X-bit labs

Started by: Forgotten | Date 10/21/05

Comments: 41 | Last Comment:  04/08/08

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1. Where is SI-120 Thermalright in this test?

2. Er... why didn't you try putting the fan in the middle of the Sonic Tower? That's what that big gap in the middle is for.

3. Agreed the 120 either XP or SI would have made it more useful to me. Might have considered the XP 90C since I have read it comes pretty close, but I'd have settled for the best, the 120.

All other aspects were very well done, and you did it under a nice extreme cpu temp as well. Kudos :)

4. Where the hell is thethermalright XP120 huh...

5. Considering that the XP90 is the one of the most popular aftermarket heatsink, it would have been nice to include it to give a reference point to these high-end heatsinks.

6. OH Yea. to past and how much paste...
" I have been fotunate to talk to the
Gents at ArticSilver " Boss 1 and Boss 2 and
thanks to their help i/ve had a look at their
ceramique, foundation oil , and formulations.
Thak you Gents sincerly your products are great. However as the illustrations above
show, how much past and on what alloys do you use you thermal dynamic dissipation skills..
To much on alumminum and you get alumminum oxide " not good " My opinion
copper is better, just a thin wedge below the alluminum block ,, distribute the heat..
just a light oil and ceramique , or artic silver 5
and apply with reasonable pressure. it is all about die to metal dissipation of heat that counts.. so a very thin pure application is best.
" thats it " not gobbs of the stuff, just a waste
and a heat barrier a comming... So sparingly
on clean surfaces and copper if you can or
annodized alluminum or brushed alluminum
cleaned with alchol and some polish for surface
uniformity and no grannular bumps...
" and with caution, for the brave " just a slight
flat surface giggle when finally clasps are on
and you settle the surface. good luck .
dont goo it to death. and use your best
assembly skills and get the air to the cooler,
or other quality devices ie water , heat pipes
electro mini fridge pads. " my choice "
Well stated Xbit. rtg....

7. Boy I am happy to own a AMD CPU and not that Intel crap. My Athlon 64 3700+ idles at 30 degrees Celsius even with stock fan cooler.

8. Where are ThermalRight's products? They would probably win. Without them this article is incomplete.

9. Thermalright => MIA?

10. Kinda pointless to test such great coolers on a amateur socket as the LGA breed. How far past FX55 can one OC some key value 939 A64 on these coolers then?

11. You should try running a 120mm fan in the middle of the Sonic Tower, works a treat. To be honest I've not found anything to fault on this heatsink, although I am seriously tempted by the Ninja for it's 939 mounting.

12. great job dude!
i'm surely going to buy the zalman cooler!

13. Nice tests of coolers we would never use on processors we would never buy for a socket we would never use!

What happened to Thermaright, Asus, and AMD ?

14. You make a sweeping statement that these coolers perform on par with watercooling... Why is there no comparison to back up this claim?

15. I bought the Sonic Tower some months ago, almost just when it came out. I lapped its surface with some dry/wet sanding paper up to 800 grade. Drilled additional support holes to allow the installation of the bracket/fan in the middle of the beast. Also ditched the mounting clip for the much better plate that came with another Sonic Tower I bought for a socket A CPU.
With all that mods the installation grew in complexity, having first to install the "block", then putting the fan. You can't reach the plate mounting screws with the fan on, because it sits above them, an their lenght has to be carefully matched: too short and you won't be able to put springs on them (if you want to), too long and the fan won't fit.
Screwing the fan inside is also trickier, as the opposite side's stacked sheets will force you to angle the screwdriver.
But all in all, it can be done.

The effort allowed me to have better performance than almost any commercial watercooled setups, with an Enermax UC-12FAB fan limited to ~1550 rpm. My case is a well ventilated aluminium Thermaltake Armor.

If you can deal with the awkwardness of such a procedure, the performance/noise ratio will truly make your jaw drop to the floor.


My 2 cents.

"Also ditched the mounting clip for the much better plate that came with another Sonic Tower I bought for a socket A CPU."

Sorry, I meant to say "for a Silent Tower I bought for a socket A CPU". Much better K8 mounting IMHO.

16. The best place for a fan with the Sonic Tower is to place it in the middle of the "twin towers" where it offers good cooling and doesn't use any additional space. It is also quite a bit cheaper than the other models tested. I'm very happy with it on my K8 system.

17. "1. Where is SI-120 Thermalright in this test?"

Yeh!

18. As many others are finding out...Ninja rules. It was about time that somebody beat TR for good. Theres a new king!

19. I Just bought the new Zalman CNPS9500LED
And I let my system control the fan I have a Thermaltake case with 7 case fans. my Temp right now is 29 ° C. I hardly hear my computer at all. I'm Very happy.

20. And thats with an AMD 64 Bit 3200 overclocked by 10% with Corsair TwinX 3200 Low Latency. And a Leadtek 6600 GT Graphics card.

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