I've had this heatsink for a while and have basically finished fooling around with it, and expiramenting with it.
Thermalright XP-90 (OEM), $24.5 @ JabTech
Supports:
AMD: Athlon64 FX 3200+ (socket 939/940) /Athlon64 3200+ (socket 754) and above
Intel: Pentium-4 socket 478 3.2 GHz and above (LGA Requires Optional LGA Retention Bracket)
Weight: 360g (heat sink only)
--
It's quite a light heatsink. I wouldn't be suprised if it was lighter than an AMD Stock heatsink, but the heatpipes help ENOURMOUSLY.
--
Upon recieving the package, I'm impressed by the weight of the box. Must be a lot of accessories/packaging.
Open the box and you see a tightly packed, secure fitting of everything.
There are a lot of included accessories including...
2x Rubber Strips To Prevent The Fan From Vibrating
1x AMD K8 Retention Bracket & Necesarry Screw's
1x Large Syringe of Thermalright Thermal Paste
1x Manual
1x Thermalright Sticker
2x 92MM Fan Mounts
2x 80MM Fan Mounts
Upon taking the heatsink out, you will notice the level of perfection during packaging.
The Instructions are clearly written and easy to read too, with a diagram of how each part is assembled.
The heatsink itself looks amazingly nice.
Featureing a LOT of alluminum fins.
The base, is very smoothe. It is solid copper, but nickel plated for optimum heat transfer. Aluminium and Copper is the best combination, because copper absorbs heat faster than aluminium but aluminium dissapates heat much faster & efficiently than copper.
--
This heatsink does not come with a fan, purposly, so you can pick and choose the perfect one for you.
I chose the Zalman ZM-F2 92mm Fan.
Zalman ZM-F2 92mm Case Fan Model No: PS92252H Dimensions: 92 (L) X 92 (H) X 25 (W) mm Weight: 88g Normal Speed: 2800 RPM ± 10% Noiseless Speed: 1600 RPM ± 10% Normal Noise: 36.1dBA Noiseless Noise: 20dBA Bearing Type: Sleeve
At 1600RPM I can barely hear it, but at 1800 RPM it is quite loud.
Normal Mode: 53CFM
Silent Mode: 38CFM
--
It pushes quite a bit of air in silent mode, keeps everything nice and cool.
It's a nice looking fan, generic black, with a VERY long 3-Pin tail.
It comes with all the necesarry parts and a resistor to put it on quiet mode, although I just set it to 1600RPM via my motherboard's software.
The finished product looks like a monster.
Installation
In my small, Antec Super LanBoy, I had to install the heatsink BEFORE putting the motherboard in. A few day's ago, I wanted to re-apply some thermalpaste and I had to remove my PSU to get to the top left clip.
In my case it's very hard, but in my previous larger case it was suprisingly easy!
The installation of the K8 bracket is very simple. Just unscrew your old one and screw the new one into place!
See, how it is a VERY tight fit?
--
Fan Placement
Depending on your case, you may want this differently, but I have found the best way for ME to mount the fan is to have the air sucking out of the heatsink, rather than blowing on. I get about 3ºC lower temperatures this way.
--
Temperature Results
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Newcastle @ Stock 2GHz
Room Temp: 63ºF (17ºC)
Program Used To Simulate Load: Folding@Home @ 100%, Gromacs Core (p7xx)
Monitored Temp with CoolerMaster AeroGate II with Sensor placed on the lowest part of the heatsink on the lowest part of the heatpipes.
"The average Newcastle load temperature with stock cooling is 45-47ºC."
Idle, Fan - Normal
Idle, Fan - 1250RPM
Load, Fan - Normal
Conclusion
Build Quality
The quality of the heatsink is amazing, especially for the low price. It's very sturdy and the clips are nice and stiff. The only con, is that the fins are EXTREMELY easy to bend, but very easy to bend back. This is normal though of heatsinks containing a lot of thin fins.
The quality of the fan is also great, as expected of a company like Zalman. It is nice and quiet and pushes lots of air, with minimal vibration, and I highly reccomend it!
Heatsink: 9/10
Fan: 9.5/10
Value
The price of this heatsink/fan combo just tipped over $30 USD. (About £16)
For the amount of cooling it offers, is great.
Value: 10/10
Functionality
Well of course the heatsink is functional!
It work's as intended, if not better than intended.
Functionality: 10/10
:anisx: Factor
This heatsink gives every other heatsink a run for it's money. It's lightweight, it has the perfect mix of metal's and finishes, and allows you to customize what fan to use, at a very low price. It also beats all copper heatsinks like the Zalman 7000-CU in some tests. This heatsink is pure, :anisx:.
