Zalman 9700

I have had a 864gram Hyper 48 on my Asus P5GD1 for 2 years. It's not broken the board so far.

Instalation invovled a brace on the underside of the M/B.

If you're not moving your system around it shouldn't be a problem. But if you're the type of guy to do a lot of lanparty, I'd be cautious. When putting down the system, the weight of the fan is multiply by a lot if you let it go too fast. That's when it might break your mobo if unlucky.

Think of it as pushing a wall with your hand compare to punching it. Second one might very well break it, but pushing wouldn't be a problem unless you're very heavy .

Like EricT said, if moving it, put it on the side and back on the ground very carefully. You shouldn't have a problem if you do that.

yes, its is heavy, but not as mouch as you think. just dont go kicking/bumping the ase a lot, or using it for lan parties. As it has a backplate, that helps distribute the weight very well

it would also be perfectly fine if this was a desktop chassis/ht that lay horizontally

If you have a dremel and aren't afraid to use it then basically any mobo will work. That compatibility list just means that the backplate will fit over all the circuitry on the backside of the mobo in the area of the socket without touching anything but the plate can be fixed to work with any mobo. But really if I were you I'd save some money and get a Tuniq Tower 120. Works better for less, if you can't find that then a Scythe Infinity will work almost as good. Don't get me wrong, the Zalman is a good cooler, it's just way too overpriced.

Tuniq Tower 120>anything overpriced and overhyped Zalman.

The only place I've come across one is at overclockers.co.uk

I got mine from NewEgg for $59, fairly comparable to the other ones I was looking at.

Is it really far from the best? The reviews I've read placed it among the best 2 or 3, if not the best. Not to get too far off topic, but your opinion diverges from the majority, and I'm interested to know your thinking and/or experience behind it.

It's performance is decent, but it is usually priced way too high for what you get. The popular Scythes/Thermaltakes/Tuniqs/Thermalrights perform better at either the same cost or for less money. You can buy the original Scythe Ninja on Newegg right now for about $40 and it's performance is far above that of the Zalman 9700.

Don't get me wrong. Zalman makes a quality product. They just price them too high. The 9700 is worth $40-$50. Not the $60-$70 it's going for on Newegg. The 9500 was subject to the same problem. It was sold for about $55 and was bested by the Arctic Cooling Freezer series which could be had for less than $30.

Hi Guys

Once again thanks for the good advice. I will try and track down the Tuniq and Scythe products in Australia. I was also looking at a Thermaltake Big Typhoon or a Coolmaster Eclipse.

far from best?

#2

http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

the only place that actually has reviewed them all using the same method of testing is frostly tech. sort of like tom's interactive charts, just less interactive.

http://www.frostytech.com/articlev [...] 045&page=4

#2 again against just about all of the heatsink/fans that have been released in the fast few years.

and what do you refer to as better? cools better, or is quieter? [/list]

Bah, and I will say it again, BAH! 8O , that is a very unfair chart, as it only shows sh$t coolers and does not show a single scythe cooler, or a sunbeam cooler, or more than one thermalright cooler, or a bunch of other amazing coolers I could name that are better than the 9700 for less

This is exactly what I'm talking about. Zalman knows people will go after the lights instead of performance and puts a price tag on it. I can tell you from experiance how bad the zalman's are at cooling compared to others.

My amd 4000 idles at 40* and goes up to 53* on full load and that really scares me and that's with a 9500. Another guy with a 9700 could only get up to 3.4ghz stable on his 6400 with passable temps, while people with the tuniq tower can hit 3.6 safely with the same cpu. I have had a lot experience with these types of things, and I can try to help, but if you don't want to listen, that's your less

That chart is only taking temperature into consideration and not price. That list would look very different if cost was taken into consideration. An item's price/performance ratio is the best way to determine it's value.

There are several Scythes on the list. Unfortunately they are either very old or at the bottom of Scythe product line. Nearly the same case for Thermalright. Keeping the Ninja, Infinity, Mine, or Big Typhoon off of that list is a dis-service to hardware enthusiasts.

If looks mean that much to you, then by all means factor that into your buying decision as it's your money. Most overclocking enthusiasts do not give a damn about what it looks like.

