon is here. Yate Loon

The Panaflo is here. Panaflow with RPM monitor. The unRPM monitored version is about $6 cheaper.

And finally the Papst. Papst
 
Ehh, doubt it would go any faster. Out of that list, the SI-128 and Scythe Ninja beat the Zalman and XP-120. There is also the Ultra-120 and Noctua's NH-U12. Both are about the same in temp, with most reviews I've read putting the Ultra-120 just 1-2C cooler.

You might want to look at the Thermaltake fans also. I had a Golden Orb II, the heat sink wasn't worth a darn, but the fan sure did move a lot of air, at near silent dBa. Maybe someone here that uses them can chime in?

My main reason going with the SI-128 was that it blows air down on to the ram and mosfets, but sits high enough off the motherboard that I can put the ram in and take it out without removing the heatsink.
 
is there a significant difference other than size between the NU-U12 and the NU-U09? The only thing other than size i can find is that the U09 is cheaper....

::EDIT::

stupid question...different sizes...i asked that question pre-maturely
 
on the subject of the SI-128.

I had the SilverStone Nitrogon a while back and it had the small mount plate with pipes to a large raised up sink design as well and personally, it absolutely sucked beyond belief...my idle temps were almost 48C

I guess iv just had a bad experience with the raised up HS design...im guessing since you like it though that thermal right made a better design...

and also, about the golden orb II. My friend has a blue orb and he says that its good, but he wouldnt recommend bothering to switch from the CNPS7000b for it because its not worht the price for the small drop in temp i would see.
 
I've got an SI-120 and right now I'm running at about 45C load, with Folding, Winamp, Firefox, and a bunch of other programs running. My CPU is also o/ced to 3.06GHz. The SI-128 would perform even better. Both heatsinks are better than the XP-120, and the SI-120 is known to outperform the XP-120 by 5-6C in a closed case environment. I was also a bit worried about the fins having no direct contact to the base, but I changed my mind when my SI-120 beat out my previous SP-94 by over 10C full load. However, the Ultra-120 and Scythe Infinity would probably beat any of the other heatsinks, including the SI-128. The downside is that tower heatsinks don't cool the motherboard or RAM.
 
I dont mind that it doesnt cool the MOBO or RAM because theyre running at perfectly normal temperatures. Its my stupid procesor that im mad at. I want to get my processor to exceed my friends Opty 146 and i have a 148...you would think that starting at a higher clock speed would mean that you could get a higher one...but no, im stuck with a processor that can only achieve 100mhz less than one that started 200mhz lower to begin with.

My goal with the upgrade for the HS is to get my processor to run at 3.0Ghz at nothing more than 45C under load. Problem is right now when i do that its at about 53C load...
 
Yeah lol, the Nitrogen and the SI-128 are not in the same league. The SI-128 is much larger and better designed. Pictures do not do the SI-128 any justice, it has four 8mm main heatpipes. Now I know darn well that 8mm does not sound like a lot, I personally didn't think it did at all. But when I took this thing out of the box it was amazing. There are also, two small heatpipes on the other side of the heatsink that go down to the top of the cpu block, to remove heat from the top. A lot of people complained about the lack of a heat sink for the top of the cpu block on the SI-120. These two heatpipes fix that. I held the SI-128 in my hands before installing it and you would feel it taking the heat out of your hand. It was a very wild feeling. I'm sure other highend heatsinks can do this as well, I just haven't ever done it.

On the Blue Orb II, your friend is right. The Zalman CNPS9500 will beat the Blue Orb II.

Edit: Woops you said 7000, but yes still very true.
 
53C load isn't excessively high at all, even for an Opteron. Even so, the SI-128, Ultra-120, or Scythe Infinity would provide a significant temperature drop from your CNPS7000.
 
Zero82z said:
I've got an SI-120 and right now I'm running at about 45C load, with Folding, Winamp, Firefox, and a bunch of other programs running. My CPU is also o/ced to 3.06GHz. The SI-128 would perform even better. Both heatsinks are better than the XP-120, and the SI-120 is known to outperform the XP-120 by 5-6C in a closed case environment. I was also a bit worried about the fins having no direct contact to the base, but I changed my mind when my SI-120 beat out my previous SP-94 by over 10C full load. However, the Ultra-120 and Scythe Infinity would probably beat any of the other heatsinks, including the SI-128. The downside is that tower heatsinks don't cool the motherboard or RAM.
Click to expand...
SI-128 beats the Ultra-120 in the reviews I've seen. Not sure about the Infinity. I'll look around for reviews.
 
ok so the list narrows.

Scythe Infinity
Scythe Ninja
Thermalright SI-128

It looks like they are all the same price roughly...with the Ninja being the odball out being only in the $30 range. However, if i go with that i might opt to just buy it locally...

Also, the only thing i dont like about the infinity is how it pushes air up to the top...i dont have a fan at the top that can readily exhaust this air...
 
Keep in mind that the design of the XP-120 was changed with the SI-120 for a reason...clearance issues with some motherboards. Even if your mobo is compatible I would still go for the SI-120 or SI-128 because they actually perform a little better. I have a SI-128 with the same Aerocool fan that someone linked above running about 80% and my idle temp with a 4400+@ 2.5 in the Texas heat is 35c and the hottest I've seen at load is 48c.
 
SI-128 vs. Ultra-120 vs. Infinity (in german will need translator)

Sorry if you can't translate or read german. But the jist of it is that the Infinity wins by around 1C give or take, if i read the properly. (I haven't done any real German since I was in highschool.) The Ultra-120 and SI-128 are even. So the choices is yours really. Which do you want to look at. :p

A note though. Apparently the Infinity is so big there is very little clearance between the heatsink and the video card. :eek: Now that is big.
 
