CPU HSF Decision

[INM8]

Been thinking of getting a new HSF to cool my x2 4400+ and keep things a bit quieter. Basically i am looking for something that is quiet, relativly light, has a good mounting mechanism and it also has to cool the NB heatpipe/radiator setup on my A8N Premium.

Iv narrowed the choice down to the Zalman 9500, the Thermalright Xp-120 and the Scythe Ninja. Iv read great reviews on all three of them, so i am posting here hoping people who have acctually tried/used/seen these coolers will give me some input on how well they acctually work.

The cheaper it is, the better it is for me, but im happy to pay for any of the ones listed about. Down here in Australia, here is how much these things cost:

XP-120: $88.20 + $38.50 for silenx 14dba 120cm fan
Zalman 9500: $90
Scythe Ninja: $69.00 + $38.50 for silenx 14dba 120cm fan

So far im leaning towards the Scythe Ninja because it is cheaper than the others, and its been popular in all the reviews iv read. The only thing im concerned about is its weight which is 665g. I built this new pc recently, and as you probably gather from the cpu choice , im going to be using this for everything. I cant afford a LAN pc and a home pc, so this one will be going with me to LANS as well as my usage at home. I dont want something that will have the potential to cause damage. Is 665g too much?

The side mounted fans on the 9500 and the ninja could also cause cooling issues with the a8n premiums heatpipe setup. I do have 2x 120cm exhaust fans right in front of the radiator, but i dont know how much direct airflow that thing needs.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Iether one of those choices will serve you well!!

No 665 grams is not too much!!

But as a note of caution when going to lans as fra as transporting your rigg goes I would always have a brace...even a block of wood or something to brace your heatsink while in transit!!

Just common sense in my view!!

Good Luck!!

 

[McArra]

I would go with Thermaltake Thyphoon with out doubt.

 

[INM8]

:Q the BigT weighs almost 900g's! Iv read the reviews and seen what a good cooler it is but surely id be pushing it if i even considered moving my pc from one end of the house to the other with that thing attached?

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: McArra
I would go with Thermaltake Thyphoon with out doubt.

That was not one of the 3 options....did you read that title of the post? doh....

 

[Shadowknight]

Replace the SilenX with a Nexus. SilenX specs are untrue, plus the owner is a scumbag who registered different accounts on SPCR praising his own products. He even held conversations in threads between his multiple accounts to make it seem like they were different people. Don't support this company!

Oh, I forgot, you're in Australia, http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=23024&highlight=australia for some options for quiet fans in Australia. On the second page, they mention a dealer who will start stocking Nexus fans in the middle of Octorber, www.pccasegear.com

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=4021&highlight=australia A list of places in Australia that sell quiet PC components.

Oh, and silentpcreview had a review of the 9500. From a quietness perspective, the Ninja did a much better job at cooling at a low noise level than the Zalman.

 

[JBDan]

The Ninja is probably the best performer w/ equal cfm'age from a 120mm fan. As far as the SilenX, they are very very quiet no doubt, but as Shadow said get the Nexus. The 14 dBA is not accurate pitted against ISO standards, BUT their cfm specs are the ones that are truly a blatant lie. I have 3 SilenXs and they are quieter than the Nexus at similiar rpm (although its impossible to tell exactly as the SilenX's have no way to monitor rpm), but they push NO air. Their blades are so forward swept with so little pitch, their is minimal forced air. Thats why they are so quiet. Their motors are hybrid bearing and imo are = to, if not a little quieter than Yates/Nexus sleeve bearing in sound quality. Too bad about their owner, his practices, and their false claims...I think they could of had a good product. OP you cannot go wrong with any of your selected HS's. >xp120 w/ Nexus=$57@ Jab. --Nintek.com in Au sells Glacialtech which I hear are comparable to the Nexus's.

 

[Operandi]

I'll repeat what others have allready said, stay away from SilenX. They are simply taking Adda fans and rebading them with a huge markup. There is at least one major electronic reseller that carries the entire Adda range; if you want the same Adda fan SilenX uses PM i've found them before. A good alternative fan would be Yate Loon, Nexus (which is a Yate Loon rebadge) or a Panaflo L1A.

As for the heatsinks; those are all pretty good choices though I would replace the XP-120 with the SI-120, which is also probably the one I would choose.

