NZXT Cryo LX Review

Well, its here! I ordered this thing on the 31st of March and got it today. As I excitedly opened the box, i grabbed my camera and started taking pictures. My first impression was this thing is a BEAST! 7.4 pound shipping weight...about 5 of that in the cooler alone! First thing i noticed was that it was incredibly well built and seemed very durable. Its got 5 usb ports on the backside, an adjustment knob on the right hand side, and a usb to dc cable (that i'm running from my ipod wall charger because i felt the fans werent running at full speed when connected to the laptop) Before I unplugged the old notebook cooler, i took a screenshot of what the temps were before with the computer at idle. 46C minimum 56C maximum under 100% load with the old cooler. Its now sitting at 46C minimum (due to the undervolting, i dont think it will get much cooler than that) with a 51C maximum under 100% load. 5C temperature difference! and then i took a comparison shot of the old cooler sitting on the new one....wow what a difference. I have about an inch and a half on either side of the laptop to move it around....forward, backward, left or right, whereas with the old cooler, the laptop would hang over the edges and wobble like a loose leg on a chair if it didnt sit just right....I am very pleased with this cooler, even IF it didnt lower my minimum temperature at all.

 

guess nobody likes my little review. sorry its sloppy, but i was in a rush.

 

what size is your laptop?

 

17" Toshiba X205-S9800

 

Hei.. Relax...
Where did you buy the cooler? I'm thinking of getting one too... (as of Zalman NC-2000 too..) :/

 

can you get a pic with the laptop on the cooler?

 

yeah i'm on the market for one sof these too. How much did you get yours for?

Ebay sells them for 49 + 24 shipping so it comes out to 75. If you got it for less let us know - thanks!

 

must be nice...i bought mine from newegg. 75 plus shipping. i refuse to ebay any more. no way in hell.

as for the pictures...here they are.

 

From the pictures it seems like it will be blowing air towards the upper region of the laptop. My laptop has vents in both the upper and lower regions so I'm not sure this would be a good cooler for me.

By the way how is the portability and noise of this cooler?

 

if you have the fan speed turned all the way up, plugged in to a dc to usb converter to get the most out of it, it is very noticeable from 5 feet away. if its on low fan speed, its barely noticeable at all, sounds like a cpu fan running. as for the portablility...if you have the room in your bag, and dont mind carrying your computer and a 5 pound notebook cooler....its great. my laptop weighs 10 pounds w/o carrying the power brick, so i'm pretty sure that ill be carrying close to 20 pounds with the laptop, power brick, and cooler if i ever travel with it.

 

thats good though, nice excercise to lug it around

 

oh i know...im just saying for that for people that want a portable cooler, this is probably not your best option. 20 pounds while carrying all that really isnt much. not compared to what i have carried around while traveling.

 

Thanks for the review...I have a targus 17" notebook rolling laptop case -the TXL717 model - I am trying to get an idea if the NZXT cryo will fit in this bag along...there is a "slot" for the notebook and there is a seperate area for the various accessories such as the ac adapter "brick". I was hoping this thing will fit there. Any ideas anyone?

Thanks...

 

The dimensions are: (W x D): 16.6" x 11.6"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834997340

Thickness is not listed possibly due to it being adjustable. It doesn't look too portable or transport friendly. Seems like it has a ton of sharp edges, but it's also got a lot of empty space between the aluminum.

If it's really 5 lbs, that's pretty heavy.

I know most people would not enjoy carry around 20lbs of computer equipment all the time

 

The thickness of the cooler is 0.5" at the front and scales up to 2.25" at the rear of the unit. Removing the rubber feet on the bottom of the unit will reduce the height by approximately 0.25".

Folding the unit in half makes the cooler approximately 2.75" thick.

 

Great job.I think this is the first review.What was your old cooler?

Some pics would be appreciated

 

Thanks garetjax - one of the test links for the NZXT cooler in the notebook buyers guide that X2P put together on this site says that it's about 2.25" thick probably not folded but garetjax says it's about 2.75" thick folded -they also say it takes about 4.25" off the top to bottom dimension of 11.6 or 7.35.

so I would say folded the dimensions are 2.75 x 7.35 x 16.6 - and when I took a tape measure to my Targus TXL717 case it looks like it should fit (folded) in the accessories "slot" of the case probably will have a challange also getting the power adaptor "Brick" in there as well but I think it will work - anyway - am leaning towards buying this over the NC2000. I don't mind lugging it all around - I just want to be able to store everything in the TXL717 case. I have an older ZD7000 laptop whose fans are always on high and the hard drive gets pretty hot - while I'd like to upgrade the laptop I don't really need to for the moment. Here is a link to the targus case in case anyone is interested...

http://www.targus.com/US/product_details.asp?sku=TXL717

Here is the offsite review of the nzxt cryo that listed the above referenced dimensions.

http://www.ocia.net/reviews/Cryolx/page1.shtml

 

Thanks. My old cooler was some plastic monstrosity I bought from Staples.

As you wish!

 

I just went to a number of sites to order - the ones with free shipping - and at three sites (Amazon, Buy.com, and one other place) the NZXT CRYO LX is out of stock - I am wondering if they might be making some improvements with the next gen - perhaps a power button or way to turn the fan off- a criticism many of the reviews had. Newegg has it but it's ~$12-15 more with shipping and their slightly higher price.

 

I can see why it's 5 lbs. That thing means business.