SX Factor: 9.5/10
96%
Thermalright XP-90 (OEM), $24.5 @ JabTech
Supports:
AMD: Athlon64 FX 3200+ (socket 939/940) /Athlon64 3200+ (socket 754) and above
Intel: Pentium-4 socket 478 3.2 GHz and above (LGA Requires Optional LGA Retention Bracket)
Weight: 360g (heat sink only)
--
It's quite a light heatsink. I wouldn't be suprised if it was lighter than an AMD Stock heatsink, but the heatpipes help ENOURMOUSLY.
--
Upon recieving the package, I'm impressed by the weight of the box. Must be a lot of accessories/packaging.
Open the box and you see a tightly packed, secure fitting of everything.
There are a lot of included accessories including...
2x Rubber Strips To Prevent The Fan From Vibrating
1x AMD K8 Retention Bracket & Necesarry Screw's
1x Large Syringe of Thermalright Thermal Paste
1x Manual
1x Thermalright Sticker
2x 92MM Fan Mounts
2x 80MM Fan Mounts
Upon taking the heatsink out, you will notice the level of perfection during packaging.
The Instructions are clearly written and easy to read too, with a diagram of how each part is assembled.
The heatsink itself looks amazingly nice.
Featureing a LOT of alluminum fins.
The base, is very smoothe. It is solid copper, but nickel plated for optimum heat transfer. Aluminium and Copper is the best combination, because copper absorbs heat faster than aluminium but aluminium dissapates heat much faster & efficiently than copper.
--
This heatsink does not come with a fan, purposly, so you can pick and choose the perfect one for you.
I chose the Zalman ZM-F2 92mm Fan.
Zalman ZM-F2 92mm Case Fan Model No: PS92252H Dimensions: 92 (L) X 92 (H) X 25 (W) mm Weight: 88g Normal Speed: 2800 RPM ± 10% Noiseless Speed: 1600 RPM ± 10% Normal Noise: 36.1dBA Noiseless Noise: 20dBA Bearing Type: Sleeve
At 1600RPM I can barely hear it, but at 1800 RPM it is quite loud.
Normal Mode: 53CFM
Silent Mode: 38CFM
--
It pushes quite a bit of air in silent mode, keeps everything nice and cool.
It's a nice looking fan, generic black, with a VERY long 3-Pin tail.
It comes with all the necesarry parts and a resistor to put it on quiet mode, although I just set it to 1600RPM via my motherboard's software.
The finished product looks like a monster.
Installation
In my small, Antec Super LanBoy, I had to install the heatsink BEFORE putting the motherboard in. A few day's ago, I wanted to re-apply some thermalpaste and I had to remove my PSU to get to the top left clip.
In my case it's very hard, but in my previous larger case it was suprisingly easy!
The installation of the K8 bracket is very simple. Just unscrew your old one and screw the new one into place!
See, how it is a VERY tight fit?
--
Fan Placement
Depending on your case, you may want this differently, but I have found the best way for ME to mount the fan is to have the air sucking out of the heatsink, rather than blowing on. I get about 3ºC lower temperatures this way.
--
Temperature Results
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Newcastle @ Stock 2GHz
Room Temp: 63ºF (17ºC)
Program Used To Simulate Load: Folding@Home @ 100%, Gromacs Core (p7xx)
Monitored Temp with CoolerMaster AeroGate II with Sensor placed on the lowest part of the heatsink on the lowest part of the heatpipes.
"The average Newcastle load temperature with stock cooling is 45-47ºC."
Idle, Fan - Normal
Idle, Fan - 1250RPM
Load, Fan - Normal
Conclusion
Build Quality
The quality of the heatsink is amazing, especially for the low price. It's very sturdy and the clips are nice and stiff. The only con, is that the fins are EXTREMELY easy to bend, but very easy to bend back. This is normal though of heatsinks containing a lot of thin fins.
The quality of the fan is also great, as expected of a company like Zalman. It is nice and quiet and pushes lots of air, with minimal vibration, and I highly reccomend it!
Heatsink: 9/10
Fan: 9.5/10
Value
The price of this heatsink/fan combo just tipped over $30 USD. (About £16)
For the amount of cooling it offers, is great.
Value: 10/10
Functionality
Well of course the heatsink is functional!
It work's as intended, if not better than intended.
Functionality: 10/10
:anisx: Factor
This heatsink gives every other heatsink a run for it's money. It's lightweight, it has the perfect mix of metal's and finishes, and allows you to customize what fan to use, at a very low price. It also beats all copper heatsinks like the Zalman 7000-CU in some tests. This heatsink is pure, :anisx:.
SX Factor: 9.5/10
96%
