With the FZ120 Zerotherm presents a tower cooler which comes with a very competitive price tag but still promises solid performance. For little money you get four heatpipes and specially shaped fins. In 1999 three Korean engineers founded the company Apack which designs and manufactures cooling solutions for processors and graphic cards. Within the past ten years they were able to establish a very well know brand in the cooling industry manufacturing high quality products.
On the following pages we will show you what Zerotherms FZ120 is capable of.
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Specifications and included in delivery
Specifications
| Model | Zerotherm FZ120 |
| Material | Aluminium / Copper |
| Dimension (WxDxH) | 126 x 61 x 152 mm |
| Cooling area | ca. 6827 cm2 |
| Fan dimensions | 120 x 25 mm |
| RPM | 1'100 - 1'80 RPM +/-10% |
| Acoustic pressure | min. 19.5 dB, max 31.4 dB (+/-10%) |
| Connector | 4-Pin PWM |
| Power consumption | 2.2 Watt |
| Flow rate | 59.48 CFM |
| Weight | 670 g (without clip components) |
Included in delivery
- CPU cooler with 120 mm fan
- Mounting kit for Socket AM2, 939, 940, 745, 775
- Mounting components
- Thermal grease
- Manual (english)
Zerotherms FZ120 comes well protected from outer influeces so that the fins wont be damaged during transportation. The delivery includes everything you need to install the fan correctly and is therefore sufficient.
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Construction and design
Construction
The Zerotherm FZ120 consists of aluminium and copper. Four six millimeter heatpipes establish contact to the CPU via a polished copper ground palte. Furthermore the 47 fins are cooled using a 120 mm fan which comes with PWM functionality.
The four heatpipes built from copper establish contact with the CPU via a polished copper ground plate and immediately catch the beholders view.
Design
Zerotherms FZ120 comes with a nice and clean look. The fins have a specially rounded shape an in the center there are two gaps to create turbulences. The fan made of acrylic glass also fits perfectly into the picture.
The 120 mm fan is held transparent. If the fan is driven at 12 Volts we describe its noise as subjectively noisy. The 1800 holds the CPU at adequate temperatures but as we said, it isn't silent.
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Mounting
To mount the FZ120 properly you'll find a multisocket backplate for AMD- and Intel-sockets. The whole installation process is simple and done quickly. All the components are bolted together which make the cooler fit perfectly on either an AMD or Intel CPU.
The cooler can be mounted into every single direction. We recommend installing the cooler that the air blown by the fan moves towards tha back of your case to assure an optimal airflow.
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Testsystem and testroutine
Testsystem
| Mainboard | Gigabyte X48-DS5 |
| Processor | Intel Core 2 Quad QX6800 |
| Memory | Kingston KHX 8500 D2K2 DDR2 |
| Hard disk | Maxtor 160 GByte |
| Power supply | OCZ 520 Watt |
| Thermal grease | Arctic Silver 5 |
Testroutine
The CPU temperature we evaluate with Real Temp and with Prime95 we reach a 100% CPU load.- Standard clock 12 volts load
- Standard clock 6 volts load
- Overclocking 12 volts load
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Results standard clock (2.93 GHz) 12 volts
| Cooler / fan | Temp. diff. load | Absolute temp. | RPM | Noise | Price | Review link |