 

[ChemGeek]

The Xp-120 is a great cooler, probably the best aircooling product on the market. You might want to try the XP-90 though. It is cheaper and cools to within 1 or 2C of the XP-120. You can keep the XP-120 a tad bit quieter, but there is not much of a difference there, both can be run with a fan at 5V.

 

[JEDIYoda]

The nexus fans are good fans!!
I personally use the ThermalRigh(thermaltake..lol) 120mm smart fan!!
I have it hooked to my fan speed controller. It moves alot of air when I need it too and its quiet when not reved up to its max rpm!!

Also you might try the coolermaster fans I just ordered 2 of the 120 mm coolermaster fans. They are pretty quiet also!

Good Luck!!

 

[INM8]

Ok great, thanks for all the advice...especially the stuff about the Silenx fans. I must've read one of them posts on here with the owner talking up his products, because i was origianlly suspicious about their DBA to CFM rating, it seemed to good to be true. Shadownight, i actually plan to buy all of this from pccasegear, so maybe they'll have the nexus ones in by the time i order

I think i cancel out the zalman, it does look cool, and it'd be cheaper than one of the other options, but i like having the choice of what fan i want to use on my HSF.

So i guess its Thermalright vs Scythe

The xp-120 is much lighter, but the Scythe is the performance champ. Does anyone know how well the Scythe will be able to cool the a8n premiums raditor. Im a bit unsure about this because it has a side mounted fan.

 

[Shadowknight]

http://www.overclockers.com/articles373/p4sum.asp
The Ninja beats the SI-129, barely, with a fan 600rpm slower.

Guess you know which to get now

 

[JBDan]

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda
The nexus fans are good fans!!
I personally use the ThermalRight 120mm smart fan!!
I have it hooked to my fan speed controller. It moves alot of air when I need it too and its quiet when not reved up to its max rpm!!

Also you might try the coolermaster fans I just ordered 2 of the 120 mm coolermaster fans. They are pretty quiet also!

Good Luck!!

I didn't even know that TR made fans now Especially a "smart" fan Sorry, had to lol. Those CM fans by the way Yoda are very nice and very quiet. I think you will be pleased. Also, how much more pc gear are you gonna order? For pete sakes!!!

 

[JBDan]

Originally posted by: INM8
Ok great, thanks for all the advice...especially the stuff about the Silenx fans. I must've read one of them posts on here with the owner talking up his products, because i was origianlly suspicious about their DBA to CFM rating, it seemed to good to be true. Shadownight, i actually plan to buy all of this from pccasegear, so maybe they'll have the nexus ones in by the time i order

I think i cancel out the zalman, it does look cool, and it'd be cheaper than one of the other options, but i like having the choice of what fan i want to use on my HSF.

So i guess its Thermalright vs Scythe

The xp-120 is much lighter, but the Scythe is the performance champ. Does anyone know how well the Scythe will be able to cool the a8n premiums raditor. Im a bit unsure about this because it has a side mounted fan.

PCCasegear also sells the Glacialtechs. Look into those as I have heard great things about them. I would venture to say that the XP/SI 120 would cool the mobo rad much better than the Ninja's side fan mount option.

 

[JEDIYoda]

oops...Thermaltake Smart fan..lolol....

 

[INM8]

JBDan, i cant find the Glacialtech fans you speak of at www.pccasegear.com . Maybe they've stopped selling them.

Your probably right in thinking that the Thermalright XP120 will cool the radiator on the a8n premium better than the side mounted fan on the Scythe Ninja. That was one of my original concerns.

However, if this is not a problem, i would almost definatly get Scythe Ninja simply because its considerably cheaper $90 vs 60, and it seems to perform better.

Does ANYONE have the Scythe Ninja , or any side blowing HSF setup on an A8N Premium?

Iv looked for the SI-120 too, but it seems they are not available in Australia as yet

 

[JBDan]

http://www.nintek.com.au/x/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=1703
Srry about that. I was referring to a different PCcasegear....its in Au. Anyways here they are at nintek. They have the blue ones too. I'm suprised they don't have the SI 120 in Au. The XP 120 is just about dead even with the SI anyways. Is the Ninja cheaper than the XP/SI 120 over there? Wouldn't have thought that.

