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Zerotherm Nirvana NV120 - The Hardware Killer

Zerotherm appalled us with its newest cooler product, the Nirvana NV120. We feel obligated to point out the dangers and risks that are associated with using this cooler. If you are not very careful when installing it, you can easily damage or even destroy your PC components.

Zerotherm Nirvana NV120

The backplate, which is mounted in the back of the motherboard, is covered with a transparent adhesive foil. When removing the protective sticker from the backplate, it is far too easy to accidentally pull off this adhesive film too. As a result, the bare metal will press against the reverse side of the CPU socket, creating a short circuit that can destroy your entire motherboard. In the worst case, this can even affect other components as well.

Hardware-Killer

Metal shavings already caused problems with the previous model

Another reason we had to fail this cooler is that it, too, suffers from the already well-known problem with metal shavings. When you attach the cooler by fastening the screws, metal shavings can fall from the screws and springs and fall into the hardware of your PC - again causing a short circuit. This is not a new problem, but one that we've mentioned in previous reviews.

A look at the cooler from below

Mounting components

When running at its highest fan speed, the Nirvana NV120 achieves good cooling performance, able to cool the quad-core CPU to 65°C. However, it is unbearably loud at this setting. At its lowest speed, the CPU temperature rises to 74°C and the cooler is completely inaudible. Its noise level increases when the fan speed is raised by more than 33%. Thus, only the lowest fan speed will allow you to work without the cooler's noise becoming an annoyance.

In our eyes, a price of $46 is too steep for the performance this cooler offers.

The retail package

Technical Data
CPU 100% load idle
Temperature 12V 64.75°C 35°C
Temperature 5V 74.25°C 36°C
Noise 49.1 dB(A) 37.9 dB(A)
Fan Speed 2460 RPM 1040 RPM
Weight 698 grams  
Intel Socket 775  
AMD Socket AM2 AM2+
  939 940

Installation

Talkback
Anonymous 05/17/2008 6:51 AM
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Thank you, been wondering what cooler to buy for an OCed Quad, and high temps are good when dying :D

sorrii 06/26/2008 3:33 AM
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sorrii

... must be stupid ...! The fan is istalled at wrong side of the cooler ...

Anonymous 06/30/2008 12:34 PM
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Thermalright FTW!! Every time.

suspect 07/11/2008 9:32 AM
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suspect

I cant believe that photo...sorrii I am with you only a nutjob would use or test it in that configuration!!!
Noctua clearly state orientation of their coolers and that is ass about.
Every other review I have read rates the NH-U12F much more highly... always near best in class

wkornf 07/11/2008 10:32 AM
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wkornf

your numbers of near 70C on every cooler is outrageous, if those numbers are true not a single one of these coolers would keep a computer stable in a closed case outside the northeast. and a couple minutes isnt a good measure of cpus final temp, if u look over a temp log after a long game session you know it creeps up. to many factors.

dragunover 07/11/2008 2:48 AM
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dragunover

Bullshit article.I agree with wkornf.

If my Artic silver 5 + Scythe Katana 2 cooler(for only a massive price of 25 USD! I can keep my outdated Pentium D under 100 degrees fahrenheit,infact around HALF of these tests,even under water cooling? Wow,according to this,I should actually worry about getting a quad core because of the heat.And no,I don't have any fans in my case,it's open,only fans are from my GPU,CPU,and my PSU.
No extra 4 250mm performance fans.And an X38? That's just unbelievable.

eaglestrike7339 07/12/2008 6:24 AM
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eaglestrike7339

Do you guys get the point? They maxed out everything, so the cooler could show off the best that it could do in the most extreme conditions.

A good article, i especially like the tests for installation and sound, as those are what i would look into most when purchasing a cooler, and unlike CPUs, there are usually no charts to go along with.

suspect 07/12/2008 6:48 AM
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suspect

eaglestrike... do you see mounting the noctua fan in the wrong direction as good testing???
They have it on the top side of the sink flowing in a downward direction!!!
it goes against basic laws of physics and logic.

cliffro 07/12/2008 9:25 AM
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cliffro

alot of the coolers listed of a particular design are installed all goofy like, Of course on their open setup it doesn't make much difference(i think)

but when installed in a normal ATX case, would be detrimental to the coolers performance. Especially coolers designed similar to the Noctua and Scythe Ninja plus.

I can't be certain about others but Arctic Cooling's Freezer 7 Pro is supposed to be installed like this(one would assume others of similar design would be the same)
http://bigrockies.com/media/cooler.jpg

suspect 07/12/2008 11:35 AM
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suspect

cliffro I think to some degree you are correct but it still does not follow good practice when supposedly collecting data to represent consumer products.
As these have published manufacturer recomended installations why would you reverse it.
I recently read a review of the latest Noctua cooler at Legitreviews
where Noctua actually contacted them on this very issue... as a result they retested and found some improvement in cooling.
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/741/1/

Anonymous 07/12/2008 11:17 AM
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You guys might want to reexamine the Zerotherm Nirvana NV120... I just picked one up (after much research), and all of the problems mentioned in the review seem to be fixed in the newer models... no more metal base, no more metal shavings, and near silent operation except at full speed. I've been using Zalman CNPS coolers ever since the 7000 series, and will likely be switching to the NV120 for performance systems now. Just my 2c

ibender 07/13/2008 12:46 PM
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ibender

Any cooler that uses the push pin system should get a zero for installation. That system completely sucks. I'd rather remove a motherboard and install a backplate than use that push pin garbage.

wkornf 07/13/2008 8:27 AM
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wkornf

what exactly did they "max out" to achieve these temps. to me it looks like a qx6850 quad core running stock settings. which is a processor i know doesnt have load temps of 70c with those coolers.

wkornf 07/13/2008 8:28 AM
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wkornf

what exactly did they "max out" to achieve these temps. to me it looks like a qx6850 quad core running stock settings. which is a processor i know doesnt have load temps of 70c with those coolers.

guyladouche 07/14/2008 7:12 AM
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guyladouche

sorrii :
... must be stupid ...! The fan is istalled at wrong side of the cooler ...



Nothing's wrong or stupid with that setup--two fans are used in a push-pull arrangement--the bottom fan is blowing into the cooler, the top fan is pulling air away from the cooler to exhaust it from the cooler.

suspect 07/15/2008 6:36 AM
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suspect

@guyladouche... actually it all depends which cooler you are talking about,

As said the Noctua is setup with the fan on top blowing down, which is the only config that Noctua dont support.
The Thermalright has the fan in the middle blowing up so it looks like there is no real consistancy in the test methods... but I would like to hear from the testers in case they found some reason to use each particular setup.

random_2 07/24/2008 5:38 AM
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random_2

I'm still looking for the chart!!!!!! Ummmm...Am I missing something? I keep clicking on these Cooler Chart links and keep getting lengthly articles. Would be great ...I mean if we are going to call this a chart... to have an "at a glance" single page so we can make easy comparisons.

suspect 07/24/2008 7:04 AM
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suspect

page 17 click on index and scroll down...:o)

random_2 07/25/2008 7:20 AM
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random_2

Thanks bro.....:-)

paranoja 07/30/2008 3:59 AM
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paranoja

Well my Scythe Mugen (Infinity) does the job...and it`s cheap + it can be equipped with 2 120mm fans ;)
Actually I`m wondering why it is not included in these tests!?


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