The Zalman Twins: 9500 & 9700 Air Tunnels
by Wesley Fink on February 19, 2007 12:40 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Overclocking
As cooling solutions do a better job of keeping the CPU at a lower temperature, then it is reasonable to expect the overclocking capabilities of the CPU will increase. In each test of a cooler we measure the highest stable overclock of a standard X6800 processor under the following conditions:CPU Multiplier: 14x (Stock 11x)
CPU voltage: 1.5875V
FSB Voltage: 1.30V
Memory Voltage: 2.20V
nForce SPP Voltage: 1.5V
nForce MCP Voltage: 1.7V
HT nForce SPP <-> MCP: Auto
Memory is set to Auto timings on the 680i and memory speed is linked to the FSB for the overclocking tests. This removes memory as any kind of impediment to the maximum stable overclock. Linked settings on the 680i are a 1066FSB to a DDR2 memory speed of DDR2-800. As FSB is raised the linked memory speed increases in proportion. The same processor is used in all cooling tests to ensure comparable results.
The Zalman 9500 reached just 3.812 GHz, which is middle of the pack and competitive with the much cheaper Thermalright MST-6775 and the Scythe Katana. The 9700 did a little better at 3.83 GHz. If you are just looking for bragging rights, then the 9700 booted fine at 3.90GHz, but unfortunately the system crashed whenever we tried to run any demanding tasks like gaming at any speeds above 3.83 GHz.
The overclocking performance of both Zalman coolers was disappointing. At $60 to $75 these are the two highest priced air coolers we have tested. You expect great performance if you pay more, but neither Zalman could deliver that kind of overclocking performance. Both the 9500 and 9700 were average in overclocking at best among the coolers we have tested. We can get average overclocking performance form coolers that cost just $25. Neither Zalman could justify their high prices based on overclocking performance, even though we tested both in overclocking at the highest fan speeds they could achieve, which also made them quite noisy.
The Tuniq Tower 120 is still the fastest air CPU cooler we have tested so far, with the TEC/air hybrid Monsoon II at the top of all overclocking charts with this CPU at 3.96 GHz. The Zalman 9500 and 9700 did not outperform the Tuniq, or even the Cooler Master Hyper 6+. Overclocking was in the ball park with the Thermalright and Scythe which are much lower cost and much lighter CPU coolers aimed at the heatpipe tower mainstream.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
50 Comments
View All Comments
Scorpion - Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - link
Page 5 states:So for 30 minutes, you capture 450 data points. It's expected that the data will ramp up over the 30 minute interval and reach an approximately linear stability region towards the end.
I have a problem with your measurement evaluation and findings. I do not think this is a very conclusive or accurate measurement and evaluation criteria. This information could be useful, yes, but only as an additional evaluation criteria.
All tests need a good, quantifiable evaluation metric. The "goodness" of a test is only as good as that metric. And I conclude that what you've chosen is a poor metric. Your posterior evaluation is highly influenced by noise. The maximum could be the result of a large noise addition to the measurement.
A better choice would have been to analyze the data results from all the tests to determine a stability region in the latter part of the data measurements, for all tests. Treat the data in that region as a random variable and take the expectation over that region. That would give you a much better evaluation criteria. You could also compute the variance of the data in this region to determine how stable the performance is for each cooler. This could also be a useful metric, although I know that this may not mean much to your typical audience. Another interesting metric would be to evaluate the other region in the data, in order to measure how quickly temperature ramps up. Or put into other words, how quickly each fan responds to temperature changes.
I'm saddened to see a good and useful article brought down by it's poor evaluation criteria. It effectively reduces the confidence in your conclusions.
Wesley Fink - Friday, February 23, 2007 - link
We try to answer two questions in our cooling tests. First, most users beef up cooling to improve overclocking. We determine the highests stable overclock using a standard CPU/test bed by finding the overclock the cooler can maintain for 30 minutes of looping a demanding game. The highest OC is a very good measure of the effectivenes of the cooler and is compared to other coolers. We also measue and report the highest temperature in this load condition - and yes it does spike up and level off as you suggest. We haven't seen the huge spikes you might fear are there in our test data. Temps rise quickly and stabilize at the temp we report. This is a good indication of cooler efficiency.Second, some users beef up cooling to reduce noise. We also report the lowest noise measurements for the cooler we are testing.
Your suggestions would provide much useful information, and we may add additional testing in the future. However, for now, we are trying to cut through all the hype surrounding cooler testing and provide as much useful info to our readers as possible in a timely manner. We are comfortable that we answer the two questions above in our cooler reviews, and those are the main questions our readers are always asking us about cooler performance.
cyberkost - Tuesday, February 20, 2007 - link
I did not quite get the methodology of the noise level comparisons...Were the coolers required to provide "same cooling performance" (e.g., same CPU temperature some long time into running some stress test)? It does not seem that they were. I'm worried about Anandtech intending to adapt the noise-comparison technique described in this article. The proper technique (IMHO) would be:
1) install cooler
2) run a stress test
3) dial cooler RPM till a (judiciously) chosen (same for all coolers) CPU temperature is achieved (say 40C) in a stable manner
4) record the noice level and put it on the comparison chart
strikeback03 - Tuesday, February 20, 2007 - link
Reading the respective reviews, it would appear that at stock speeds (and possibly some others) that the Katana, for example, does not get as cool as the Tuniq even when the Katana is at max RPM and the Tuniq at minimum.rjm55 - Tuesday, February 20, 2007 - link
Can you please review the Austrian Noctua NH-U12. I've seen good and bad reviews and I want to see what you find.gloutch - Tuesday, February 20, 2007 - link
The performance of those headpipes coolers is reduced if not properly oriented.SO: What was the position of the Zalmann coolers during the test ????????????????????
Wesley Fink - Tuesday, February 20, 2007 - link
From page 4 - CPU Cooling Test Configuration:"All cooling tests are run with the components mounted in a standard mid-tower case. The idle and stress temperature tests are run with the case closed and standing as it would in most home setups. We do not use auxiliary fans in the test cooling case, except for the north bridge fan attached to the 680i for overclocking."
As an aside we have found the impact of heatpipe cooler orientation to be pretty small - we just don't leave that test criteria to chance. An article on the impact of heatpipe cooler orientation on performance could be interesting.
orion23 - Monday, February 19, 2007 - link
Hi!Thanks for this awesome review. Only 2 top coolers left to review:
Thermalright Ultra 120
Scythe Infinity!
It is great to see Anandtech starting to review other PC components such as CPU Coolers and RAM. Things can be very quiet around here unless a new CPU, GPU or MotherBoard comes along......
Hopefully this is only the beginning of a new Anandtech that will review other important PC components such as the PSU, CPU Coolers, (AIR / Water), Fan Controllers...
It wouldn't hurt to have more stuff to read around here!
DrMrLordX - Tuesday, February 20, 2007 - link
Actually, the SI-128 and Noctua NH-U12F probably deserve a review at some point as well. Maybe even the Scythe Mine? The Mine can supposedly outperform the Ninja when using high-cfm fans, but your guess is as good as mine when it comes to actually mounting a 120mm fan on the Mine that normally takes a 100mm fan.DrMrLordX - Tuesday, February 20, 2007 - link
Woops, I forgot the Big Typhoon and Big Typhoon VX.