Zalman/Tuniq/ZEROtherm - What is the better CPU air cooler?

What is the better CPU cooler?

  • Zalman CNPS9500LED

    Votes: 2 4.7%

  • Tuniq T-120-LFB 120mm

    Votes: 28 65.1%

  • ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120mm

    Votes: 13 30.2%
  • Total voters
    43
  • Poll closed .
T

The1stCAV

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Feb 27, 2008
Messages
1,167
I currently have a Intel Q9450 that is OC'd to 3.4Ghz, push it at 3.6/8Ghz sometimes. I see the cores at times go 64c+ and want to keep the temps down. I cannot go liquid yet, so I am looking for a good QUIET air solution.

I have an Antec P190 case, so it is BIG and can handle any cooler I want to put in here. So space is not a worry. The Antec case has PLENTY of airflow, I just want to get the best air cooler for my CPU so I figured I would ask everyone here to see what the general consensus is. Are you using one of these? How well does it work for you? Would you chose it over the other two I have listed?

Zalman CNPS9500LED
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118003&Tpk=zalman+CNPS9500
This is what I use now, it does a fairly decent job, but does get kind of noisy and I am not sure I am getting the best cooling from this, but I could be wrong.

Tuniq T-120-LFB 120mm
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835154002
This seems to be on several rigs I have seen. I see great reviews on how this willl cool at or below room temps at times. I also understand the fan is crap and loud, so I would immediately replace the fan with a SilenX IXP-76-18 120mm which is a 18dba fan but moves 90CFM (MUCH more air flow then the stock fan this comes with)

ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120mmm
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835887011
This one does have some great reviews. I read in a CPU cooler match off in a magazine I get that this cooler really worked the best especially for the price.
 
Ok I knew that was a funny, but read the reviews man, I would not have put that there if I hadnt read it. I know dont believe everything you read, either noobs posted it, paid sponsors, etc, so that is why I put this poll up - to get the real world opinion of those who actually use the stuff or know if it works or not.
 
Thermalright 120 Extreme
Newegg does not have a good selection of cooling products. Check out Petra's.
 
My lapped Tuniq does really well but I had to put A LOT of effort into that. Of your list it is the best IMO but you should look at the TRUE or the uh... theres a nice one by Xigmatek but I forget the name. :(
 
Xigmatech Rifle 120mm. ~$35, and keeps up with the TRUE in many cases. The ZeroTherm isn't far behind. Tuniq after that. Zalman is mediocre at best.
 
None.
Xigmatek S1283.

Out of those three, I don't know, probably the Tuniq but I know nothing about the ZeroTherm.
I know for sure the Zalman is at the bottom.
 
Welll I have heard of but never knew what "lapping" was or why it was such a big deal. So I went searching for an article on it:

http://www.overclockersclub.com/guides/lapping/

Now I understand what lapping a cooler/heatsink is all about and will certainly consider it with the new cooler I buy. I had to pull the trigger on the buy this morning (for various reasons) and decided to go with the ZEROtherm Nirvana (Newegg had a rebate with it making it the least expensive of the options). Once I get it in, lap it :-P and seat it I will let you all know my results.

Thanks so much for the replies and feedback.
 
The ZeroTherm is pretty damn flat from the factory... unless you have temp issues (that aren't fixed by reapplying thermal paste properly -- do not use too much!) I wouldn't bother with lapping it.
 
Volucris said:
Thermalright 120 Extreme
Newegg does not have a good selection of cooling products. Check out Petra's.
Click to expand...

QFT, i love this heatsink, cools better than anything ive ever used.

its impossible to cool below room temp with air cooling.
 
++ Xigmatek 1283, under $40 shipped to meet/beat (depending on how much you believe various review & their methods) the $60+ TRUE+Fan combo - can't really beat that. I find mine inaudible pretty much @ stock board PWM/BIOS settings (~1100rpm) - futz around w/ it and it's still really quiet, although doesn't seem to drop the temps much (1-2c max). Just don't expect to be able to have a side panel fan right next to it, may be possible but cutting it *very* close due to the height of the HSF.
 
i was really impressed with the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme temps with the sythe fan combo
 
TRUE (Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme), Tuniq and then everything else. In that order, period.
 
Xigmatek/Kingwin or the OCZ Vendetta 2.
Don't waste your money on the TRUE, the TRUE is king no more. The TRUE will def require lapping. Why would you pay 60+ dollars for a product you have to work on to make it efficient?
 
Ohhh....that..lol....I know that those are good when lapped coupled with a Q6600 overclocked and lapped = great performance and keeps the heat down!......but I think that some of those big bastards like the Ninja Sycthe with 5 120MM fans are pretty decent....they are like one of the best I recon!
 
Well I promised an update when I got the ZEROTherm in, so here it is.

Yes, it came with a mirror finish - no lapping needed (sweet)

Once installed, I had to remove my 200mm side door fan to close my case. Though it fit nicely in the case, the side fan was hitting the coolers fan and not allowing me to close it.

Once I removed the fan, added a 140mm I had in its place, close the side panel, I was able to get to checking temp differences to see if this new cooler helped.

