TT 120 not as good as Zalman 9500

[jimmsch]

I have been trying out my new $65 TT 120. I originally installed it with an AeroCool fan rated at 87CFM max 1800RPM. The temps compared to my Zalman cooler were +1 to 3 degrees C.

I was really expecting an 8 to 10 degree drop.

I have now installed the stock Tuniq fan with the manual fan control. At low speed it is nice and quiet but temps are still +1 to 3 degrees compared to the Zalman. At full speed it is louder than loud but the temps do drop 1 to 3 degrees compared to the Zalman. However I cannot live with the noise. All temps on the Zalman are using silent mode set in BIOS. All other OC features the same for both coolers.

Also ever since I installed the TT 120 it takes sometimes up to 3 minutes to post, where it used to POST in about 5 seconds. Additionally BIOS freezes when trying to enter the fan control section. I do not know if these are related to the cooler or not. Specs are in sig.

I now have the TT 120 at half fan speed and the temps are still + 1 to 3 degrees compared to the Zalman. I have reset this thing twice and the results are always the same. I am beginning to think all you guys own stock in Sunbeam/Tuniq

I will re install my Zalman and use this TT 120 on some other project.

EDIT: Now that I just read another thread here where an op had to lap his Thermalright cooler, maybe this is the cause of my problems.The base of the sink was really quite rough when I got it. Should I sand it smooth? What procedure do I have to follow? I can probably find a tut here on this somewhere.

 

[muddocktor]

My experience between the Zalman 9500 and the TT 120 are just the opposite of yours. My Zalman is definitely inferior to the Tuniq, XP90-C or Big Typhoon and is presently sitting on the floor waiting for me to sell the damn thing (have a friend that will buy it). I'm seeing some remarkably good performance with my TT 120, with it beating my BT handily on the X2 rig I'm testing it on right now and it just smoked the Ultra 120 on my Conroe rig. But the U-120 has a base that is not flush and has to be cut down on one corner then lapped flat too (has a raised edge on one side where they did a p*ss-poor machining job on it ). And I don't find the stock fan to be that noisy myself, but then I also have 8 computers running in my computer room too.

As far as for lapping a base, I have a piece of 1/4 inch thick glass plate I use for my lapping surface. Depending on how bad the base is, I start off with either300-400 grit wet-or-dry if it's pretty bad or 600 git if it doesn't need a lot of material removal. I then work up through 1000 git and 1500 grit wet-or-dry paper.

 

[jimmsch]

Although I really am quite upset about the performance of this thing I am very happy with the sound. I have it set at about 50% which = approx. 1600RPM and is nice and quiet. The temps at this setting are higher than the Zalman set in BIOS to "silent" mode, which is not really silent.

I was hoping for an 8 - 10 degree drop in temps with quietness (the stock Tuniq fan on full speed is LOUD!). I will try sanding the base until it is smooth as a baby's bottom next weekend. If that doesn't give me better performance than I guess I will just be happy with it being quieter (although hotter) than the Zalman.

I cleaned the surface of the CPU with the Arctic cleaner and prepped both the chip and the TT120 base with the Arctic prep solution. I applied AS5 in the rice grain method the first time I set the TT120. The second time I used an old CC to spread it evenly over the CPU. Of course each time I cleaned and prepped using the aforementioned Arctic products. I always use a lint free cloth.

E6600: L628A266
BIOS: 1707
VCORE: 1.31
FSB: 334 x 9
RAM: 4-3-3-9 2.10v 668MHZ
fsb, mch etc set to auto
TEMPS: idle 37 - 40 load 52 - 52

The temps represent both cores, for some reason they even out at load but always had a 2 - 4 degree diff idle.

The Zalman cooler gave me better temps at idle (35 - 37) which is what I wanted to improve with the TT120. The TT120 gives me better temps on load (Zalman was 54 both cores). But I am not too worried about this since I will never really have my PC running at this high load except in tests.

I would really like to see the idle temps at my current OC be in the lower 30's. Any suggestions?

 

[enz660]

hey, ever since I change the thermal paste for the NB and SB heatsinks, my bios freezes up as well when I go into the fan control. Weird..

 

[jimmsch]

If you read another thread I had on this in the Asus mobo forum you will see that I unplugged my case fans and BIOS operated as it should. I plug in the case fans and it freezes on hardware monitor. I am using the newest (as of yesterday anyway) 1707 BIOS

 

[gigabit]

My experience between the Zalman 9500 and the TT 120 are just the opposite of yours. My Zalman is definitely inferior to the Tuniq, XP90-C or Big Typhoon and is presently sitting on the floor waiting for me to sell the damn thing (have a friend that will buy it). I'm seeing some remarkably good performance with my TT 120, with it beating my BT handily on the X2 rig I'm testing it on right now and it just smoked the Ultra 120 on my Conroe rig. But the U-120 has a base that is not flush and has to be cut down on one corner then lapped flat too (has a raised edge on one side where they did a p*ss-poor machining job on it ). And I don't find the stock fan to be that noisy myself, but then I also have 8 computers running in my computer room too.

