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The Zalman TNN 300 Disappointment
January 2009

The Silent GREEN PC Build

What could possibly be better than a GREEN PC? A silent GREEN PC!

Imagine pushing the start button... and then hearing almost nothing coming from your new GREEN PC! A bit eerie, perhaps. But oh how unique.

And after all, noise is a form of pollution too, isn't it?

I am currently testing various options for building a GREEN PC that is essentially fanless and therefore noiseless. Not an easy or simple task. Remember, inside the computer case, generated heat is the enemy. The heat must be dissipated away from the components efficiently. The only feasible way to do this is through the use of heat pipes and heat sinks, in an aluminum case.

At the moment, I am focusing on the Zalman TNN 300, for an enclosure.















This case is one big heat sink in itself! Those protruding external panels are actually heat sinks connected to components inside the case.





















Inside view. This is one magnificent piece of engineering! The door at the above right contains the low-profile power supply. Note the copper heat pipes attached to the blue CPU heat sink.

This is an amazing case. And pricey! (About $700) But worth it considering all that is included. A build using this case is not really recommended for beginners, however.



























One big challange at the moment is selecting a GREEN micro-ATX motherboard. Not many out there right now. And then there's the big issue of having the CPU position on the motherboard line up with the case's CPU heat sink and heat pipes! No way of telling for sure, until you buy various motherboards and start fitting them into the case, and installing the copper heat pipes. (Translation: expensive research)

Zalman's site does not have a current list of compatible motherboards. And they can't, really. New motherboards are being introduced into the market every week. It's up to guys like me to do the research and testing.

Now, I know what some of you may be thinking. "Aren't we heading into a dead-end proprietary box?" Good point. The power supply is indeed proprietary. To get an exact replacement, you would need one from Zalman. And what about a limited number of micro-ATX boards that will have components in a position that will line up with Zalman's heat pipe technology?

Here's my position on the above points. A GREEN build using Zalman's case is no worse than having a PC from Dell, HP or Gateway with proprietary parts. But it IS FAR BETTER in terms of saving energy AND doing so in near pure silence.

Furthermore, I'm a big sucker for quality. And the Zalman case just ooozes quality.

Is this TNN 300 Zalman case the Rolls Royce of cases? I think so. I bought one and I am truly amazed at the engineering behind all the components that are a part of the package. You can tell Zalman put a big investment into the Research and Development of this technology.

Also, I have read dozens of reviews on the TNN 300 since its introduction in late 2005. Without exception, every review I read, mentioned the suberb engineering, design and high quality of the case.

So what's wrong with the case? Price and some limitations. Price you can explain - it is justified. Period. (I could write a couple of pages on price justification for this product!)

Limitations? Proprietary 350 watt power supply. Video card compatibility. There's a few other issues too, not worth mentioning here.

Here's a key point - the above limitations do not matter when building a modern silent GREEN machine!

Another thing. This case, when introduced, was really ahead of its time. Not a lot of suitable micro ATX motherboards were available. But now things are different.

And the new niche is GREEN.    SILENT GREEN!

Sadly, Zalman just recently discontinued the TNN 300! Certainly, this was a result of disappointing sales.

There are still 100 plus units in the retail channel here in the US. But this won't last long in the GREEN niche.

Now, Zalman needs to re-evaluate their decision on this product. I am sure if they realize a strong demand is present in the GREEN niche, they will bring back the TNN 300.

The Silent GREEN PC Builders Guide is expected to be available around the end of March, 2009, subject to the availability of the Zalman case.

If you would like to be notified when the guide is ready, or even just for updates on this Silent GREEN PC, 


Let's build them GREEN and Silent!
email me
February 2009

The Silent GREEN PC Build ....Just built!
Above Left: Rear of case, shows rear heat sink, large heat sinks on both sides.

Above Right: Power supply side of the case. Front and rear heat sinks also visible.
Left: Motherboard side of the case. Front and rear heatsinks also visible.

I chose to mount the 1TB hard drive in an optional external enclosure, on top of the case. This enclosure further silences the hard drive, and also brings the hard drive generated heat outside of the case. The enclosure also matches the rest of the TNN 300 case design.

"What's that sound?" The only thing you can hear from this whole PC, if you are close enough, is a slight sound from the hard drive when it is reading/writing to the disk... kind of reminds me of small covered pot of boiling/bubbling water on the stove! The actual spinning of the drive platter is very difficult to hear.

