For those interested in this cooler, and further to my previous post at http://www.cdrom-guide.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=60568

PC setup: AMD 1.4T-Bird, Abit KT7a-raid mobo, 512Mb SDRam, Hercules Radeon AIW 7500, SBLive, 2x 40gb drives, 1x 8.4Gb, CDreader & CDRW.

After thinking about why it hadn't worked (and after bein told by Overclockers UK that I couldn't return it! gits!) I realised that the fan must have been the problem, as I also tried using my Thermoengine heatsink with it's fan removed and the Zalman fan on a bracket over it, but that also resulted in immediate shut down. After no help from Overclockers, I referred back to the instruction booklet, which mentioned that some mobo's do not boot unless the CPU fan rpm is above a minimum amount, and says to refer to the mobo manufacturers web site. I hooked out the Abit mobo manual, but couldn't find a setting in there. As the fan rpm appeared to be the cause, I plugged in my ThermoEngine and fan, but with it sitting outside the PC, and the Zalman fitted being cooled by it's fan. It booted up straight away, so I went into the BIOS and in the PC Health settings and found a setting for 'shut down if rpm below...... enabled'. I disabled this and it all works fine......wey hey.....!

:cool:

I have been running it so around half an hour now. I am keeping a record of it's temperatures (I also use VCool, which seems to reduce the temperature quite a lot on low cpu usage). I am using it on the lowest rpm, and it is keeping it to around the same temperature as my ThermoEngine. This is very good, as it also considerably quieter (by no means silent though!) I intend cranking the rpm up gradually to compare temps and results, which will also obviously increase the noise.

I also have bought some Akasa accoustic mats to try to damped the sound (also mentioned in my previous post), but want to get a new case, so will wait until I get that to fit the mats. Apparently the alluminium cases keep the general temperature down as well, which will be nice bonus if it's correct.....!

After my previous message, I thought I should give this update, so as not to put anyone off the Zalman! Now I've got it working, I am very pleased with it.

If anyone is interested in what difference the accoustic mats make (they're only a tenner for enough (I hope!) to fit around the case insides), let me know and I'll post again here as soon as it's done.

I am determined to get a quiet pc......!

Have you fitted the accoustic mats yet then?

I was thinking of getting a spec similar to yours but with a Chieftec case. Did you have any problems with the size of the zalman, hitting anything inside the case?

Matt, what temp you getting on the TB-1.4 ?

There's a great pic btw of a guy who has installed his mobo inside a small freezer in the latest copy of PC Answers, LOL.

Maybe that's the perfect answer to our cooling problems?

Glad you sorted it Matt. :)

I'm also interested in what TheCaptain2k1 asked, does it hit anything inside? Because that's one monster sized contraption.

Haven't fitted the mats yet, as I've not yet got the new case, but will v soon.

I use it with VCool to check the temperature. It's usually at around 43-45 degrees on average with normal use when it's been running all evening, going up slightly when capturing with my AIW card. It goes up to around 52-54 when ripping cd's and reencoding mpeg files. It also obviously varies on the room temperature - when the heatings off and it's cold in here, it'll sit as low as 38 degrees on normal use.

I'm also hoping it'll come down more when I get a new, slightly larger alunimium case (the current one is a bog standard one).

I'm also not using the exhaust fan now; I was with my previous heatsink.

The Zalman had no probs fitting into the space over the cpu; it's well designed in that respect too.

Don't know about it being the perfect answer, but it's very good, and much cheaper that water cooling!

I'll post more info when I've got the new case, mats fitted, etc (hopefully soon - it's been delayed due to getting a widescreen telly and surround system taking over in the priority list! ;) )

How loud is it now then? Anywhere near the noise a laptop makes? All I want is my desktop to be as quiet at my laptop. Have you got a decent power supply in their too?

Lazza, 2 years ago, PCW ran a review on the world's first 1GHz Athlon PC, its a 750 O/C to 1 GHz , and it ran..at most of times around 0'C , yes , zero degree Cel.

Then the reviewer complaint about the noise this machine sound like a fridge, but looking inside, he sure did find a mini fridge sitting over the CPU :)

I also read somewhere online last year, some guys are using liquid hydrogen to cool their CPU, and you can see ice forming on the CPU while its running at breakneck speed, as well as ice and frost around the area near the CPU. Would be nice to have one of these in the summer, just pop your beer on top of the cooler, and in a few seconds, ice cold beer.
Shsshhhh, dun tell Homer, or he may quit his highly paid job and start building computers.

You shouldn't cool your pc to less that about 5C in air as condensation will form & cause shorting & corrosion.

Best one I saw was where the m/b was removed from the case & put in a container of mineral oil which was circulated through a heat exchanger.

Good idea duffy!:laugh: Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm BEER! :beer: :beer: :beer:

Looks like they have both those systems in this months PC Answers, the mineral oil one is in there too.

Well I've been running two high spec PC's today both with their case panels off and it's like a greenhouse in my office! I've got a lot of cooling on them but it of course is just blowing all the heat into the room. :(

Maybe the fridge idea is not so daft after all. :D

I am after one of these Flower fans but from what ive heard i don't think i wanna go for it now. My pc is very noisy its like a hair dryer but not as loud lol. Ive heard of a water cooling sytem which u can buy that basicly cools the whole sytem and cpu by condensed air. I once opened up my dreamcast and found a water cooler in there. That liquid hydregen would be a brilliant idea because you could run the cpu at a extremely fast speed and theres no chance it would overheat.

What have you heard about them Phil?

Liquid cooling will be pretty expensive.....