As far as for lapping a base, I have a piece of 1/4 inch thick glass plate I use for my lapping surface. Depending on how bad the base is, I start off with either300-400 grit wet-or-dry if it's pretty bad or 600 git if it doesn't need a lot of material removal. I then work up through 1000 git and 1500 grit wet-or-dry pape

I have to agree.I just switched tonight back to my XP 120.Im glad i was able to mount the XP 120 backwards because i cant install it with the lip over hanging the ram because my ram is to tall .But backwards is fine.Well anyway with the XP120 im seeing about 5c better temps than my Zalman CNPS 9500 AM2.Bu Right now im lapping the base and then im gonna pull the fan off and in between the plates were the heatpipes go im gonna put some Thermal paste all around the pipes and base plates for better heat transfer.I was looking at the base and pipe contact area and it plan out sucks so im figuring the thermal paste will have to help.Ill report back tomorrow to let you know if i see any improvements in temps.Im hoping i do because the 9500 looks way better than the XP 120 imo

 

[muddocktor]

Although I really am quite upset about the performance of this thing I am very happy with the sound. I have it set at about 50% which = approx. 1600RPM and is nice and quiet. The temps at this setting are higher than the Zalman set in BIOS to "silent" mode, which is not really silent.

I was hoping for an 8 - 10 degree drop in temps with quietness (the stock Tuniq fan on full speed is LOUD!). I will try sanding the base until it is smooth as a baby's bottom next weekend. If that doesn't give me better performance than I guess I will just be happy with it being quieter (although hotter) than the Zalman.

I cleaned the surface of the CPU with the Arctic cleaner and prepped both the chip and the TT120 base with the Arctic prep solution. I applied AS5 in the rice grain method the first time I set the TT120. The second time I used an old CC to spread it evenly over the CPU. Of course each time I cleaned and prepped using the aforementioned Arctic products. I always use a lint free cloth.

E6600: L628A266
BIOS: 1707
VCORE: 1.31
FSB: 334 x 9
RAM: 4-3-3-9 2.10v 668MHZ
fsb, mch etc set to auto
TEMPS: idle 37 - 40 load 52 - 52

The temps represent both cores, for some reason they even out at load but always had a 2 - 4 degree diff idle.

The Zalman cooler gave me better temps at idle (35 - 37) which is what I wanted to improve with the TT120. The TT120 gives me better temps on load (Zalman was 54 both cores). But I am not too worried about this since I will never really have my PC running at this high load except in tests.

I would really like to see the idle temps at my current OC be in the lower 30's. Any suggestions?

Sounds to me like you aren't using quite enough AS5 on that IHS equipped processor. The rice grain method was great for bare cores but isn't enough tim for a processor with an IHS on it. I make a mound in the middle of the IHS about as large as a small to medium size pea with either AS5 or Ceramique for installing the heatsink on my Conroes and IHS equipped AMD processors. I get just a little side bleed in spots that way and get at least 90% coverage across the IHS. MY Tuniq is presently on an X2 4400 rig and it's idle temps are about 4 C warmer than the mobo temp sensor and with 2 folding clients running, both cores on it never get over 36 C at 100% load, with the fan adjusted to high speed (stock Tuniq fan). With the TT 120 I wouldn't worry about using more rather than less AS5 as it has enough tension when mounted to squeeze any excess out to the edge, especially after it has run a while and been through a few thermal cycles.

And gigabit, yeah the Zalman looks good, but go ahead and splurge on a Delta GFB fan and a fan controller for the XP120. It's massive looks just shame any other heatsink in the looks department and if you get each fan motor wired on it's own plug, you can control it with 2 channels on a fan controller. I'm using a GFB on a SI-120 and it kicks much butt and looks awesome. As an added bonus, the GFB isn't too loud when run at 7v and you get some wonderful airflow across the mosfet area of the mobo too so everything stays nice and cool.

 

[jimmsch]

Do you agree that on my current OC my idle temps should be lower? Currently at 37 - 40C. I was hoping to get them to the low 30's when I purchased the TT120. I will use a bit more AS5 on it next weekend when I lap it smooth. Thanks for the advice.

Mudd, you have this same mobo with 6600 on it, granted you are using a diff cooler with it, but please answer if you agree that my temps should be lower than what they are, or am I asking too much from the TT120?

 

[muddocktor]

I've been doing quite a bit of testing lately on both my e6600 system and a couple of DC AMD rigs and I just loked back through the Core Temp logs on my TT 120 run on the E6600. Idle temps ran at at 33 and 37 C on the E6600 with a 63 cfm S-Flex fan mounted in the Tuniq and loaded temps look to average around 41 and 45 C on the cores. That's with it clocked at 3150. So yeah, I think your temps should be lower. Now this is using Core Temp to monitor the temps on each individual core, which I find to be way more accurate than Asus Probe.

My sig isn't up to date right now since I've been doing the testing and I backed clocks down considerably for the testing to ensure no stability problems. I am about to take my main rig down so I can lap the U-120 on it right now to fix a machining flaw in the base as it came from Thermalright with a lip along one side of the base.