| Zalman CNPS9900 LED | 43 K | 68 °C | 1970 | very noisy | CHF 96.-- | Zalman CNP9900 LED |
| Noctua NH-U12P standard | 46 K | 70 °C | 1350 | silent | CHF 101.- | Noctua NH-U12P |
| Noctua NH-C12P | 46 K | 70 °C | 1400 | silent | CHF 105.- | Noctua NH-C12P |
| Zerotherm FZ 120 | 46 K | 69 °C | 1800 | noisy | CHF 49.- | Zerotherm FZ 120 |
| Zerotherm Nirvana NV120 | 46 K | 69 °C | 2400 | very noisy | CHF 65.- | Zerotherm Nirvana NV120 |
| Scythe Mugen 2 | 47 K | 69 °C | 1330 | audible | CHF 64.- | Scyth Mugen 2 |
| EKL Brocken | 47 K | 69 °C | 1500 | audible | CHF 59.- | EKL Brocken |
| Xigmatek Achilles S1284C | 47 K | 68 °C | 1550 | silent | CHF 65.- | Xigmatek Achilles S1284C |
| Zerotherm FZ 120 Special Edition | 48 K | 71 °C | 1300 | silent | CHF 39.- | Zerotherm FZ 120 Special Edition |
| OCZ Gladiator Max | 48 K | 71 °C | 1500 | audible | CHF 66.- | OCZ Gladiator Max |
| Noctua NH-U9B standard | 51 K | 75 °C | 1750 | audible | CHF 94.- | Noctua NH-U9B |
| Xigmatek Dark Knight S1283 | 51 K | 74 °C | 2120 | very noisy | CHF 74.- | Xigmatek Dark Knight S1283 |
| EKL Gross Clock'ner Blue Edition | 52K | 75 °C | 1400 | audible | CHF 59.- | EKL Gross Clock'ner Blue Edition |
| EKL Gross Clock'ner | 57 K | 80 °C | 1100 | silent | CHF 59.- | EKL Gross Clock'ner |
| EKL Gletscherspalte | 57 K | 77 °C | 1300 | audible | CHF 75.- | EKL Gletscherspalte |
| Gelid Silent Spirit | 59 K | 83 °C | 2500 | noisy | EUR 27 USD 35 | Gelid Silent Spirit |
| Zerotherm BTF-90 | 59 K | 72 °C | 2700 | very noisy | CHF 45.- | |
| Zerotherm CF900 | 66 K | 89 °C | 1550 | silent | CHF 35.- | Zerotherm CF900 |
| Zerotherm CF800 | 74 K | 97 °C | 1700 | audible | CHF 30.- | Zerotherm CF800 |
| Xigmatek Apache EP-CD901 | >90 K (crash) | >110° C (crash) | 2570 | very noisy, hum | CHF 19.- | Xigmatek Apache EP-CD901 |
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Results standard clock 6 volts
| Cooler / fan | Temp. diff. load | Absolute temp. | RPM | Noise | Price | Review link |
| Zalman CNPS9900 LED | 47 K | 72 °C | 1350 | noisy | unknown | Zalman CNP9900 LED |
| Noctua NH-U12P standard | 49 K | 73 °C | 1000 | very silent | CHF 101.- | Noctua NH-U12P |
| Noctua NH-C12P | 50 K | 74 °C | 1050 | very silent | CHF 105.- | Noctua NH-C12P |
| OCZ Gladiator Max | 52 K | 75 °C | 1100 | silent | CHF 66.- | OCZ Gladiator Max |
| EKL Brocken | 55 K | 77 °C | 810 | silent | CHF 59.- | EKL Brocken |
| Zerotherm FZ 120 | 55 K | 78 °C | 900 | very silent | CHF 49.- | Zerotherm FZ 120 |
| Xigmatek Achilles S1284C | 55 K | 76 °C | 1000 | silent | CHF 65.- | Xigmatek Achilles S1284C |
| Zerotherm FZ 120 Special Edition | 56 K | 76 °C | 1040 | very silent | CHF 39.- | Zerotherm FZ 120 Special Edition |
| Zerotherm Nirvana NV120 | 57 K | 80 °C | 1000 | silent | CHF 65.- | Zerotherm Nirvana NV120 |
| Noctua NH-U9B standard | 57 K | 81 °C | 1450 | silent | CHF 94.- | Noctua NH-U9B |
| EKL Gletscherspalte | 59 K | 81 °C | 950 | silent | CHF 75.- | EKL Gletscherspalte |
| Scythe Mugen 2 | 60 K | 82 °C | 860 | silent | CHF 64.- | Scyth Mugen 2 |
| EKL Gross Clock'ner Blue Edition | 60 K | 83 °C | 950 | silent | CHF 59.- | EKL Gross Clock'ner Blue Edition |
| Xigmatek Dark Knight S1283 | 61 K | 85 °C | 970 | silent | CHF 74.- | Xigmatek Dark Knight S1283 |
| EKL Gross Clock'ner | 62 K | 85 °C | 900 | silent | CHF 59.- | EKL Gross Clock'ner |
| Zerotherm BTF-90 | 65 K | 82 °C | 1200 | audible | CHF 49.- | |
