Last message on previous page:
I'm sure you do, my first pc was a pentium 2 450mhz which i never seen inside the case! I kept it 6 months and the taken my first good pc a P4 2.0 Ghz! Damn i remember my radeon 9700 rocking that days! 8)

Actually, the 120 is my favorite. All of the top HSFs are pretty close in performance so it gets down to things like build quality, aesthetics, cost, weight, flexibility, etc. The 9700 is super quality but the Ultra is even a higher quality finish. The finish on the Tunic's base plate was lousy and unfortunately, lapping it didn't help much in terms of cooling. The thing that tips it for me is the super deal you can get on the 120 right now and the fact that it's not such a tight fit as the Tuniq. My only real beef with the 9700 is that it doesn't cool so well at low to mid heat loads. Most of a CPU's life - at least the ones I own - is at low to mid loads so that's important to me.

WRT stress on the mobo, t's like the Tuniq is just mass overkill. Tuniq specs it at 798 grams without a fan but mine measures 826 with the fan removed and 982 with the fan. The 9700 is speced at 764g (fan included) and mine measures 771. The Ultra 120 is speced at 745G without a fan and mine measured 751. If you put an average fan on the Ultra, it still is in the 900g range, so it is heavy but still lighter than the Tuniq. All these details are just things I think about in the decision. Your priorities may differ. The easy choice really is the 9700 because it's pretty well rounded in its performance, quality, weight, etc.

Well i pretty much open my pc for games so heavy load is a priority. I need to know if the 120 is all copper or aluminum. Also do you believe it can use 2 fans like the scythe ones? I think that if that is the case the 120 will kill 9700 and maybe infinity. What do you think?

That's pretty funny. Actually, they are down in the basement. I'm hoping they will learn to breed and raise a true winner. When I finally get done with this project, I'll be flooding ebay with a bunch of HSFs. By then, new stuff will be available and all my results will be even more meaningless.

Mine is mounted and I'm not going to pull it off right now to look but my memory is that when I lapped the Ni plating off the base, I hit copper. I've read that the heat pipes are also Cu. If the Ultra was all Al, then I'd be even more amazed at its performance. If you've got room, another fan would probably help a degree or so. Look around - I know there are thin 92mm fans and I seem to remember seeing a thin (15 or 20mm) 120 a while back. You could go with a 120 on one side and a 92 on the other.

Good i'll check it out. Did the lapping helped in ultra and you did it at 800 or 1000?

I own two of these,They are both installed on two eVGA 122-CK-NF68 boards.Ones is on a X6800 and the other is on a E 6700. I have never had anty problems with either of them.Bare in mind that they do not tighten to the point that they can not move, but they do a really good job at cooling.My x6800 is OCed to 3.46 and my temps are at 38c idle,and 44c under load.My E6700 is OCed to 2.93.My temps on that are 34c idle and between 38c-40c under full load. I'm also using Artic Sliver 5. If you have the cash to spend,then by all means buy one.If you plan to really OC to the limits,then i would say go with a CoolIt Eliminator Its a seaded liquid cooling setup,and it also uses 3 TEC units idle temp 20c full load 34c.Its big brother FreeZone uses 7 TEC units but idle temps are in the high teens,and under full load the high 20s. The Zalman 9700 is a great choice. but in the end the choice is yours to make.

If it helped, it was just a degree C max, so right down in the measurement noise. I was just taking the plating off, so I started with 800 grit then worked down to 4000 grit (FEPA) and finished with 10 seconds on colloidal silica. I'm still not convinced that going beyond 1200 FEPA gets you much but it sure looks pretty.

What is your VCore on these two OC's? What are you using to get your full load?

Both 9700 led and Scythe infinity are at 55 euros here. The ultra 120 is 57 euros without a fan. I can't shop online and that's the best i can find. I've read a review where ultra beat a Ninja. The rev said that as the airflow increased the ultra would get even stronger. Problem is that that's the main diff between Ninja and Infinity, Infinity will shine in high airflow conditions. You said it was in par with ninja for about 1 c. Is this in high speed or low speed-airflow. If it was in good airflow we can assume that if ultra> ninja=infinity then ultra>Infinity. I just try to make it between 9700 and one of the above so that its easier to select one.

Good cooler it is, but apparently you fail at reading comprehension. It has bad price/performance.

Not sure if this link was posted, too many pages to read:
Review
You have both Scythe Ninja and Zalman 9700 there. Review includes both noise and heat measurements.
IMO, Zalman has the best of both worlds. The only thing I don't like is the weight. 9500 is acceptable but 9700 is just too much for me.
Anyway, 9500 in my rig spinning at mere 1300RPM keeps E6300 @ 2.8GHz under 63°C under heavy load (heavy load being for example OCCT 1.0.2a for 30 minutes). In idle it is max 45°C and I don't hear it at all which is the most important thing.
As for mainboard compatibility, you usually don't have problems with clearance (except perhaps with StackCool 2 equipped boards) but 9500 backplate doesn't fit on Bad Axe without some plastic being cut out.

Yes, 9700 is a special cooler, the question is the ultra 120 and infinity. They are both able to use two fans so they're probably cooler.

Sure, I follow madshrimps often and read that review long ago. But the 9700 isn't in that comparison. I've been spending tons of time comparing the Ninja, Mine, Ultra 120, 9500, 9700, Tuniq, etc. , etc. and as I mentioned earlier in this thread, the 9700 is a strong contender compared to the best. I wouldn't recommend it for a low TDP processor at stock clock because there are quieter options that cool better at low heat load. But if you run a high VCore on a dual or quad, the 9700 comes into it own. And lest you think I drool over the Zalman, I'll remind you that the Ultra 120 is my current favorite among commercial HSFs.
Cool. I just wanted to make sure you knew about MadShrimps because it's the best site for cooler reviews IMO (pretty much the only site that does extensive roundups). I wasn't dissing your knowledge or anything.

But, yeah, I think the 9700 and 9500 have a bad reputation around here because people go crazy over them when they are more expensive and don't perform quite as well as some other coolers. I have nothing against Zalman either (I own a VF900 and it's great). But, they do tend to gouge you a bit on the price. That would be OK if they smoked the competition and they were the best coolers around, but this is not the case usually.