How to "test" laptop cooler to make sure its doing its job properly?

Hi everyone,

Recently got a cooler for my m17x (NZXT Cryo LX) and basically, I want to ensure that it IS doing what it should - cool the laptop components.
I got this one (quite fortunately due to availability) because of its fan alignments with the m17x intakes at the back so i am hoping it will do a good job.

I have seen people using gpu-z and HWinfo32 which both monitor temps etc but is one more accurate from the other?

My plan is to put it through its paces in various situations (on table / on cooler turned off / on cooler low / on cooler high).

What would be best to use to test it with? - i had thought running several passes of 3dMark06 to get things nice and toasty? - is there something else that i can run to test things (apart from a game obviously)

Would also be interested to hear from any one who has a cryo/m17x and who has maybe done some "testing" of this cooler to see how results compare.

The whole reason behind doing this is to see if my £60 was well spent or wether or not a lower priced cooler would do just the same!! (that sounds really cheapskate i know lol)

Thanks guys!

 

Well you could always use the Furmark multi-gpu version and use its stability test while you monitor temps in the various situations.
But be forewarned, a few days back Dell rep posted this:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/514942-furmark-gpu-performance-degradation-aw-systems.html
Furmark stability test has never failed me, but I wouldn't advise starting it and walking away. Though your performance laptop should handle this with ease, if there is a problem with gpu's and/or heat issues, you might want to be there. Temps typically level off after a couple of minutes. GPU-Z, Hwinfo32 are what I use. There may be others I have forgotten, and I can't see that having the two open at the same time would cause any issues.
If you want to test out cooling of the cpu you could use wprime to get it toasty.
Cheers Stevie and enjoy that last replacement!

EDIT - I have the same cooler and I love it, I would only change one thing, On/Off switch & better USB hub. oops that's two. When the fans go I'm gonna mod this thing and make it pretty

 

Cheers Infernia, the latest replacement is arriving within a few hours so will be testing it out on my original first then the new baby gets it lol. Will bear Furmark in mind - thanks for the heads up.

 

An update for Stevie, my Cryo's USB hub is working just fine now as long as I use AC adapter to power it up.

I guess USB port from M17x is enough to power the cooler itself but it cannot handle other accessories connected to the cooler's hub.

 

Hi honey, yeah, i thought that may be the case....i did think tho that the m17's usb's would have been sufficient as have read other users with less powerful systems have no issues running fans at full blast via usb alone.....another thing for AW to look into rectifying!

 

Stevie you already know that power is an issue for the 'All Powerful' laptops. Sorry. Couldn't resist. that could get me flamed
It would be interesting to see if they address this at some point but it's probably not high on the priority list at this time.
I was going to ask if someone with a way to test actual power output could test out these systems with USB's filled up (real world scenario), media card, hdmi, etc. I am curious if it has any trouble loaded up like that.
It would seem that I can not use my Cryo with fans full on via USB either. Only way to power them up properly is to plug them in. Did you get an adapter with yours and if so can you use it in the UK?

 

Get a 12 volt/1000 ma adapter with a 1.3 MM plug(you can't use the USB ports on the back).... then its just amazing how much this thing blows. I just like to take a piece of paper and set it below it an inch or half inch from time to time or put the piece of paper on top and watch it drift away.(easily amused)

 

@Infernia - hehehe, all powerful is quite the opposite in the usb scenario here I thought it may have been my ports or something on the cryo not functioning correctly. I have been in touch with NZXT Europe and they have agreed to send me a UK wall charger/adaptor and also a new usb board and controller board (i had to push 'em hard but then again, we bothh are used to having to do that arent we?
Hopefully it will all work well once they arrive"

@Mkelliny - 12v?? i have heard that some people have used these to rev up the fans to the max and have also heard that they have fried some coolers too....obviously the logic in behind not using the hub is to avoid that frying but what about the controller board?? - is that likely to fry putting approx double the manufacturer voltage through it? - sorry but my ohms law and impedance maths etc is rather dodgy at best lol

 

Just one tip, when you use the 12V don't connect to the laptop, it will fry the USB port of the laptop and you will have to replace the mobo (happened to someone else).

 

Yeah, I seem to recall reading that someone did that by using a higher rated power supply. Im gonna use the one that ships out to me first of all but if that doesnt work out, I will try getting a 12v 1000ma one from somewhere and use the cooler without the USB hub functionality (personally, i dont have the need to use it anyway atm) and see how things "heat" up then!

Thanks for the heads up.

 

Thx for the suggestion. I'll be digging through the box of adapters I have collected. If I can't find one I'm sure they're easy enough to get online. Easily amused.... aren't we all.

GOOD tip. Will be sure to lose that USB connector cord when I go that route with the adapter.

 

Although i am getting an adaptor for the cryo sent out shortly, I too have been rummaging in the drawers looking for a suitable adaptor. (should have seen my face when i found something lol, like a kid at christmas - how sad am i? hehe )

Anyway, it isnt a 12v adaptor but it may suffice in the meantime till mine arrives.

From what i have read, the Cryo supplied adaptor is 5v 1000ma/1amp.

Now, i found a usb wall charger that i use with my Tomtom satnav....sticker on it says output 5v / 1amp.......do you think i am good to go with this in the meantime?......only downside is that as its a wallplug with a usb female to convert from the mains, i gotta use the tiny shortass usb-dc cable that came with the cryo meaning gotta have a extension bank somwhere behind the lappy.....

What dya think? - kinda hotchpotch i know but i wanna see if this thing does "rev up" any faster than it does atm.