BTW. Take a look at the only advertisement on FrostyTech's website.

Well thanks everyone for your advice.

Seems like I have nothing to worry about, but I will be strongly considering the Tuniq Tower 120 instead now

You should definitely consider the tuniq, as anoobis knows far more than I do (I have only talked to him a few times, and played halo against him once, but I am pretty sure he is DaClan and you have to be pretty knowledgable to get in) and since he agrees, I don't see reason for the 9700

Exactly my other point. Zalman knows people like you will go after looks over performance, and knows they can over price their stuff. I don't know what your tech level is, but its mainly only the noobs that go after the products like that that only look good and under perform their price level (kinda like comparing building a computer, and buying a simular model from dell [we're talking extreme build-not the cheap ones], you will end up paying an extra 500 just to use a dell case, I have checked because I have some rich friends that wanted to buy a custom xps, and I built a better computer for them for less.) Its all in the image when it comes to marketing, especially computer companies because they know how much money noobs waste on their stuff. While when having performance, looks don'tt matter, its about the price and what the price offers

Ok, just to clarify, I didnt say that I would go after looks over performance, I'm actually about to order a Tuniq Tower 120, I just think the 9700 looks far cooler, than my block-of-flats-a-like. I think your missing the point though somewhat. The Zalman maybe a little more than the others, but there is no denying it, the 9700 is a very capable CPU cooler. If I worked for Zalman and was giving the task of designing a cooler, I would choose function over design every time, no doubt, but if I could make it look freakin awesome, as well as making it do its job well then I would jump at the chance. If people want to pay a little more for a product that looks cool as well then why not?

There is no doubt about it, aesthetics is becoming more and more important in the computer world, I bet 10 years ago nearly all of the people who have posted in this thread owned a computer that was an unattractive beige box, in many ways Zalman have are actually ahead of the game, making a product that performs well and looks awesome, for that I cant blame them for charging a little more, if people want the looks they have the option of paying for them.

Finally: you have to remember, as with everything, people want their computers to impress others, you only have to look at the amount of praise
tool 462 got for his amazing homebuilt wooden case (http://forumz.tomshardware.com/har [...] 17098.html), and the amount of people who have their "e-penis" in their sig. Getting 10k in 3D Mark 06 will impress those on Tomshardware forum and other techheads but when it comes to having your real life mates around will they be more impressed by your 3d mark score or your UV lit water cooling system and 22 inch W.S monitor?

I dont believe that because I am willing to sacrifice a couple of extra MHZ overclock to make my system look like it was built by the gods it makes me look like anything like a "noob" (and lets face it, its not as if the difference between the Zalman and say, the Tuniq is going to increase my real world FPS by a massive amount) . Your right in what you say though, the 9700 is likely to attract those who dont know as much about what they are buying, but at the same time it does a very good job, and therefore, I cant find a way to criticise Zalman for it, as there is no 'con' involved.

Ummm, sorry Tacos, but I've never played Halo before in my life. As far as DaClan, I visit Ninja's blog every now and then, but I don't think they consider me a member. I did however belong to a CS:S clan. One of the members used the very same avatar you have in our forum for the clan.

I'm simply following wusy's guidelines which is basically getting the best performance for your dollar, regardless of the brand. Aesthetics don't always adhere to that line of thinking. There have been times when I've seen Newegg run specials on the 9700 to where I would easily consider it if I was looking for a new cooler. Unfortunately it just isn't the norm. The 9500 however would seriously need to drop around $30 to even be considered as the Arctic Cooling Freezer series beats it on cost and performance. I was considerably upset when Scythe released the Ninja Plus Rev. B with the AM2 bracket. It was the same cooler as the original Ninja, they just added the AM2 bracket and jacked up the initial release price quite a bit. Luckily they brought it down and you can get it for about $45 these days.

Props out to you parge. I missed tool_462's post on the finished case. I was going to PM him about it. Thanks for the link. That thing looks sweet.

Seconded right there. I had to settle with a Zalman because the Tuniq and Scythe models didn't fit inside.

