Testing and benchmarking

Core 2 Quad QX9770 XE processor @ 80% Fan RPM

Here we again look at the processor clocked at 3200, 3600 and now 4000 MHz as well. Notice that in the BIOS we are now forcing the fan to spin at an RPM of 80%, you will not want to go higher than that as the fan becomes really noisy in this stage with 43-44 DB measures 75 CM away from the cooler.

When we hit 3600 MHz with 1.4 volts on the four CPU cores (100% stressed)  we see really fine temperatures up-to 57 C / 135 F. This however is a too noisy RPM for my taste.

But let me take it up one notch, We add 0,2 Volts more to the CPU core and hit a 4000 MHz clock frequency (1600 FSB x 10 Multiplier). We are not at 1.6 Volts. And there's where we pass a threshold for the cooler, IDLE temperatures are too high once I stressed the CPU cores for a couple of seconds, they rose towards near 90 Degrees C / 194 F real fast.

That's way too dangerous. And this is the reason we could not include OC results at 4000 MHz in LOW and MEDIUM RPM settings. We'd seriously fry the QX9770 processor.

By the way it is not a fact whatsoever that you need 1.6 volts for a 4000 MHz clock frequency OC, some of you might need 1,4 or 1,5 Volts. It differs a little per motherboard and per processor. But let's compare the cooler towards some other brands.

Competitive charts

Once we start comparing the Zalman CNPS 9900 LED cooler (all cooler set to medium / temperatures shown in Degrees C) we see that it is doing an okay job. These results are all taken at 3600 MHz / 1.4 Volts.

What's a little surprising is that, for example, the OCZ Vendetta 2 is simply better and costs something like 35 USD. The Vendetta is slightly more noisy at this fan rotation to be honest. But in all fairness this Zalman CNPS 9900 LED cooler will likely cost you 70 USD easily. So that's a bit of a weird thing to realize.

But let's head onwards to the conclusion.