Updating a Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H and i7-3770 in a PC-KW9X with a Zalman CPU Cooler
When I built my Hyper-V lab (Colossus) with a Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H I used the Intel Supplied stock cooler which did a good job under normal loads in keeping my i7-3770 cool but I found when I pressed the 3770 for an extended period of time, such as with Prime-95, I was getting core temp’s in the 70’sC degrees range. Additionally, several have commented in the Forums that with the beautiful side window in the Lian-Li PC-KW9X the stock cooler didn’t have any “bling” effect.
Last “Black Friday” I had found an incredible deal on a ZALMAN CNPS9900MAX-B 135mm Long life bearing CPU Cooler Blue LED that I had picked up but never used on my X58 like I had planned. Since I have no plans to overclock Colossus the 300W stated cooling capacity of the CNPS9900MAX-B seemed like way overkill on my Z77X-UD5H with a i7-3770 but I decided to tear down Colossus anyway and rebuild him with the Zalman. The Zalman CNPS9900MAX-B was much easier to install than I had originally expected.
During the tear-down I took the opportunity to move a few other parts (like SSD’s and HD’s) around between Colossus and other computers.
I couldn’t be more pleased with the results. After running overnight with Prime 95 and 5 VM’s also active I got core temp’s that only peak at 55C degrees on the i7-3770 in Colossus.
The Zalman also provides a definite “bling” for the Z77X-UD5H:
I moved my SSD’s to other machines and moved the Crucial M4 128GB over from the N40L MicroServer to be the OS drive in the Z77X-UD5H after updating the firmware from 0002 to 000F. The Firmware update was very simple to do. The SSD is mounted in the Lian-Li PC-K9WX with 4 screws – to isolate the SSD from direct contact with the metal plate of the HDD cage I used two pads of Post-It notes (the thin green pad you see in the picture above — about 10-15 sheets each) between the SSD and the HDD cage.
I installed just one ST3000DM001 to be my VHD drive above the SSD OS drive.
One of the AMD mounting legs was broken on the base mounting bracket – since I was mounting a i7-3770 ( Intel socket 1155) it didn’t matter in my case but it probably explains why I was able to get the Zalman at such a deep discount on Black Friday.
Related articles:
A Server Build with a GA-Z77X-UD5H in a Lian-Li PC-K9WX
A Server Build with a GA-Z77X-UD5H in a Lian-Li PC-K9WX–Part 2
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Category: Hard Drives, Review, SSD, Windows Home Server
That cooler looks like the generator from one of those Stars Wars movies,
Thanks John. Hope you enjoyed the paper. I really like the blue glow because it reminded me of Cherenkov Radiation you'll see in the pool of a LWR. Star Wars is an added bonus (grin)! My wife even thinks it looks cool!
I like this cooler. Wished I would have gotten that one for my laster server upgrade. I like the clearance it provides for the memory chips. Very hard to find a cooler that gives you this performance with that kind of clearance. Nice job on the write up.
Thanks PCDoc! I'm glad the pictures turned out well showing the excellent clearances all around the Zalman — it was clearly very well designed both technically and aesthetically. I found it easy to install also — which is a BIG plus in my book. My only regret is I didn't do it sooner — it was well worth the time to tear down my machine and do the installation (even though I missed the chance to run S2012E-beta in a VM when it was first released).
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