Hello, I just bought a Evga nForce 780i and wanted to get an aftermarket cpu cooler with it. I currently have a q6600 processor and heard very mixed reviews about the Zalman 9700 vs Freezer 7 PRO. The freezer 7 pro is much cheaper which is why im leaning towards it, but if somebody can tell me otherwards that the zalman is a better choice even though its much more expensive and why its better. Any personal experience or advice with either cooler would be greatly appreciated!


Thanks,
Brett

The Zalman is the better cooler, but should the fan go out on either product it would be a major hassle to change. There are a lot of coolers out there that allow for easy fan 'management'. I have several of each of the HSF's you mentioned (Zalman 9500's) and the Zalman is the better cooler in my experience. Beside Zalman distribution ceneter is near where I live and they give me free stuff if I ask for something. LOL.

Is a Xigmatek S1283 an option for you? If so, that (and possibly its retaining bracket) is a better cooler than either of the other two.
Otherwise, if it were me, I could not see paying Zalman's asking price. I used the Freezer 7 Pro on my current build and a few other recent ones, and have no inclination to replace any of them.

The Artic has a 6yr Garantee

lol@badge. A free Zalman beats a $25 AC Freezer 7 or Xigmatek.

Im willing to try any cpu cooler as long as its going to fit my evga 780i and keep my q6600 chilled while its overclocked. Price vs Perfomance is a big thing to me because I really dont want to pay basically $80 for a zalman when I could pay $40 for something just as good if not better without the expensive name tag. I also was looking for one thats relatively easy to put on.

You can get the Zalman for $54 on newegg. Its a great cooler, and I would recommend it, although I have not used the Freezer 7 to compare.

Look at the heatsink on this. I would be interested in trying this out.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] orecontact

I have the eVGA 780 FTW edition....exact same style of board that you have. I actually have the Zalman 9700. I tried the Xigmatek S1283 that you are thinking about, but I was unimpressed with it. I bought it because a while back THG did a review on CPU heatsinks and fans and gave it a shot. After switching from that to the Zalman 9700, it lowered my temps by 10C!

Here is the Zalman 9700 on sale at Newegg for $54.00. Not a bad price.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835118019

edit: Also, the Zalman 9700 uses a mounting bracket. It is much more reliable than the push pins that come with the Xigmatek, even though you have the option to purchase a mounting bracket.

How easy is it to put on? My computer is currently in pieces so I dont have to worry about ripping everything out to put it on. $54 is a fair price IMO and I think im going to give that a try. How much space do you have with that cooler on, like near your memory and motherboard fan (if you connected it)

It is extremely easy if the motherboard isn't mounted in the case. Much more easy than using the push pin configuration with some of the others.

Thats what I wanted to hear! Gonna buy that Zalman then, thanks for the advice and info.

Anytime. Good luck with it all, you should enjoy it!

Go to the Zalman website (link on newegg Zalman 9700 product page) and watch the 9700 installation video.

The Zalman CNPS9700 is probably one of the flattest bases on a stock heatsink you will probably everfind - 8microinches...
You should get neither, buy the Xigmatek HDT-S1283/OCZ Vendetta 2/ Sunbeam Core-Contact Freezer top 5 around with TRU and TRUE