Roundup of Noiseless Coolers for SocketA. `2002 Q2
Tests
Before testing the coolers I compiled all their specifications into a table (the higher the score, the better).
| Name |
Ease of installation |
Ease of removal |
Noise in the quiet mode |
Noise in the normal mode |
Price ($USA): |
| Thermaltake Volcano 7 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
~$18 |
|
| Asus FSCUG9C-6FC |
9,5 |
9 |
8 |
7 |
~$16 |
|
| Zalman CNPS3000 Plus |
9 |
9 |
9 |
8,5 |
~$25 |
|
| Fanner 5F263 WhisperRock II |
6 |
5 |
7 |
7* |
N/A |
|
* The fan speed in the cooler Fanner 5F263 WhisperRock II does not varies with temperature.
For the tests we picked up Athlon XP 1600+ which is standard for today (the maximum power consumption is 63 watts). Let's see how these coolers cope with such load.
The best at cooling was Thermaltake Volcano 7+ was, while Asus FSCUG9C-6FC the worst. But in terms of noise levels, Zalman CNPS3000 with the fan running in the Silent mode was the winner. Also note the excellent performance shown by the hybrid 'Volcano 7 + Zalman ZM-F1'. Despite that only finished products are allowed in the tests, that one was admitted 'hors concourse'.
Let's see how these coolers cope with a much hotter processor. For that, we did some tests with Athlon XP 2100+ (the same as Athlon XP 1600+, but for the bus speed set to 166Mhz and Vcore =1.85V) . I can't tell precisely the maximum power consumption, but it is approximately 75-80 watts.
the zero value means no tests were done.
Not all coolers were able to withstand increased heat emission. Those which "survived" did not provide for the proper cooling - the processor temperature is balancing at the very dangerous edge (however, you don't have to worry about that - the processor will hang rather than burn).
You may ask "Aren't there more efficient quiet coolers?" Of course, there are, and we will cover them in the addendum to the review.
Conclusions
Here are the findings.
Thermaltake Volcano 7
Owing to its cooling quality, this cooler is probably the best. It did a great job cooling Athlon both at its normal and overclocked speeds. In terms of the noise level, it lost much to the competitors. Frankly, I don't quite understand how this cooler fell within the "quiet" category. The only thing we could recommend to reduce the noise is to replace the fan, which is very easy.
Asus FSCUG9C-6FC
Despite its small dimensions, FSCUG9C-6FC made a good showing. It succeeded in cooling Athlon XP 1600+ to acceptable temperatures and preserved its quiet operation. But wasn't able to cope with the overclocked Athlon.
Zalman CNPS3000 Plus
This cooler is a potential winner - its massive copper radiator of huge surface area instantly pumps out heat from the processor. The only flaw is the price. Another flaw - you can't change the fan speed on the run. Unfortunately, not every computer can accept this cooler.
It's a pity I couldn't test the aluminum-copper Zalman CNPS3000 which in its qualities slightly lags behind its full-copper brother (the temperature difference may be within 3-7 C), but its price is practically equal to that of Volcano 7 and Asus FSCUG9C-6FC.
Fanner 5F263 WhisperRock II
Despite the full-aliminum radiator, the cooler did a good job cooling the processor running at its normal clock speeds. The noise level was very low. However, overclocked processors can be efficiently cooled by coolers having radiators fully or partially made of copper. Note that the cooler's fan is in a full-aluminum housing.
Unfortunately, we couldn't find out about the prices for the Fanner 5F263 and whether it would be shipped to Russia.
Addendum
Volcano 7+ (Volcano 9)
The specifications of Volcano 7 turned out to be far from ideal, so Thermaltake produces them in the following modifications:
1) Volcano 7+ with a full-copper base.
2) Silent Volcano 9 with improved noise characteristics.
Besides that, we noticed one more fixed flaw. The fastening system has been essentially improved (the clip now hooks up to 3 teeth of the socket). And finally, the manual control of the speed is enabled. A potential hit of the season, isn't it?
Zalman CNPS6000-Cu
Zalman engineers haven't been idle all this time. Recently, a new cooler CNPS6000 appeared on retail shelves and it is produced in three modifications: aluminum-copper, full copper and gold-plated copper :). The major difference from CNPS3000 is in the different shape of the plates - they are now made bigger and their number has gone up. This resulted in the increased mass of the cooler which reached 462 g.
But the fastening is still made of a clip that hooks up to one tooth of the socket. The problem of fastening reliability appeared to be so serious that Zalman's website addressed users with the urgent request not to move the PCs around.The cooler is shipped with a block for manually changing the speed - isn't that a new interesting trend coming up?
Of course, there are various coolers that stand out with low noise levels. But they haven't yet reached Russia. As soon as new models come up, we'll willingly test them.
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