 

[INM8]

Yes, it is strange, but all the Thermalright products seem to be very expensive in Australia. $90 is the cheapest i could find it for, apart from that one pccasegear store most shops charge about $110 AUD for it :Q . The ninja can be had for cheap, and even the new Zalman i mentioned earler is cheaper, at $79.

Thanks for that link anyway, those fans look pretty good, and they dont cost $40 either. Lucky i posted here, i would've been extremly annoyed if i paid $40 for a fan that doesnt do what its supposed to.

 

[JBDan]

Originally posted by: INM8
Yes, it is strange, but all the Thermalright products seem to be very expensive in Australia. $90 is the cheapest i could find it for, apart from that one pccasegear store most shops charge about $110 AUD for it :Q . The ninja can be had for cheap, and even the new Zalman i mentioned earler is cheaper, at $79.

Thanks for that link anyway, those fans look pretty good, and they dont cost $40 either. Lucky i posted here, i would've been extremly annoyed if i paid $40 for a fan that doesnt do what its supposed to.

lol that would be very annoying. G Luck whatever you go with. Those HS's are all kicka_s. And from what I read, those fans are uber smooth/quiet.

 

[JBDan]

http://www.glacialtech.com/pdf/12025.pdf
http://www.glacialtech.com/pdf/1225EBDL.pdf
http://www.glacialtech.com/sub-newsroom20.htm
I did a little researching and noticed that Glacialtech makes 2 versions of this fan. An "entering bearing" fan (which I would think is similiar to a sleeve) rated at 30,000 hours @25C and a "2-ball bearing" fan (actually 1 blue-clear and 1 black) rated @50,000 hours @25C. Then I see the above info (3rd link) about the "hydrodynamic bearing" 9225 fans they are now producing that are rated @80,000 hours @ up to 85C! They all have the same cfm & dBA specs which I thought was odd. Anyways, thought maybe some people would be interested in that. Look like real quality fans that I might just have to try.

 

[imported_rod]

Originally posted by: INM8
Down here in Australia, here is how much these things cost:

XP-120: $88.20 + $38.50 for silenx 14dba 120cm fan
Zalman 9500: $90
Scythe Ninja: $69.00 + $38.50 for silenx 14dba 120cm fan

I would go with the Zalman or Thermalright. The zalman weighs 530g, which is heavier than the the thermalright, but not too bad compared to some. Also, the zalman may not cool quite as well as the thermalright, but it wont be as noisey either.

BtW, you can get the zalman for $79.00 + postage and handling from PC Case Gear (http://www.pccasegear.com.au/prod2815.htm). PC Case Gear are pretty good. I live in perth and i've bought stuff over the internet from them before. P&H is usually about $10-$12, but the use air mail express, so it arrives in about 2 days. If you live in the eastern states, it'll probably be cheaper and faster though.

RoD

EDIT: There are a few places cheaper than PC Case Gear.
http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=zalman+CNPS9500

 

[INM8]

Thanks for your input Rod, its good to see some other Aussies here

The zalman is priced pretty competitivly down here, my only concern is that it wont provide the raidiator on the A8N Premium enough airflow to cool the NB effectivly. That issue is really bugging me, because its the only thing stopping me from purchasing either the Scythe or the Zalman.

 

[ChemGeek]

How much is an XP-90 (non C version) over in AUS? It provides similar results to the XP-120 and is cheaper.

 

[amd4life]

I got a ninja, and a nexxus 120mm fan and its keep smy 3800+ extremely cool , running at 2.4ghz 1:!

its suprisingly light, and the mounting system is also very nice, easy to install
its cool how you can mount the fan on all four side depeneding on the best airflow of your case

 

[INM8]

Chemgeek, the xp-90 is $69.50 down here vs's $88.20 for the xp-120. Didnt look at that one because people have supposedly been having issues with it an the A8N premium. I dont fully understand how, but its supposed to have something to do with the fin direction.

You wouldnt happen to be using an A8N Premium would you amd4life?

And whilst we're on the topic of all things 120mm , how many people have used the yate loon 120mm fans? Iv heard they are very similar to the nexus, just 300rpm increase in speeds. Maybe order some of these from the USA if they're good.