Yea, thats true, the other thing i have to think about is that i use a DFI Lanparty Ultra-D and it has a weird configuration for the RAM where they are on top of the processor instead of next to it (apparently better airflow or something). Anyway, the vid card clearance shoudlnt be an issue however since my card is in slot 2 anyway because of my NB cooler until i can get a smaller one to replace the zalman one that is replacing the stock one that died...
 
Also, if you are concerned about weight. The Infinity is 960g, the Ninja is 815g, and the SI-128 is 510g. The SI-128 is near identical cooling but ways 305g less than the Ninja, and 450g less than the Infinity. :eek: Wow I didn't think they weighed that much more.
 
kill4killin said:
Yea, thats true, the other thing i have to think about is that i use a DFI Lanparty Ultra-D and it has a weird configuration for the RAM where they are on top of the processor instead of next to it (apparently better airflow or something). Anyway, the vid card clearance shoudlnt be an issue however since my card is in slot 2 anyway because of my NB cooler until i can get a smaller one to replace the zalman one that is replacing the stock one that died...
Click to expand...
I think that this would orient the tower heatsinks to blow out the back of your case then. You might want to go with them. IIRC that is lol. Not sure about the ram clearances. I'll try and find out.

Edit: You can change which way the Infinity faces, so you should be good.
 
Ok, due to weight the only two left to consider are the:

Scythe Ninja
SI-128

The only thing that really puts me over with the ninja is how cheap you can get them online for...there is almost a 15 dollar difference in the price.
 
Well, that part all comes down to you. :cool: Glad we could help you narrow down your choices.
 
If the price doesn't matter then go for the SI-128, but if you want to save cash, the Ninja won't be much of a drop in performance from the SI-128.
 
What about the Big Typhoon? I love mine, and it cools the mofset/ram really well too.

Running my Opteron at 3ghz (1.6vcore), I idle at 32c and full prime load at 40c.
 
m3ta1head said:
I have used the XP-120 before, and I've learned that without a very powerful 120mm fan (100cfm+), it doesn't really perform that well. It needs a lot of air pushed through its fins to be up there with the top dogs like the BT and Scythe Ninja.
Click to expand...

You couldnt be more wrong. Infact, high airflow does almost nothing at all for the XP-120. I have been using an XP-120 for over a year with a 125CFM fan on it. Even if i turn the fan from 12v to 7v my CPU temps go up by 1C. Clearly, once yours pushing more than about 75-80CFM into the XP-120 much more does very little. The only temp that goes down by any real amount by running my 125CFM fan at 12v are PWM temps, which drop by 5C again running at 7v.
 
I was talking about the difference between a 30-40cfm fan and a 80cfm fan, not the difference between a 80cfm fan and a 125cfm fan.

If you use a low cfm fan with the xp120, you will have poor results.
 
I've used the XP-120, SI-120 and the Ultra-120. I didn't notice any temp difference between the first two at all. The Ultra-120, on the other hand, keeps my processor around 7 to 8C cooler under load than either the XP-120 or the SI-120.

Everything was kept static with the exception of the heatsink (same 120mm fan, case, etc.).
 
infinity ftw! or si128 if your case is too narrow (like the praetorian and atc cases)
 
N H O said:
infinity ftw! or si128 if your case is too narrow (like the praetorian and atc cases)
Click to expand...

deffinatly not getting the Infinity, I move my case around a lot and i would be so afraid that my mobo would crack or that it would fall off or just something bad would happen due to the momentum im sure that thing can gain from bounces.
 
kill4killin said:
deffinatly not getting the Infinity, I move my case around a lot and i would be so afraid that my mobo would crack or that it would fall off or just something bad would happen due to the momentum im sure that thing can gain from bounces.
Click to expand...
I'm using the SI-128 with a 89cfm fan at 80% and it performs very well...if you have a case with a side air intake or duct then this cooler is your best choice imo.
 
Yes, that is one of the things i miss doing with the CNPS7000b. Since it is not a conventionaly fan that is on the top, I cant really use my fan duct to get better airflow to the processor. I would love to see if there is any way to do it to the Ninja because Im going to go buy the Ninja retail and see what sort of temps i can get from it before i bother buying it online so that if i dont like how it performs i can return it and then i will order the SI-128 online and probably stick with that unless i find that the ninja performs better. However from the sound of it, i dont think it does.
 
kill4killin said:
deffinatly not getting the Infinity, I move my case around a lot and i would be so afraid that my mobo would crack or that it would fall off or just something bad would happen due to the momentum im sure that thing can gain from bounces.
Click to expand...
it should all be fine if you have your pc on its side wen transporting
 
kill4killin said:
Yes, that is one of the things i miss doing with the CNPS7000b. Since it is not a conventionaly fan that is on the top, I cant really use my fan duct to get better airflow to the processor. I would love to see if there is any way to do it to the Ninja because Im going to go buy the Ninja retail and see what sort of temps i can get from it before i bother buying it online so that if i dont like how it performs i can return it and then i will order the SI-128 online and probably stick with that unless i find that the ninja performs better. However from the sound of it, i dont think it does.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure you can get a fan duct that runs from the heatsink to your rear exhaust fan. Just have to look it up online.
 
kill4killin said:
Yea, thats true, the other thing i have to think about is that i use a DFI Lanparty Ultra-D and it has a weird configuration for the RAM where they are on top of the processor instead of next to it (apparently better airflow or something). Anyway, the vid card clearance shoudlnt be an issue however since my card is in slot 2 anyway because of my NB cooler until i can get a smaller one to replace the zalman one that is replacing the stock one that died...
Click to expand...


I'm using a SI 120 with an Ultra D and it fits perfectly. Great heatsink IMO.
 
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