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The article details an investigation on whether the Zalman heatsink/fan combinations run Presscott chip systems cooler than the Intel heatskin/fan. The Intelsink/fan is replaced with a Zalman CNPS7000-AlCu. Installing the Zalman CNPS7000 was fairly simple. The toughest part was getting the Intel heatsink/fan off. The plastic clip system attaches securely, and it never wants to let go once all four legs have snapped into place. The Zalman mounting system is much better. There are some small metal legs that insert into the Intel chip holder assembly and the whole thing screws down. The diagrams and instructions included in the Zalman package are clear enough. The CNPS7000 wasn't as good as the Intel heatsink/fan for cooling a 3.2 GHz Prescott Pentium 4. Thus, the classic CNPS6500 AlCu flower fan heatsink systems is, then, used. The 6500 uses a plastic clip mounting system different from Intel's. It works very effectively, and it's easy to remove. But, the CNPS6500 was even less effective than the CNPS7000. Since neither Zalman system was an improvement, it is tested whether the Zalman flower fan bracket would work with the Intel cooling system. rescott systems run hot. Moreover, for similar performance, AMD systems are at least competitive with Intel on heat generation, and the price/performance of AMD systems is very good. The engineering for fastening down the heatsink/fan in AMD systems is rather poor.

Presents information on computer cooling systems. Evaluation of the Silentmaxx Fortron-PAPST central processing unit fans; Reasons for using silver thermal grease in cooling systems; Tips on keeping hard drive and internals cooler.