 

[jimmsch]

The temps I mentioned were taken with TAT. The load was also runing TAT stresses. When using SP2004 (1 instance for each core) the load temps are lower (around 48C).

I also look at core temp occassionally for temps and they are generally within 1 degree of TAT.

I will sand it smooth and use a bit more AS5 on it and let you know how much better it is, if at all.

I can't believe the base was so rough. You can actually hear a "zzzzzz" when prepping it with lint free cloth.

Oh and thank you so much for all your help. When I first started this thread I was very pi**ed off and you were the only one to post a reply and for that I thank you, because otherwise I would have just re-installed my Zalman and forgotten about it.

 

[gigabit]

And gigabit, yeah the Zalman looks good, but go ahead and splurge on a Delta GFB fan and a fan controller for the XP120. It's massive looks just shame any other heatsink in the looks department and if you get each fan motor wired on it's own plug, you can control it with 2 channels on a fan controller. I'm using a GFB on a SI-120 and it kicks much butt and looks awesome. As an added bonus, the GFB isn't too loud when run at 7v and you get some wonderful airflow across the mosfet area of the mobo too so everything stays nice and cool.

I have Delta Tri Blade SHE on the XP120 141cfm.But that GFB is awesome.I have the XP120 facing the video card because it wont fit over my stupid Corsirs XMS's.It sure keeping my top GS about 4c cooler than my bottom GS.But truthfully the 9500 isnt that bad.Im betting with lapping and the thermal paste it will be right with my XP120

 

[jimmsch]

I think it just needed more outside air. Due to the fact that the TT120 is HUGE I was not able to mount my side window fan inside the case, so I mounted it outside for a while, but it was just blowing head pressure against the top of the TT120.

I got a nice sharp new hole saw, said a few prayers, and bore a new hole in my window just to the right of the existing hole. I mounted an 80mm fan inside the window just blowing air into the case directly onto the RAM, just in front of (or behind?) the TT120 fan. As I type this it seems that 1 core has dropped 3-4 degrees C and the other dropped 2-3.

My temp readings as reported by TAT are now 35 - 37C idle representing the temps for each core. They are never the same temp except when on load.
I will lap the base of the cooler this weekend and reseat it using a bit more of that wonderful AS5 as directed by Muddocktor.

I am now maybe back to even temps as they were with the Zalman, and am hoping to improve them a bit with the lapping.

Thanks to all

 

[Maviryk]

Just wait til the AS5 cures.

 

[jimmsch]

Just wait til the AS5 cures.

It's been 4 days...how long does it take to cure? My PC runs 24/7 if that makes any difference.

I want to lap the damn thing anyway and maybe remove the cover of the NB that Asus so bone headedly put there.

But I think it would be a good thing if I had some idea how long it takes for the AS5 to cure. And ifit gets better after it cures or worse?

EDIT: Maybe I spoke too soon. I was cooking dinner and came back to the PC and TAT is reading 36 - 39, so I only got a 1 degree drop by taking my life in my hands and drilling my window. I do hope it gets better after lapping.

 

[jimmsch]

I think we can change the name of this thread now. I lapped the Tuniq and reseated it for what I hope is the final time. I used a bit more AS5 as suggested bu muddocktor, and while I had it all down I performed that NB mod on the mobo I found elsewhere in the forums.

Running the stock Tuniq fan at approx 50% (1600rpm) and blowing towards the rear of the case I now have idle temps where I expected them to be when I first installed the Tuniq. It looks like it is BETTER than the Zalman after all. My apologies to all.

I am idling at 30 - 32 each core is a bit different and running at what it says in my sig. I hope maybe after the AS5 cures I might be in the high 20's at idle. I am not too concerned about load temps as they were OK before and I will not be running this PC at that kind of load in normal use anyway. The PC is now nearly silent and running COOL!!

I would reccomend the Tuniq to anybody.

It was not too hard to install on my mobo to whoever it was that asked. But you will have to do it out of the case.

 

[enz660]

so how much did your load temps improve since the first time you installed it?

 

[jimmsch]

I haven't run a load on it yet since I just finished lapping and reseating it. My idle temps have improved 7 - 9 degrees C. I will let it run orthos for a few hours later and keep you posted.

 

[richde]

If you read another thread I had on this in the Asus mobo forum you will see that I unplugged my case fans and BIOS operated as it should. I plug in the case fans and it freezes on hardware monitor. I am using the newest (as of yesterday anyway) 1707 BIOS

Hmmmm, I ran into the same problem with my Asus board as well, it doesn't seem to be able to handle much current draw from fans.

 

[jimmsch]

so how much did your load temps improve since the first time you installed it?

I ran TAT for about 30min and it seems the load temps have improved 5 - 6 degrees C since the laping and NB mob. Along with the new AS5 and removing the ASUS NB cover I glued a small fan to the side of the NB heatsink blowing to the rear of the machine. I took the fan from a POS Thermaltake RAM cooler.