Safe to use the Tomtom usb wall charger on those ratings? (wont even bother using the usb hub)

 

It won't Rev up any higher than it does with a 5V 1A adapter with the 12 volt 1 A adapter they spin like they are in a desktop. They send it out with a 5v adapter, but with the 12V this thing is a whole new beast the only downside I believe is that the USB hub in the back becomes useless as you can short the board if you plug something into it and your usb port on your m17x like stamatisX said, but for me I'd rather have these monsters blow than use the ports. The M17x has ports up the wazoo anyway.

EDIT: I seen your post stevie it will not damage the controller board obviously you run some risk, but not as high when you dont use the USB ports at all. It was even confirmed that the 12V will work by a NZXT rep can't find the post, but it is there. From what I understand they ship it with a 5v adapter because of the USB ports can't handle higher voltages.(correct me if I am wrong)

 

Hmm, so If I read this correctly (glanced over it real quick) numerous people are using a 12V adaptor instead of the stock 5V? And when used with a 12V adaptor, it increases the airflow by a considerable amount. BUT it also removes the ability to use the USB hub as it will fry the CPU mobo correct? Which is fine with me since I never use the USB hub. Just want to make sure i have my facts right before using a 12V when I return stateside.

 

Yup, you got it No USB ports to or from the hub or laptop with a 12V/1000MA adapter and you will be fine, and it will feel like you have a tornado under your laptop.

make sure its a 1.3MM plug though.

Won't fry the mobo or the CPU just the USB port you plugged it into which results into a mobo replacement.

 

Well, i just had some emails from NZXT and i asked 'em about 12v.....yeah he said would fry the board (assuming he meant usb hub board) and of course, we dont wanna risk our beloved mobo's whatsoever....

If i can get this thing to blow like a $5 hooker (sorry for the analagy but i heard it somewhere and it made me laugh my pants off) using a 12v 1amp/1000ma adaptor then stuff the usb hub....afterall, i bought it to COOL and not to provide more ports...i got 4/5 of them already !

Im assuming here as a novice that most 120mm case fans are 12v and thats the kind of fans that the cryo has (as seen people replace them with fans that have neons etc - not my cup of tea but if it floats ya boat, go for it)

One question would be tho, does 12v any way affect the fan controller dial and its circuitry? - can you still adjust low-high?

Would this be suitable: http://cpc.farnell.com/1/1/37497-adaptor-ac-dc-regulated-1000ma-mws9211uk.html

EDIT: another thing....if you use a 12v supply, without using the usb hub, will this fry the board regardless or would you be able to go back to using it as normal assuming that you hadnt used the usb hub whilst on 12v?

NZXT rep mailed me saying that the supplied adaptor is 5v 2000ma......anyone confirm this? - also , could you use 12v 2000ma or has it gotta be 12v 1000ma?

 

some links to read

http://forum.notebookreview.com/accessories/327377-powering-nzxt-cryo-lx-laptop-cooler.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/315490-m1730-cpu-oc-uv-gpu-t.html

 

I'd recommend against using a 12v power supply on a product that's only designed for 5v. You can see why by looking at good ol' Ohm's Law:

If the resistance in the system is fixed, and increase in voltage will cause a proportional increase in current. In the case of 12v over 5v, assuming that the resistance is constant, you're now trying to put 2.4x the number of amps through.

If the only component that's connected is a fan, you'll certainly make the fan spin a lot faster than normal. However, if there are any other components, you could easily overload them and burn them out.

 

And obviously that would include the USB board and Controller board of the cooler, unless they were bypassed and wired directly to the power source right?

The juice that powers these coolers goes via USB board doesnt it so in all likelihood, it will fry the board on the cooler and would also fry your Mobo if you connected the hub via usb-usb to your laptop eh?

 

It depends on how the circuitry in the cooler is wired. If you have a completely isolated power system for the fan, and a completely isolated USB hub, and both have separate cables for connecting them to the USB ports on your laptop, then you may be able to get away with just powering the fan with a 12v power source.

This assumes that there's complete separation in the circuits. If they share anything (e.g. the fan can draw extra power from the hub's USB connection) then you'll end up frying something in either the laptop or the cooler.

You'd also want to make sure you never hook the fan-side USB connection up to your laptop. Having +12v of power on a +5v pin is likely to cause issues in your USB port or the surrounding componentry. At best you'll end up with a blown port. At worst you'll lose your motherboard.

 

Maybe the reason that some users report better results using usb-usb AND a power adaptor as both would supply some degree of power to the fans???? - would that be right?

 

The AC adapter would be what's giving the most benefit.

The default power output of a USB 2.0 socket is 5v 100mA. It is possible to draw up to 500mA from a single socket, but this requires signalling the USB controller. I very much doubt that the fan power connector on the cooler does this.

Even if the hub connector on the cooler can be used to draw power for the fans, the best is can do is that 500mA limit. Combined with the 100mA from the other USB socket, that's a total of 600mA of current. The AC adapter can easily output more than 1A of current. Regardless of how the current comes, more current = more wattage = better fan speeds.

Without having one of these coolers to pry apart, my guess is that the USB hub is fully decoupled from the fan. This would be why you need a second USB cable to use the hub. In this case, the 12v adapter would work ok and give better fan speeds. It's simply a matter of making sure you never hook the fan USB lead up to a computer. Ever.

 

Just wanted to ask something here rather than opening a new thread.

Any difference on white and black zalman NC-2000 because black is $10 more expensive than the white one?
I was planning to get one but...

 

If there's a price difference, it's usually because the supply of one colour is more restricted than the other colour. The unit that's easier to get hold of is cheaper, and the rarer one is more expensive.

I'd be completely surprised if there was any difference between the two coolers, so just go with whichever one you want.