| Gelid Silent Spirit | 71 K | 95 °C | 1900 | audible | EUR 27 USD 35 | Gelid Silent Spirit |
| Zerotherm CF900 | 77 K | 100 °C | 1200 | silent | CHF 35.- | Zerotherm CF900 |
| Zerotherm CF800 | >90 K | >110 °C (crash) | 1100 | very silent | CHF 30.- | Zerotherm CF800 |
| Xigmatek Apache EP-CD901 | >90 K (crash) | >110 °C (crash) | 1540 | audible | CHF 19.- | Xigmatek Apache EP-CD901 |
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Results overclocking (3,66 GHz) 12 volts
| Cooler / fan | Temp. diff. load | Absolute temp. | RPM | Noise | Price | Review link |
| Zalman CNP9900 LED | 50 K | 74 °C | 1960 | very noisy | unknown | Zalman CNP9900 LED |
| Noctua NH-U12P standard | 51 K | 75 °C | 1350 | silent | CHF 101.- | Noctua NH-U12P |
| Noctua NH-C12P | 51 K | 75 °C | 1400 | silent | CHF 105.- | Noctua NH-C12P |
| EKL Brocken | 51 K | 73 °C | 1500 | audible | CHF 59.- | EKL Brocken |
| Zerotherm FZ 120 | 51 K | 75 °C | 1800 | noisy | CHF 49.- | Zerotherm FZ 120 |
| Scythe Mugen 2 | 52 K | 75 °C | 1330 | audible | CHF 64.- | Scyth Mugen 2 |
| Zerotherm Nirvana NV120 | 52 K | 75 °C | 2400 | very noisy | CHF 65.- | Zerotherm Nirvana NV120 |
| OCZ Gladiator Max | 53 K | 76 °C | 1500 | audible | CHF 66.- | OCZ Gladiator Max |
| Zerotherm FZ 120 Special Edition | 54 K | 77°C | 1300 | silent | CHF 45.- | Zerotherm FZ 120 Special Edition |
| Noctua NH-U9B standard | 54 K | 78 °C | 1750 | audible | CHF 94.- | Noctua NH-U9B |
| Xigmatek Achilles S1284C | 56 K | 77 °C | 1550 | silent | CHF 65.- | Xigmatek Achilles S1284C |
| Xigmatek Dark Knight S1283 | 56 K | 80 °C | 2100 | very noisy | CHF 74.- | Xigmatek Dark Knight S1283 |
| EKL Gross Clock'ner Blue Edition | 57 K | 80 °C | 1400 | audible | CHF 59.- | EKL Gross Clock'ner Blue Edition |
| EKL Gletscherspalte | 60 K | 83 °C | 1300 | audible | CHF 75.- | EKL Gletscherspalte |
| EKL Gross Clock'ner | 61 K | 84 °C | 1100 | silent | CHF 59.- | EKL Gross Clock'ner |
| Gelid Silent Spirit | 64 K | 88 °C | 2500 | noisy | EUR 27 USD 35 | Gelid Silent Spirit |
| Zerotherm BTF-90 | 64 K | 76 °C | 2700 | very noisy | CHF 49.- | |
| Zerotherm CF900 | 71 K | 94 °C | 1550 | silent | CHF 35.- | Zerotherm CF900 |
| Zerotherm CF800 | 80 K | 103 °C | 1700 | audible | CHF 30.- | Zerotherm CF800 |
| Xigmatek Apache EP-CD901 | >90 K (crash) | >110 °C (crash) | 2570 | very noisy, hum | CHF 19.- | Xigmatek Apache EP-CD901 |
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Conclusion
Since meanwhile ten years Apack, the company behind the Zerotherm products, has been develping and manufacturing high quality CPU coolers. Also with the FZ120 they did a good job and they manage to hit the top third of our chart list.
We highly appreciate the very easy mounting solution which also guarantees a very thorough installation. It is easy and uncomplicated. Futhermore Zerotherms FZ120 is also able to bring its decent looks in scene.
If you drive the fan with 12 volts it is subjectively noisy and a 25 percent clock increase can easily be done. At 6 volts the performance is still good and sufficient to hold the CPU at adequate temperatures. The noise level in this case we describe as subjectively very silent.
Because of the coolers exceptionally good price/performance rating we give it our OCaholic Top Hardware Award.
You can buy Zerotherms FZ120 at Digitec.ch to a price of CHF 35.- (ca. EUR 23.-).
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Author: i.gigier@ocaholic.ch
Revised by: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch