[bangraman]

I know that some of you listen to internal soundcards, and where open phones are concerned PC noise is a problem. This is a very quick review on the Zalman line of Flower CPU Coolers.

I bought both the 6000 AlCu and the 7000 AlCu (AlCu=Aluminium & Copper) coolers for the three PC's which all have different processors. I deliberately didn't go for the Cu (all copper) as both the 6000 and 7000 Cu coolers exceed the recommended cooler weights by quite a large degree. The Cu versions do however cool more than the AlCu versions so are recommended for overclocking. I came across these because I was browsing QuietPC, and also because I bought a quiet PSU first. Although there was some reduction in noise after the quiet PSU's were installed, I was totally unimpressed at the noise which still came from the PC. It was when looking inside and putting my ear to the PSU casing that I realised that the vast majority of the roar was now coming from my standard Intel / AMD / Cooler Master coolers. Finally, unplugging the CPU fan for about 10 seconds impressed upon me that the CPU fan was now the principal culprit of the noise.


The Zalman coolers consist of three main components. The large flower-shaped heatsink for high heat dissipation, and the large-diameter fan are the first two major bits. The fan is basically a quiet case fan and therefore spins slower than a typical CPU fan. It's large blades mean however that it still moves quite a lot of air. The third component is the speed controller for the fan, which allows you to adjust how fast the large fan spins. The Super Flowers are an all-in-one design, with a fan mounted within the large heatsink. the Flowers feature an adjustable bracket that bolts on to the PCI slots (so this will not work with some toolless cases) which suspends the same size fan as the Super Flower over the fan-like heatsink.


Installation was as painless as any other cooler. In the case of the Flower cooler, the bracket required proper positioning but this was not a taxing exercise. In use, the Flower coolers are indeed very quiet even with the fan going full blast. Running the fan at approximately half speed, CPU temps are higher than that of a noisy full-blast fan but the noise (or the lack of) is impressive.



I recommend the Zalman coolers very highly. They cool well for non-overclockers and are as near silent as you're likely to get without a water-cooling set-up and the potential headaches that brings in. Used with proper and similarly silent cooling solutions elsewhere (PSU, video card, HDD, Northbridge, etc) you're well on your way to a PC which can be used with the most open of phones without any particular problems.


http://www.zalman.co.kr
http://www.quietpc.com

 

[Thaddy]

The Zalman's are excellent coolers, yes. But, for something that cools even better and is quiter, check out the Thermalright SP-94 topped with a 92mm 14dB SilenX fan.

With a combo like that, you'll end up replacing all you case fans, GPU cooler, PSU, and hard drives

 

[Edwood]

Check out these forums at these sites:

www.silentpcreview.com

www.anandtech.com

www.arstechnica.com

www.hardocp.com

There is a huge amount of information there. My favorite is the first one I listed, there are a lot of very creative solutions to silencing your computer.

-Ed

 

[Thaddy]

Edwood, don't forget www.sharkyforums.com

I've been there for 3 years and the place keeps getting better and better. Plus we're MUCH nicer than those other places

 

[mjg]

Sp-94 here,

it's the biggest and best air based cooling setup period. Though definatly not the quietest.

 

[bangraman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thaddy The Zalman's are excellent coolers, yes. But, for something that cools even better and is quiter, check out the Thermalright SP-94 topped with a 92mm 14dB SilenX fan. With a combo like that, you'll end up replacing all you case fans, GPU cooler, PSU, and hard drives

Are you running this combo?

 

[Prince]

I am on SLK-900U, Panaflo L1 92mm, 3 case fans all changed to silenx's. Along with Zalman ZM80A for GPU and the passive heatsink for the northbridge.

Yes, I did built this rig with graphic + quiet as goal

-P

 

[Thaddy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bangraman Are you running this combo?

No but I just built a machine for my cousin the other night using that combo, it's not audible at all. Like I said before, with a combo like that, you'd have to get a fluid-bearing hard drive, SilenX case fans, completely passive GPU and NB cooling, a SilenX or passive PSU (I think they do make these) and maybe some sound matting

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjg Sp-94 here, it's the biggest and best air based cooling setup period. Though definatly not the quietest.

How can it be loud if it doesn't even come with a fan? If yours is loud, then it's the fan's fault, not the heatsink

 

[poorimpulsectrl]

I bought the Cu myself a year ago. The weight issue can be circumvented by replacing the stock intel P4 bracket. The plastic bracket that comes with motherboards is kinda flimsy, I found an aftermarket bracket made completely out of metal and that screwed onto the motherboard along with a sturdy metal X shaped backplate that went on the backside of the motherboard. No concerns about the heatsink coming off or warping the motherboard, I can tell you that much.