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Hardware Zalman FX100 Cube Review

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Meanmotion, 8 Mar 2013.

  1. Meanmotion

    Meanmotion bleh Moderator

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  2. Diellur

    Diellur What's a Dremel?

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    Interesting review...I wonder what the result would be like after a few hours gaming, where the GPU is venting hot air into the case too. That delta-T is a little too close to the TjMax for comfort, IMHO.
     
  3. jrs77

    jrs77 Modder

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    There's so much £50 low-noise tower-coolers out there, that this cooler seems rather pointless. A £25 CM Hyper 212 Evo with an inaudible fan @ 800RPM offers better results aswell.

    Additionally, at this pricetag you could aswell get a monster like the Prolimatech Genesis with 2x inaudible 140mm fans running at 500 RPM.
     
  4. tad2008

    tad2008 What's a Dremel?

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    Considering it is completely fanless and still achieves some pretty good results makes me wonder what the results would be strapping a quite high air flow fan to it.
     
  5. GuilleAcoustic

    GuilleAcoustic Ook ? Ook !

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    It'd be interesting to see temps with the heatsink mounted vertically (like inside a bitfenix prodigy). Plus, the prodigy front fan would be blowing directly at it ...
     
  6. jrs77

    jrs77 Modder

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    Hexus did test Silverstones Heligon HE-02, which is a big passive cooler aswell.. http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/cooling/46265-silverstone-heligon-he02/

    These passive fans are really not designed for being used with fans and are rather underwhelming with added fans given their sheer size.
     
  7. Asouter

    Asouter --------

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    I wouldn't be able to resist buying a hamster ....I know it'd be cruel but it's add some interest to the case :D
     
  8. djzic

    djzic Bokehlicious!

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    I would imagine this would be pretty good after delidding the i5 and putting in some proper TIM...
     
  9. Corky42

    Corky42 Where's walle?

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    I know the idea of this is to be passive, but as it can take a 90mm fan it would have been nice to see the results of fitting something like a Nexus undervolted to 5 or 7V
     
  10. lehtv

    lehtv What's a Dremel?

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    I would've liked to see results against Thermalright HR-02, mainly because it's designed for passive operation and costs about half of the Zalman. It was originally released without a fan, only later they introduced the Macho moniker and included a TY-140 in the package.
     
  11. stupido

    stupido What's a Dremel?

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    I was quite tempted to buy the HR-02/Macho but I ended up having Archon + extra TY-140...
    According all reviews I have read, my current setup is better performing while keeping similar noise signature (due to usage of TY-140) buuuttt... Archon is quite tall (175mm with fans) so I barely closed the side panel on my case...
     
  12. blackworx

    blackworx Cable Wrangler

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    Me too; I'm currently running an HR-02 fanless on a moderately OC'd i5-3570K with a single top mounted Noctua NF-12 on exhaust duties and a passively cooled HD7750 in the box too. As a setup it works well; CPU idles around 34ºC, passes Prime95+Furmark torture test without going into crazy temps, although the Noctua does need to spin up quite a bit for that. Under normal use including gaming the fan runs as slow as it'll go without stalling, which, according to SpeedFan, is about 540RPM. The whole system is inaudible and that's with the tower on the desk about 0.5m from my head.

    Obviously I'm not in the market to switch from the HR-02 but I'd love to know how it compares to these more costly coolers.
     
  13. John_T

    John_T Minimodder

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    I'm still using my i7 950, (which I can't see the point of upgrading anytime soon) so at a TDP of 130W this is all a bit of a moot point to me at the moment, BUT, I reckon my next major overhaul will probably see me go fanless, so it's still interesting.

    I really like the sound of blackworx's set-up, (is that the Sapphire Ultimate your using?) as that's definitely the direction I want to take in future.

    I'd love to see how powerful a fully passive PC could be - something like this cooler with the passive 7750 and maybe a Seasonic Platinum fanless PSU. Picking the right case would be tricky though. I'd love to build it but would be frightened of frying everything after 6 months or so...
     
  14. Jipa

    Jipa Avoiding the "I guess.." since 2004

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    I just don't see the point. Build a powerful PC without fans and it's always going to be just a matter of time before something goes. It isn't just the CPU and GPU cores that need cooling...

    I also wonder how quiet houses are around the world, a couple of quiet fans just aren't going to make any difference to the ambient noise level.
     
  15. Corky42

    Corky42 Where's walle?

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    Not every house has noise poulution, especialy at night.
    Some people aim for totaly silent (passive), for others adding a few undervoleted fans is enough to retain there sanity.
     
  16. Jipa

    Jipa Avoiding the "I guess.." since 2004

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    Sure, some people live in the middle of nowhere and have absolutely no electric appliances in the house, let alone central heating.

    Still my point is that no (powerful) passive system is going to have a long lifespan. It's the small, single components that are going to fail in heat, not the GPU or CPU cores.

    Have fun trying, I just don't see that happening and really can't see the point in even trying! If you want to go passive 24/7, just get a Raspberry. If you want a gaming rig 24/7 you're both rather silly and should be expecting some unnoticeable fan noise.
     
  17. papalarge123

    papalarge123 Papalarge

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    i love the fact u have decided to review a cooler designed for noiseless usage then stick a fan behind it at the back of the case,
    doesnt that then eliminate the need for a silent cooler, with that one fan on the back, u might as well have added 2 more fans to help the cooling,
    also it eliminates the values of ur own review, because a silent cooler would be used in a case desined to be silent, which would mean no fans at all, which would again add more temp to the CPU,
     
  18. John_T

    John_T Minimodder

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    You don't have to live in the middle of nowhere and have no electrical appliances in your house to appreciate the attractions a silent PC - I don't really understand that argument. If I'm working in my study, what difference does it make to me if my fridge-freezer powers up in my kitchen? It's in a different room, I can't hear it, it's irrelevant. My PC is right next to me - if that makes a noise while I'm working or writing in silence, I hear it.

    As for a 'reasonably' powerful passive PC not having a long lifespan - that was the point I was trying to make - ie, exactly how powerful could it be made and still have the legs for a normal lifespan?

    I wasn't suggesting a balls-to-the-wall powerhouse machine - but one that's capable for most things, ie, work, photo & video editing and gaming on a single, 1080p resolution monitor. To suggest someone should have either a powerful gaming machine or a Raspberry Pi is just daft, there's tons of scope for a machine that sits somewhere in the middle and with the major benefits of both.

    I don't understand saying there's no point in even trying, if it's not worth trying, then why is anything else we read or do in here?
     
  19. Corky42

    Corky42 Where's walle?

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    You realy need to look into pasive PC's before making such an uneducatated statment.

    I could buy a fully pasive PC of the shelf with a 3 year warranty, a Core i7 3770K, Radeon HD 7750.

    The small components would only suffer if you build the encloseure to not allow the natural air flow to work to your advantage i.e using convection.
    http://www.quietpc.com/nof-cs-70
     
  20. [USRF]Obiwan

    [USRF]Obiwan What's a Dremel?

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    You should test with a complete silent/passive PC: Including video card, PSU and case.

    There is absolutely no sense (or use) to be using one passive cooler inside a system were the PSU, GPU and case are actively cooled by fans.
     
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