Originally posted by Sophocles:

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Is it just me or does this seem like an awful lot of discussion involving a $60 heat sink and fan? The differences between the noisiest ones and the quiet ones are not as great as one might think, and in different systems the sound levels scale differently. The CNPS 9500 and 9700 are very decent air coolers whatever some might think of them.

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How powerful the coolers are has nothing to do with it, the CNPS9500 and CNPS9700 are noisy at full speed, no way around it.

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CONCLUSIONS

Zalman is usually on the forefront of innovative cooling designs. The earlier 9500 heatsink fan was a very nice design. The 9700 is more of the same, but without any compelling advantages that we could measure or hear. The bigger fan and larger cooling surface area may result in some cooling advantage with a super hot processor, but currently such hot processors are no longer common, and many more run much cooler.

The 9700 does have very good cooling performance, but the stock fan doesn't do it justice. It's a lousy fan, about the worst integrated one we've seen from Zalman. It's the nadir of the trend that began with the first fans Zalman offered some half dozen years ago. It's a mystery. There seems some kind of internal disconnect within the firm. How does a company born on the concept of quiet cooling, a company that even uses the slogan Computer Noise Prevention System as part of its model numbering (CNPS), continue to put the most mediocre, bad-sounding fans on its heatsinks? Don't they listen?!

Having said that, is it possible that the acoustic performance of this fan is due to some damage done in transit? Yes, it's possible, anything is possible, but it seems unlikely. We'd need to hear and examine at least a couple other samples to be sure. Zalman may wish never to speak to us again, though.

There are still many good things to say about the 9700, however: As already mentioned, the basic design is clever and aesthetically pleasing. More importantly, the positive, no-guessing mounting system is excellent, just as it was with the 9500. With a quick read of the instructions and a screwdriver, the heatsink is installed within a matter of minutes, no cursing required. This type of positive, secure HS installation system is definitely something we'd like to see more of. (Of course, if you have to pull your entire system apart to get the motherboard out of the case in order to mount the heatsink, you won't be quite as delighted.)

If silence is what you seek, the CNPS9700 isn't for you. On the other hand, if you aren't bothered by the noise, the CNPS9700 will do a fine job of keeping your system running cool.

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Originally posted by abuzar1:

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Sam has a Thermalright Ultra 120A Cooler w/ Nexus Realsilent 120mm fan .

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Originally posted by sammorris:

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Your mum's PC has an 8800GTX?




The CNPS7700 actually only ended up at 38dB full speed, so it's quieter than the 9700...

Using my ears as a rough guide, I would put the CNPS7000 at 38dB too. SPCR didn't bench this cooler for noise accurately as it's so old, but since it uses a 92mm fan like the 9500 at 2700rpm (marginally higher) in a similar environment, I figure an extra dB sounds about right.



im, I use a Thermalright Ultra-120A with a Nexus 120mm fan, which on the SPCR scale comes in at 22dB. Using a low speed fan like this, its cooling performance is similar to the CNPS9700 at full speed, but obviously without the racket...

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Originally posted by Sophocles:

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Is it just me or does this seem like an awful lot of discussion involving a $60 heat sink and fan? The differences between the noisiest ones and the quiet ones are not as great as one might think, and in different systems the sound levels scale differently. The CNPS 9500 and 9700 are very decent air coolers whatever some might think of them.

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Originally posted by ddp:

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admin must be on holidays without telling us as creaky pm'ed them this afternoon with still same problem going on now. if building thread is re-opened, are you all going to be good little boys or do we have to temp ban or worse the individual(s) who is causing problems?

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Originally posted by ddp:

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your guess is as good as mine. i don't know.

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Originally posted by ddp:

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if building thread is re-opened, are you all going to be good little boys or do we have to temp ban or worse the individual(s) who is causing problems?

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Tomshardware used the CNPS 9500 and CNPS 9700 for years as their reference for a reason.

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Originally posted by ddp:

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does everybody else agree to the terms. is 10:33pm est.

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Originally posted by theonejrs:

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im1992,

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Tomshardware used the CNPS 9500 and CNPS 9700 for years as their reference for a reason.

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Are you also aware that their tests until just recently were all run open breadboard style in a 55F/13C room? I've seen the pictures! Both the temp and their setups! Since those kind of temperatures don't exist in the real world it kind of slants the results a bit, don't you think? Also some testers have taken to testing with thermal devices instead of real CPUs!

I've noticed that some coolers do a better job when the temperature gets higher in a room, some work better at lower temps. The 9500 seems to be that way as it and the AF7-Pro are fairly even when the temps are below 80F, but at 85F the Zalman runs about 4-5C hotter than the AF7-Pro. I'm not sure why, but I think it may have to do with the 9500 being all copper! My guess is that some of the air's heat passing through the case gets absorbed by all that copper, while the aluminum fins on the Arctic doesn't absorb as much so it stays cooler. BTW, I'm not implying that the Arctic is the better cooler, I'm just saying that in the rigs I tested them in, overall the AF7-Pro was the better choice for me! There's so many differences in cases, ventilation, CPUs, memory and video card choice that it's impossible to say. A good examole is The "OxyMoron", my pumped up eMachine with an AMD 64x2 4800+ and 2GB of memory in it, runs 2C above ambient with a Freezer 64 and a single 92mm rear fan! and this is a small mid sized case, not a mini! That tells me that the case has very good airflow characteristics. Just another variable in the hunt for good cooling! LOL!! It's like a battle you're never quite sure that you've won! LOL!!

Russ

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