what about the tuniq tower compared to the new zalman cnps 9700?
It's very difficult to compare them as they've not been on the same testbed.
And why is the scythe ninja so much louder on the test on the last page than the test on the first page? Also the other fans on the last page seems all much louder.

the reasons are all in the article, check up on the P4 test bed again:)

I plan to re-test the Tuniq on the P4 setup for the next CPU roundup, in 2007

there are plenty of other fans, but they are hard to get and you have to choose one fan that is good for general purposes at 100%

If you look on other general forums, you will notice that not many people are willing to put up with high fan noise anymore and there are a lot more threads about really silent fans. Especially the bad yields in additional overclock when going to a faster fan on the high end heatsinks is putting people off (which the A64 has to be blamed as it crapped out most of the time because of the chip and not the cooling)

Core 2 scales a bit better, but not much.

Yeah, that performance is what I was getting at but I'll take your advice and look to my case fans before I go "crazy" with the CPU fan. Thanks again for all of your feedback.


and @Rutar
I was looking at the scalability of the C2D, this type of cooling for AMD would be pretty fruitless.

don't forget Zerotherm coolers for the roundup in 2007. They look impressive :)

I know end users always ask the moon, but I do have to say congrats for running inside a case. While that makes it harder to do the testing, it yields more realistic end user results. Nothing is perfect. Some will have bench setups and some will have very breezy cases, but it helps.

I did cross reference somewhat the Water cooling article and this one. Not a perfect match but the 6400 oc'd begins to generate heat close to the old P4's at stock. Kind of a nice change, if you ask me. Anyway, seems like the Apex water cool gets a few degrees on the Zalman 9700 @ high, but not a lot more than that. In the future, it might be nice to see a toss in of not "every" cooler from past reviews, but at least a "reference" cooler or two. More and more, I think people are going to be curious where it all lands, water, air and TEC/air combo's. And using just one cooler from a previous article on the current setup, would give at least a reference point to give some rough extrapolation of the wider picture. In this case, water and a 9500 maybe? I don't want to drive you crazy with complications, so this is coming with the usual grain of salt.

Please note secondly, that the ultra 120 with a reasonably quiet 38x120mm fan (say the Panaflo series) would be both quiet and more powerful. And the simple fact that it can use such a fan where many of the others can't fit it, that makes it quite the cooler.

All this is food for thought. I follow all of Madshrimps articles carefully with due respect for the work involved. Have fun!

Why FXi, thanks for the comments, the Swiftech review was done by a colleague reviewer who lives at the other side of the big pond, won't be easy to include in a comparison:)

I always re-include a few "reference" coolers when I move to a new test setup, I rested about 5-6 on the A64 setup, and I'm re-including about the same amount on the P4 setup which each consecutive roundup

Thank you jmke ;) I guess my asking was not enough :D

Now seriously, I love this review, it provides an in depth look at almost all (if not all) of the noteworthy cpu coolers of the last 2 years. There's always something to critisize of course, but I haven't seen many comprehensive tables around the web that even come close. Great work John :ws:

:no: I respect madshrimps and have viewed the reviews with awe for years - especially impressed by the very crisp photo's.

BUT ... this review is junk. To use the cheapest possible Intel all-aluminium heatsink on a 20% overclocked "hot running 524" then complain that the stock heatsink/fan is "ear deafening" is complete rubbish.

The stock Intel heatsink used in this review is only good for a stock CPU with a TDP of 69.7W.

The 524 has a TDP of 84W. Overclocking that by 20% ... what do you expect this Intel too-low-a-spec fan to do?

I have tested well over 200 stock Intel HSFs (all kinds, all vintages) and can confirm they are NOT "ear deafening" when used properly. My Abit IC7-MAX3 runs (UNDERCLOCKED to 2.4mhz) a 2.8c 30-capper at 41C light use @ 21c ambient using a stock Intel Extreme Edition HSF running at 1,259rpm via BIOS and only ever goes to STOCK speed at prolonged periods of 100% load. I am very happy with that. I've also tested E43xx & E63xx CPU's with matched HSf's and can confirm that those COPPER CORE HSFs are even more impressive (but NOT backward compatible with Pentium D etc CPUs - see Intel's Shop for confirmation).

If a properly matched stock Intel Pentium 4 COPPER CORE HSF had been used to measure an oveclocked Intel CPU I'd have been more impressed with this review.

F-

Sorry guys!

Cheers, Ray
1st post - so be gentle!

The stock Intel heatsink used in this review is only good for a stock CPU with a TDP of 69.7W.

The 524 has a TDP of 84W. Overclocking that by 20% ... what do you expect this Intel too-low-a-spec fan to do?




This cooler was provided with this CPU by intel...