So here's a few pictures: First, a shot of the system with the Zalman 9900. The case used is a Cooler Master HAF 932. The motherboard used is an Asus P6T (vanilla). And the Memory is a set of Corsair Dominator TR3X6G1600C8D, which is a 6GB set of triple channel memory designed to run at 1600MHz.
Next we have a picture of the new Prolimatech Megahalems CPU cooler, fresh out of the box.
And now one of the cooler installed with 2 Xilence Red Wing 120mm fans.
You'll notice that when I installed the new cooler I removed the memory fan module. Having it in place would have blocked almost 1/3 of the one CPU Cooler Fan. Also of note: these fans were selected on three criteria - first, they are both PWM fans (so their speed could be controlled by BIOS, even though I have that feature turned off atm), second they are rated to move 57CFM which is what the cooler was designed for, and third they are rated to only produce 21.2 dB of noise at 1500RPM.
Since I'm using Artic Silver 5 thermal interface material, I need to let the heatsink compound "cure" before it gives the best performance. Basically this process consists of putting the paste through 4-5 thermal cycles, where you heat it to ~40°C then let it cool down completely (which usually requires leaving the computer off over night). So far I'm on day 3 and my average temps have dropped by about 2-4°C at Idle and 4-6°C under Load. Now part of this difference is probably due to the fact that these fans run at a, more or less, constant speed. Where the Zalman was set to "Turbo" mode in BIOS. The result was that the Zalman's fan would get pretty loud under full load, and the cooling effect of the fan is not constant. For "testing" and comparison purposes I may set the one fan to Turbo mode and remove the second fan.
But that, and more will be included in my next installment after more parts arrive...
Sweet. Your review of these products rock. I like the photos to go along with the review.
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