 

The shortage of Cryo LX units in the US has been going on for at least three months now.

There's no need for a power button to turn the fans off... just unplug the USB power cord from the back of the unit.

 

I'm considering purchasing this laptop cooler and was wondering if there's any way to replace the fans? I have a couple silent 120mm fans lying around I could swap in if it was too noisy. Do you see any easy way to do so?

 

If your only reason to replace the fans that come with the Cryo LX is their noise signature, you may be interested in knowing that the three 120mm fans that are in this unit are extremely quiet even at their highest settings. You will have a hard time hearing them unless you put your head close to the cooler.

Barring that, replacing the fans could present a challenge as the connectors for the fans use a white block for power, not your normal 3- or 4-pin connector as commonly found on case fans. You can see the white connectors better in this picture. They are at the top:

 

So what do you do if a fan breaks?

 

The MTBF of any 120mm fan is extremely long. I seriously doubt a fan on this product would "break". And even if it did, I'm sure a quick call or e-mail to NZXT tech support would set you up with a replacement pretty quick.

 

my old cooler was a targus chill mat...

BTW: i used to see temps around 60-65C for the cpu while gaming without the cooler, and with the cooler i would see no higher than 56C while gaming. on the laptop im currently using i see on average about a 28C idle with temps no higher than 50C without the cooler, 22C or less idle and no higher than 47C with the cooler





the old cooler sitting on top of the Cryo LX

 

diablo85, are you using the NZXT cooler for your 6860? i see most of these posts were with the Toshiba. just wondering how the cooler helps the FX temps and how it sits comfortably or not on top and if your still happy with it? thanks.

 

yup, still using the cooler for my 6860. it helps the temps out a lot. plenty of room to move it around on the cooler. i idle right around 24-26C with AS5 + T9300 + laptop cooler + undervolting.

and i am more than happy with that.

 

I recently got the cooler and compared it between my friend's Zalman NC-2000 (though I purchased one and sold it later). It really depends on the computer really. In this case (for an M9750) the NZXT Cryo LX cooled better than the NC-2000.

 

any word on if the additional USB ports are 2.0 or not? thanks.

 

i do believe the ports are usb 2.0 i ran hdtune on my usb external drive, and the performance is right about the same as when hooked to my laptop.

 

What AC adapter did u use for this???? something like this: http://www.topmic.com/power-usb-ac.html????

 

i used my apple ipod wall charger to power the 4-port usb hub that its connected to. i dont hook up the usb to usb cable to my laptop, as i rarely use more than 2 of my usb ports, so i just plugged it into a little hub and it runs perfectly.

 

Just a small amount or something fairly large? How do you compare them as far as build quality, portability, and tilt angle?

I have the NC1000 it serves me well but I want to get a Cryo one day maybe just to mod it

I do not consider the Zalmans units high end coolers in terms of pure air power, they are high end units tho in all other aspects.

If love a cheap $30 or so Cryo shell, no fans included. If anybody ever has one break or get damaged or something look me up to sell it.

 

Can't find a place that either sells it here in Canada or doesn't charge an arm and leg for shipping. Any help would be appreciated. This coolers looks perfect for my P-6860FX.

 

have u tried a power seller off ebay?

 

For $90 + $15 shipping, definitely not worth it at that point.

 

Ok who could tell me dimensions of NZXT Cryo LX in cm (centimetres) ? Cuz i got confused about it

 

the high cost might be due to the high demand and low stock of this cooler. there was also a *RUMOR* that they might be redesignin the cryo LX with a power button. but thats just a rumor...not sure how valid that is.
i got mine off ebay a few months ago for about $70-80 usd shipped.

NZXT cryo LX

dimensions: 16.6" x 11.6"; which converts to: 42.16cm x 29.46cm

 

i just downloaded hwmonitor (was previously usin speedfan for CPU/HD & rivaturner for GPU/FPS).

these are my idle temps with A08 bios and all OEM settings. i did some light browsing and then gamed for about 1 hour. then left my m1530 idle with my Cryo LX on max fan settings.

these are my idle temps after about 1 hour:

 

Room temperature?

 

climate control in my house is always at 77f-79f. my room is actually a bit hotter cuz i have the door to the attic in my room. my ceiling fan was also off at the time.

 

Lucky! nice and cool... my room is at 34C with air con on >.<

 

at least u have dry heat.

try 34c in this texas humidity!

 

Lol its mid 80s 50+% humidity and even with my house ac at 70-72F my office is still sitting 90f+. Thank God for my NZXT Cryo...

Edit: its 90F in my office and mid 80s outside, not the other way around.

 

mines 34C plus 76%+ humidity >.< tokyo = usually 40-50C summer days plus humidity

 

Other then mild days like today, Maryland has the kind of humidity that makes you sweat as soon as you step outside.

 

whats the max temp drop with the nzxt cryo lx? also.. whats the average temp drop ? is this the best cooler for xps 1730? thanks!

oh..question about the vent.. if u place an xps 1730 on the cryo lx.. would the vent on the xps 1730 properly ventilated when placed on the cyro lx? thank you!

 

Every system will be different even if you compare two xps 1730s

 

i just wanted to know if its worth it.. cause i saw a review and says thers only a 2 degrees drop in temps when using the cyro lx.. so just want to clarify it

so cyrlo lx is the best cooler for xps 1730? not zalman nc2000?

how about the vent? would the vent of xps 1730 be properly ventilated on the vents of the cyro lx ? thanks