Zalman CPU coolers?? Anyone have one?

[mrfin]

I have read many reviews on Zalman CPU coolers that don't have fans attached to the heatsink, but rather rely on the airflow within your case. Does anyone here use one? And how good do they cool?

[mr.intel4_rules]

i heard they suck, DAns data overclcoked his athlon ( i forgot how much,and he got a temp of 72 C,while voc 7+ got 43. If u want a quiet ,averge cooler,then get the zalman cooler

[Darthtanion]

All of the Zalman CPU coolers that I have tested to date have been very poor for actual cooling. And if you have plans of overclocking even a little bit, then stay far away.

Their new VGA coolers, however, have so far been rather impressive. :)

[mrfin]

Originally Posted by Darthtanion

Their new VGA coolers, however, have so far been rather impressive. :)

Are you talking about the massive VGA cooler with the heat pipe? I have a Thermaltake G4 copper VGA hsf and in my system and it doesn't cool as well as other people have stated.

[revenant]

While I am not a big fan of the Zalman, they have to be doing something right for ocsystem to be putting them on their custom Level III 9700 Pro 415core/730mem. The thing is friggin HUGE, but I hear it does work, well! Check it: http://www.ocsystem.com/ocenrad97pro1.html It would also be good, that is, if you do get it, that you do have good air flow through your case. They recommend a side panel fan blowing on that overclocked monster, but I suppose if you don't OC quite that much, you'd be ok with no fan.

[The__tweaker]

yep, zalman is great on the VGA side, but not so impressive on the cpu side. :2cents:

:cheers:

[Tomac]

I no longer o/c like I used to (getting old, I guess) and currently use the Zalman HP-80A to passively cool my Radeon 9700, their passive heatsink to replace the Northbridge fan on my mobo and their 5100-cu hs/fan on my XP2700. All are working very well for what I want/need: reduced noise. If you want to o/c then look elsewhere but if you want good cooling w/reduced noise then Zalman's got some good products. HTH...
Tomac

[SmokeyTheBalrog]

Haven't the Zalman CPU coolers been out for a few years now. So aren't they a little long in the tooth.

I think they were great when they came out, but now there are others which do the job better.

Zalman needs to refresh it's CPU coolers. Maybe add some heat pipes to it. :D

[Darthtanion]

Actually, none of the Zalman line worked very well for the overclocker. Sure, if you're just gonna crunch a few numbers and write the ocassional Word document, then they work well enough to get you by, but for the enthusiast they suck.

Just my :2cents: worth.