Studio XPS 16 - Which cooler from these four?

Hey guys,

My XPS should hopefully be delivered in the next couple of days (see signature for specs). It will be a desktop replacement primarily used for internet browsing, video streaming, watching a few blu-ray movies and the occasional gaming session.

I don't want to go too much into the heat issues, however to be prepared for longer periods (ie 4-8 hours) I thought it might be wise to invest in a notebook cooler. Having done a bit of research the following seem to be popular:

Antec Notebook Cooler
Cooler Master Notepal Infinite
NZXT Cryo LX
Zalman NC-2000

Which one of these four should I go for?

Thanks in advance.
Dani

 

If you have the money for the Zalman go for that. I have heard only good things (ordered it off amazon). Right now I have the Antec. Its pretty small for the SXPS16. Its really meant to be portable solution. But its a great value.

 

what about this. Scythe 120mm Slip Stream Slim Fan, 1200 rpm.........its just 12mm deep.

just get a sheet metal, saw up a square 120x120mm and voila.....done.

besides, Scythe makes the best fans.....and it only cost 8-9 euro.
how hard can it be

 

Every laptop cooler with active cooling will be good. I don't think there will be much difference concerning cooling itself. Look at other things like:
- is it USB powered or does it have a power brick on it's own
- does it have USB hub included
- how does it elevate/position your laptop and will it still be comfortable to work on
- price
- aesthetics


Mentioning a self-made cooler. Is there someone who did it for the sxps 16, can be interesting? I am planning to build my own laptop cooler custom designed for the sxps 16:
- 2 cooling fans: 1 pushing air through the air intake of the sxps-fan, 1 creating a guided airflow along the complete bottom of the laptop.
- USB hub with at least 3 ports
- minimum elevation of the laptop
- cooling fans and USB hub drawing power from the sxps power brick (will need DC-DC conversion for that but I have already a concept in mind)

 

I have the Zalman and the Cooler To Go, both are effective. The Zalman is better for a stationary solution as it is far sturdier and quieter. The Cooler To Go is great for being more mobile as it packs easily unlike the Zalman. I get the same measured temp's with both coolers.

 

I have the Coolermaster Notepal Infinite for some time now and still works ok, the highest fan setting is a tad too noisy for me but still within limits. Quality of the cooler is very good, but I reckon the Zalman one is even better build. The 1640 is a little bit larger in width then the cooler, its only 5mm but still
If you are interested in this one you should look at the version with a 4 port USB hub seen here on coolermaster's site

 

Thanks for the responses so far.

USB powered would be preferable. Given the USB ports on the SXPS 16 are at a premium, the cooler would need to have at least 1 free port (like the Zalman) - a hub would be a bonus. Elevation should be minimal. Budget would be around £40.

Zalman seems to be winning the battle so far, unless someone has a convincing argument otherwise.

 

you know what.....im actually thinking the same. (just for fun i will build one...i upload some pictures later on )
my father have loots of thin rust free metal sheets in his garage, (great cooling material).

im taking just 2 rust free sheets and put them together with 4 "distance-screws" (one in each corner).
then i place the Scythe 120mm Slim Fan just in place straight under the CPU-ventilation holes

it will work perfect. this 1200 rpm Scythe fan will do it job....for sure.
(best thing of all...it will cost me exact 8 euro )

 

Keep in mind that USB-powered in combination with a hub, leaves almost no power for the USB-ports.
USB is rated following specifications 2.5W (maybe the sxps16 can go higher than that). The coolingfans consume already a large portion of this available power. What's left must be divided by al the USB ports the hub offers. So connecting high power devices that are USB-powered (like e.g. an external 2.5" harddisk) to the hub's ports, may not work.

 

USB powered coolers work fine. Even one's that offer a USB pass through, Cooler To Go, or an additional USB port, the Zalman. These "added" USB ports work great for low power need devices like mice. I've never had a problem using a USB powered cooler and in turn running an external drive or flash drive off of the laptop's other USB ports. The power requirements of these active coolers is very low, just need to run a couple of fans.

 

Cooler Master Notepal Infinite as the air intake is on the rear so you can use it in bed etc.

 

I don't think thats how the usbs are wired in a pc/laptop. It's wired in parallel so splitting off one usb port into say 10 or even 20 extra ports, would result in all the ports getting the same rated usb power.

 

NC2000 has my vote. I've had it for a week and just by the hand on the laptop test, I can tell a big difference the effectiveness in cooling the laptop.

Note:
Very effective setting the 1640 directly on top of the cooler. I also have an XPS 1530 and I tried that with the 1530 half way off the front cooler because the 1530 air intake is in the back. Sure enough, using the hand test, it's much cooler. I do have the 9 cell battery on the 1530.

 

Every normal USB port can deliver 500mA. If you connect a 1-to-4-hub to such a port each of the 4 hub's ports can deliver 100mA (even if not all 4 of them are used). That is how it should be following official specifications, but that is not always the case.
The USB connector on the right side of the sxps 16 has a lightning bolt in its symbol which means it is a "powershare" usb connector. That means the connector still delivers power when the laptop is shut down. I don't know if this feature has influence on how much power it can deliver.

 

how will that work? please help!

 

If the antec cooler is this one:


Then it will work as both a good home and away cooler, otherwise the nzxt is awesome once you mod it like I have and use a desktop PSU molex connector to power it. 3 120MM fans running at the power they were designed to cannot be beat IMHO.