I have to admit I was impressed! I dropped over 12c on my hottest cores on idle and load it used to reach 65-68c, now it does not go past 54c. The other cores stay MUCH cooler then they did with the Zalman CNPS9500LED I was using. It also seemed to help drop other temps as well - weird. I have to say I was impressed.

heresw8.jpg

dsc01150mr6.jpg
 
wow, that is a great improvement over the zalman 9500. my q6600 idles at 48c in this hot weather with my cnps9500.

any idea if that zerotherm hsf will fit on a 680i sli board with a lian li v1000 case?

i heard that the thermalright ultra 120 will have problems fitting.. wasn't sure about this one.
 
I bought the the S1283. After seeing the performance while costing $37 compared to $60 for anything else that performs well, I would have been crazy to not get it. Now to just get this new PC built completely and note down the temps
 
Matthew Kane said:
hOLY SHIT.,.....BTW.....nice system bro....neat and sxc!:p:p
Click to expand...

Thanks, been 6 months in the making -ok maybe longer, but still working on it. It has been my labor of love. I am still waiting for CPU's to go down a bit, the Q9450 is limiting me, I have hit an OC ceiling with this particular chip at 3.4Ghz stable.

UtopiA said:
Man I bet that thing pumps out some heat.
Click to expand...

Man you have no idea :-P Yeah, this thing is a heat generator. Those EVGA 9800GX2's are serious heaters, and they vent inside the case. That is why I got that 92cfm Silent fan for exhaust you see behind the ZEROTherm. That 120mm is venting some serious air. I have the case basically in the center of the room, in the open, to the left of my desk just so it has optimum air flow and gets hit almost directly when the air conditioner comes on. Yeah, it is a serious heater, I have a total of 9 fans in that baby.


aznmc16 said:
wow, that is a great improvement over the zalman 9500. my q6600 idles at 48c in this hot weather with my cnps9500.
Click to expand...

Huge improvement over the Zalman, especially in load. I am totally happy with this thing.

aznmc16 said:
any idea if that zerotherm hsf will fit on a 680i sli board with a lian li v1000 case?

i heard that the thermalright ultra 120 will have problems fitting.. wasn't sure about this one.
Click to expand...

Yes it will fit on the 680i board. I don’t know the Lian case, but it is a big HS&F. My Antec case is pretty deep/wide and it is a snug fit. Well it fits just fine after I took the 200mm side fan off, so I don’t know about the Lian, how wide it is. My case is 8" wide, there is about 1 to 3/4" clearance between the top of the ZEROTherm and the door. You also have to consider the other side too, so take about another 1/2" off for motherboard standoff's and case stuff/space. It really will take around 6-7" probably.
 
Ok, this is totally from memory and is not 100% accurate (may not include tax or shipping costs either)............

Case/PSU Combo $499.99
Motherboard $250
RAM $89.99 x 2
CPU $350
HDD (Raptors) $150 x 2
HDD (Maxtor) $199.99 x 2
Sound Card $149.99
Video Cards $599.99 x 2
CPU Cooler $49.99
DVD-R/W $99.99
DVD-ROM Spare from old system
Floppy Spare from OLD system
Case Fans $120
Keyboard $99.99
Mouse $79.99
Headphones $120.00
Mousepad/Wrist Pad $39.99
Monitor $599.99
Speakers Set $199.99
UPS 1250Va $179.99 x 2

Best guess would be about: $5,100 - $5,300
(Especially if you start adding in shipping costs and tax on items I purchased locally, etc)

That puts in into perspective for me - wow, no wonder my wife is telling me to stop buying parts.
 
That a P182? You need a bigger case, bud. I'd recommend one of the ~$50-75 clearance RocketFish full towers (rebranded Lian Li) at Best Buy. That'd give you a lot more room to work with.
 
Dude, that is a P190 + 1200 - I got a ton of room in that baby. See my post here:
http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1032521207&postcount=1994

I have the P180 as well, but that houses something much less - but decent. I just finished putting it together and using the Zalman CNPS9500LED I was asking about here on it. It is a Asus P5N w/E7200 OC'd to 3.2Ghz, 4GB of OCZ REAPER 800Mhz RAM, 300GB SATA, 500GB eSATA, 2- External IDE HDD's too. Audigy 2 ZS and a BFG 7950 video card. It seems to be running pretty well with Vista Ultimate 64 SP1.
 
I just got my Xigmatech S1283 - I love it...granted I don't know how efficient it cools my E6600 on a Lian-Li V-1000
 
Hey,

I was curious; is the fan in the ZEROtherm removable? I hate LEDs and I like the the price/performace of the cooler but I'd rather puke than have an LED fan. I can't seem to find out if I could swap out the fan anywhere. It looks to be some sort of special fan adapter, so if anyone knows that'd be great!

Cheers!
 
I would go with the Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme cpu cooler. Rest to me are Junk useless. Nothing can compare to thermalright. Iam getting 32c idle and 46c 100% Loaded on Q9450 using realtemp 2.60 at tjmax 95c. Bye
 
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