Oh, guess how much this thing weighs when assembled...

I put it on the scale... 41 pounds! (All those heat sinks add up!)
Right: Inside the case before anything was installed.

The three protruding brackets are for the drives. Optical drive on the top. Then there is room for 2 hard drives, just underneath.

Extremely well thought-out by Zalman.
Left: Optical drive mounted in position.
Right: Yup. Used a Blu-Ray optical drive!
Left: The 1TB hard drive had to be GREEN, of course!
Above: CPU heat sink in place. Connecting the cables.

Also installed to the right is a 250GB hard drive, with Zalmans's optional hard drive heat sink. Both drives are not running at the same time, however. This internal drive is set up with Windows 7 Beta, for testing. I use a SATA switch, to switch between bootable drives. Works great.


Below: The Zalman TNN 300 running Windows 7 Beta, from the internal hard drive. Note the stunning scene for the Windows Desktop. So far Windows 7 looks like it's going to be a real winner. It's going to be what Vista should have been.

Windows 7 is expected to be released around October of 2009.
Note on the internal 250GB Windows 7 test drive. Compared to the 1TB drive in the external enclosure the internal drive is noisey! Very noticeable. Not only can you hear the drive accessing reads/writes, you can hear it continually spinning. Annoying.

That optional external enclosure on the top of the PC does a superb job of silencing the drive. Not to mention removing the hard drive's generated heat from the inside of the Zalman case.
More on the silent green PC build next month.....
March 2009

The Silent GREEN PC Build ....Zalman Update....

As indicated previously, Zalman recently discontinued the TNN 300.

On or about January 26, 2009, I mailed a letter to Zalman USA, expressing interest in promoting the TNN 300 for GREEN applications.

No response received to date.

On or about January 26, 2009, I e-mailed Zalman's headquarters in Korea, expressing interest in promoting the TNN 300 for GREEN applications.

No response received to date.

Not a good sign.

However, Zalman's site still features the TNN 300 as if it were still available from Zalman!

Interesting.

Maybe this is a good sign!

Also, near the end of January, I contacted Mr. Vincent Kim, of Zalman USA. Mr. Kim sounded like a sensible man. He did not seem to discourage the idea of another product run, provided a market still exists. Or may be created, or expanded.

I will be contacting Mr. Kim in the near future, and post his response here.

(I am also working on an alternative Silent GREEN PC, should the TNN 300 option not materialize.)

By the way, I appreciate the emails expressing an interest in the Silent GREEN PC Builders Guide!

Thank you.


For now, let's be thankful for Zalman's R&D pioneering efforts in this direction. They had a real winner, it was just a little ahead of its time.

And many of us were too slow to recognize its real value....


Anyway, here's a copy of an email sent to Vincent Kim at Zalman, on March 11, 2009

















































Still waiting for any kind of a response...






Hi Vincent:

You may recall that we spoke by telephone a few weeks ago, regarding the discontinued TNN 300.

I said I would get back to you with a request. Here it is.

Bring back the TNN 300!

Reasons to produce another run of TNN 300 cases:

...because additional applications are continually being discovered. (I will send you a list, if you like.)

...because there are still people online searching and researching the TNN 300. People reach my GREEN PC site (looking for the TNN 300) because of what I wrote about the TNN 300. I currently refer them to endpcnoise.com to order the product. Here's the link to the page http://www.buildagreenpc.com/News.html (My site has just been up since January)

...because there are presently more, and far better options available, for the TNN 300 in the micro ATX form factor.

...because a considerable investment in this technology was already made by Zalman. Your company already designed the best silent case. Don't let some other company pick up where your investment in R & D left off...

I can come up with more reasons if you like. And lots of ways to promote to new and existing niches. (I could offer a few ideas for changes to up-date a new release, however.)

Vincent, tell me what we need to do to get 500 (or maybe 300, or whatever is practical for Zalman) manufactured and into the retail channels.

Frankly, I have another fanless design option that I could resort to, if I have to. But the TNN 300 is truly a superb piece of engineering. It is the best option. When it first came out, it was just ahead of its time - let's give it another chance!


I will look forward to any comments that you may have.


Sincerely,


Vaughn Pyne.
April 6 2009 Update

Seems that Zalman has no interest in responding to any requests. (Is it their policy to ignore customers' requests at all levels?)

So,

Time to abandon the Zalman option and move on to another silent PC option! I am currently working on another fanless GREEN PC alternative....