119 of 129 people found the following review helpful:
Worthwhile Cooler
This review is from: Zalman ZM-NC2000Black Notebook Cooler (Black) (Personal Computers)
My laptop came from Gateway through my college and always had been running next to scalding. Once I learned of the extreme hazards this could impose on my computer (and the frying of my monitor), I was quick to take action in attempting to cool it down some. This notebook is a 2 year old Gateway M685-E, 17", with a GeForce GO 7600 (unfortunately the 128 MB version, but I can upgrade to 256 at some point), 4 GB of RAM, and Dual Core 1.83 GHz processor. Like I said before, ever since day one it has had an appetite for energy and would heat up to 81-82 Celsius easily-- I would hang my laptop over the edge of my deskspace just to make sure the vents had easy access to air to prevent it from getting this high.
A year into its life, I had to use my forced $1000 warranty through my school to put a new monitor on because the heat generated by the processors and GPU caused several connections to fry, including the monitor and power supply areas.
After getting it back, I used a Targus cooling pad which broke within a few weeks, with no way to replace the fans, and well... it was just a huge disappointment. I was back to hanging it off the edge of my desk and having one of the fans in my room blow at high speed at the back of it (not fun since I wear contacts, dried them out pretty quick).
I learned online of a process known as undervolting, which I highly recommend to anybody who has a laptop that reaches beyond the 'danger level' in operating temperature. I was able to cool my laptop down 15 Celsius without... WITHOUT... sacrificing any performance. I read on the forums I perused to learn this technique that many people say it does take down performance, but the guide assured with posted benchmarks that it didn't do jack to performance, which is why I stressed 'without.' I ran benchmarks on 3DMark06 myself and noticed no change in performance either--not that my score was that high to begin with. : (
I then bought the Zalman NC2000 to couple cooling techniques, since I felt that 66 Celsius was still too high to be comfortable with. Online I had read mixed reviews about the product because the holes do not go up the entire length of the platform. Obviously, it makes sense that this would be a terrible choice for a cooler if your vents are all the way at the back of your laptop (like most gaming laptops) and would perform poorly-- with many reviewers having gaming laptops, just be aware that they simply bought the wrong cooler to begin with for where their vents are placed. My vents are towards the middle and bottom, so this cooler is perfect for my computer.
The construction of this product is solid and stable, I was immediately taken aback (in a good way) when I felt how cold the aluminum was, I wasn't expecting that deep a chill. The fans are placed along a lipped ridge that is angled in such a way that it faces the back where air would be coming in. Maximum air input comes with the cooler legs down raising it up to 9 degrees instead of the stock 7 degrees since more of the cooler is off the surface you are using it on. The fans are indeed very quiet (audible, but not annoying) and the blue LED power light is a nice touch to let you know it's on without having to feel. It uses your USB port to provide power but has a second USB port on it to compensate for the one it takes. If you want, like me, you can also head to the store and buy a USB to AC adaptor and just plug it into the wall (you will need a longer USB cable). Keep in mind plugging into the wall does nothing to improve cooling, I just prefer it. The aluminum surface is screwed on by four easy to access screws, so replacing fans or modding (keeping in mind your mod will disrupt the designed air flow and may make the cooler cool less, or if you are lucky, more) is easy. I plan on at least attempting a mod by adding a fan, just to see if it adds any effect but won't screw it in place until improvement is found.
Onto the performance:
I used CPUID HWMonitor to keep track of my temperatures and Orthos to perform stress tests. I only performed these tests on my already undervolted laptop because I would have no need to ever raise them back up so I am EXPECTING the improvements to be rather small because it's using the minimal amount of energy it needs to. If it were not undervolted, I would definitely expect my results to be about 8 to 10 Celsius cooler.
