X-bit labs

Titan Vanessa S & L-Type and Thermaltake Big Typhoon vs. Zalman CNPS9500 LED (page 13)

Category: Coolers

by Sergey Lepilov

[ 09/07/2005 | 04:17 PM ]

Now let’s run all the tests once again but this time without any of the case fans working. This way we will create worse working conditions for all the system components and CPU in particular:

Well, we do not see any dramatic changes here. Titan Vanessa S-type turned out so weak that it failed to ensure proper cooling for our CPU under the extreme workload created by S&M utility: system would go into BSOD mode. The boxed cooler looked quite fine against the background of the Titan Vanessa S-type, although generated too much noise during operation. The performance gap between Thermaltake Big Typhoon and Zalman CNPS9500 LED did grow smaller, although the Zalman solution still got defeated by the Big Typhoon. Another advantage of the winner is the air flow course: it blows the air onto the mainboard cooling down the electronic components around the CPU, while the Zalman solution simply ousts the air outside the case.

Now a few subjective words about the noise level. When the coolers work in the “quiet” mode, i.e. at their minimum fan rotation speed, they are all very quiet. Thermaltake Big Typhoon also belongs here, as you do not hear its fan at all against the background of the case fans and the graphics card cooler. As for the noise level when we have cooler fans running at the maximum rotation speed, we cannot call them loud too. We have to admit that at higher rotation speed you can actually hear Titan Vanessa S- and L-type and Zalman CNPS9500 LED against the background of the system case fans, however, even after two hours of constant operation you do not really get tired of the generated noise. If we line up the coolers according to the level of noise they produce, we will get the following picture: the loudest will be Titan Vanessa S-type at ~2680rpm followed by Titan Vanessa L-type (~2080rpm) and Zalman CNPS9500 LED (~2500rpm).

As we have already mentioned, Titan coolers and Zalman CNPS9500 LED go with a special fan rotation speed controller device that allows you to find the most optimal balance between noise and cooling efficiency for your particular case.