Oh, well I have played some one named anoobis a few times in halo

And I will agree that the 9700 is a good cooler to all that are flaming on me, all I'm saying is that there are better coolers for less. And only newegg right now has that rebate on it because they couldn't sell it much at first with the $80 price tag you'll see everywhere else. And 37 idle isn't that great to the person who has his 6600 at 2.8, I've seen better with many coolers. Don't try to get me wrong everybody, I;m not saying they are horrible coolers, just overpriced for the performance they offer (my 9500 gets beaten all the time by people with cases that have less airflow and an arctic cooling freezer 64 which pisses me off and that's why I don't trust zalman that much anymore, also look at some reviews that compare zalman coolers to much bigger coolers at the same price with big fans on them, they perform far better. I love how my zalman looks, just not its performance).

Anything else I'm being yelled at for right now?

here's a forum that discusses it and everyone agrees the zalman's not worth it compared to the mine, ninja, infinity, si-120, and tuniq tower

the thermaltright 120 an older model nocks a clean 4* off in this review with less dba, and this review doesn't even show the tuniq or any recent scythe's
http://www.frostytech.com/articlev [...] 045&page=4

Im sorry but I pretty much despise Zalman coolers even the 9700, way over priced for the performance.


I dont see why anyone would pick one over a better cooling less expensive Tuniq Tower or Scythe Ninja or Infinity.

The Infinity is about the same price I believe $60 (correct me) and the ninja has already some time in the market. I really dont know about the tuniq tower. I really like the Zalman anyways

I'd like to see the numbers you have to support your claims. This thread absolutely reeks of bias and unsubstantiated claims. Show me the numbers! Tell me what it means quantitatively when you say the 9500 was "bested by a long shot" by the AC64.

Over the last year, I've measured the performance of many of the most highly respected CPU HSFs. I see people ragging on Zalman left and right for being overpriced. I bought three 9500s and paid $41 to $45 shipped for them. I got a 9700 on Newegg for $45 shipped last Thanksgiving. My Tuniq Tower cost $60 shipped. Scythe Mine, Ninja Plus and Infinity were all over $60 shipped. I have gotten great deals on Arctic Cooling HSFs but they have not performed as well as even the 9500. The single best synthetic cooling test results I've gotten were from a Thermalright Ultra 120. This is using a precision regulated heater pumping a large insulated copper block that has a contact surface the size of a typical CPU. On actual running CPUs, the 9700, Tuniq and Ultra 120 have all performed within a degree or two of each other at load. I've used single core Opterons, dual core Opterons, a 4400+ and a P4 as testbeds, run stock and overclocked to different levels.

I know that many people love the Scythe HSFs but my results have not been as good as for the Tuniq, 9700 and Ultra 120. I simply cannot get the Mine and Infinity to measure up even to the Ninjs Plus and the NPlus is a couple or three degrees hotter at load than the 9700, Tuniq and Ultra.

I've found that you need to be careful mounting the really big HSFs like the Tuniq. This sucker is tall and heavy, so in a typical upright mobo case, it puts a big load on the mobo. Not only is the Tuniq over 100 grams heavier than the 9700, it's also more than a cm taller than the 9700 and has much more of its mass up high, so it puts way more torque on the mobo socket. So I have seen a Tuniq lose its contact quality over time in a synthetic low level vibration test. Anyway, there's alot to consider when buying a HSF and look around for the best price. In particular, Newegg has some great sales from time to time. Right now, they have the 9700 at $60 so it certainly is price competitive with the Tuniq and Ultra and takes up way less space than the Tuniq. If I had to choose just one and assuming all of the best cost $60, I'd go with the Thermalright.

Sorry Clue69Less, but one only has to Google Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro for a plethora of reviews that will back up anything I've said in this post regarding the 9500 and AC Freezer Series. I'm sorry if your results weren't satisfactory.

Right now you can get the Freezer 64 for about $35 shipped, from Newegg. Heatsinkfactory.com sells them for much less than that, when they're in stock. All three Zalman 9500s are running over $50 shipped on Newegg or Heatsinkfactory. At the very least, most reviews put the Freezer 64 on par with the Zalman 9500 when you compare results, so it comes down to price which makes the Freezers the clear leader. You got good pricing on those 9500s you bought, but like I noted earlier it isn't the norm. However, at the prices you noted the Zalman is a viable alternative.

I don't doubt the performance of the 9500s. They are simply priced too high against comparable products.