***All temperatures are in Celsius***
Room temperature is about 23 degrees Celsius and cooler sits at 9 degrees position
Idle: no cooler
Hard Drive: 32-35
GPU: 35
Processor Core 1: 35-42
Processor Core 2: 37-44
ACPI: 40
Idle: sitting on cooler (no fans) -- 10 minutes to equilibrate for all tests below
Hard Drive: 31-33
GPU: 34
Processor Core 1: 33-39
Processor Core 2: 36-44
ACPI: 39
Idle: fans on lowest setting
Hard Drive: 33-34
GPU: 33-34
Processor Core 1: 32-38
Processor Core 2: 36-42
ACPI: 39
Idle: fans on highest setting
Hard Drive: 32
GPU: 32
Processor Core 1: 28-33
Processor Core 2: 28-33
ACPI: 39
ORTHOS Stress Test, Computer set using RightMark CPUClock to be on Maximum x11 multiplier for my processors
Left for 10 minutes to equilibrate (keep in mind only Processor and ACPI temperatures rise with this test)
Test 1, no cooling, on table--- UNDERVOLTED LAPTOP for all tests
Hard Drive: 32-35
GPU: 35
Processor Core 1: 65-66
Processor Core 2: 64-66
ACPI: 60
Reached max temperature from hot start (having been on for awhile) in 30-45 seconds
Test 2, cooling pad, no fans
Hard Drive: 31-33
GPU: 34
Processor Core 1: 65-66
Processor Core 2: 64-66
ACPI: 60
Reached same max temperatures from hot start in 7 minutes 30 seconds
Test 3, cooling pad, low fans
Hard Drive: 33-34
GPU: 33-34
Processor Core 1: 63
Processor Core 2: 63
ACPI: 58
Reached these temperatures from hot start after 8 minutes
Test 4, cooling pad, high fans
Hard Drive: 32
GPU: 32
Processor Core 1: 59-63
Processor Core 2: 60-63
ACPI: 56
Both processors tend to hover around 61 most of the time, reached from hot start after 8 minutes as well
Conclusions:
Based on its performance, we see a slight drop in operating temperatures, even on my already undervolted laptop. These drops affect the processors and the ACPI by as much as 6 or 7 degrees Celsius, however, the average was around 3-4 degrees. The most dramatic effect the cooling pad implements is not in its ability to cool, but to prevent the system from heating quickly. As I indicated, using the cooling pad lengthened the amount of time it took for the system to reach its highest reported temperature for the 10 minute stress test, by adding fans, I simply made the maximum temperature less. Coupled with undervolting and adequate vent-to-air hole placement between your laptop and this cooler, you could experience tremendous cooling-- my processors were the hottest things in my computer and experienced a maximum 22 degrees Celsius drop in full load operating temperature and the time to reach the maximum temperature has grown 10-15 times longer than the original system did with undervolting alone.
Why no GPU temperature tests? My GPU consistently remains within 5 degrees Celsius (above and below) of my processor cores, so if I had performed a GPU stress test, you can probably expect roughly the same cooling effect the machine had on my processors. Also, CPUID does not detect my GPU, SpeedFan does and thus this is where I derived the above statement.
I highly recommend this cooler to those of you with massive, bulky laptops with vents located in the middle of the machine and towards the front of the machine as well. If your vents are towards the back of the machine (as with most gaming laptops) this cooler is not for you as your vents are not in an optimal position to work with this cooler.
EDIT: May 15th, 2011...
The computer used in the initial tests has since fried (it was not undervolted after another repair). A new computer has been purchased, an ASUS something-or-other with an i3 family processor. This computer's specs will be tested now as well. My Zalman is still running, the LED still works, and it needs a good cleaning, but it's still spinning. This system has an exhaust vent on the left side of the machine, with several intake vents located across the bottom (the vent layout is not as optimal for use with the Zalman). I'm using CoreTemp 0.99.8 with Orthos again.
IDLE:
Test 1, no cooling, on table
Processor Core 1: 56-60
Processor Core 2: 56-60
Test 2, cooling pad, no fans
Processor Core 1: 56-60
Processor Core 2: 56-60
Test 3, cooling pad, low fans
Processor Core 1: n/a
Processor Core 2: n/a
Test 4, cooling pad, high fans
Processor Core 1: 46-49
Processor Core 2: 46-49
STRESSED: (see NOTE)
Test 1, no cooling, on table
Processor Core 1: 63-66
Processor Core 2: 63-66
Test 2, cooling pad, no fans
Processor Core 1: 63-66
Processor Core 2: 63-66
Test 3, cooling pad, low fans
Processor Core 1: n/a
Processor Core 2: n/a
Test 4, cooling pad, high fans
Processor Core 1: 50-53
Processor Core 2: 50-52...
75 of 81 people found the following review helpful:
Ecstatic... then bummed.
This review is from: Zalman ZM-NC2000Black Notebook Cooler (Black) (Personal Computers)
First of all, this was by far the best notebook cooler I've ever used - for the short time it was used. I have a cheap and hot laptop, and with a small budget, I needed it to last. I tried a couple of other coolers, and they just didn't seem to help much.
So when I got this one, I was happy to find that my notebook stayed constantly cool with this cooler. UNFORTUNATELY, the fans in the cooler quit 43 days after purchasing it. Blue light still on, but no fans. I still use it just to set my laptop on, but it just doesn't cut it without the fans. My laptop is as hot as ever.
To make matters worse, I can't get any help from Zalman. I figured there must be a warranty or maybe some kind of fix for it, but after contacting them a few times, there has been no response. It's disappointing that they seem to talk about how great their products are, but don't stand behind them when they fail. I won't be buying another Zalman product.
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