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Zalman CNPS7000-Cu CPU Cooler Review
First of all I have to say how impressed I was with the sheer bulk of the Zalman CNPS7000-Cu heatsink. It felt like it weighed over 5 lbs! The Zalman CNPS7000-Cu comes nicely packaged, and is a very high-tech, futuristic looking heatsink. Just seeing it in the box made me want to jump in and install this product right away!
I have a very nice Colorcase brand tower and it is well buffered, but when the Volcano 7+ is running at full speed (app 6308 rpm), sound quality is at a minimum. The prospect of having a fan that cools AND is quiet was something I couldn't pass up. I was extremely excited when I got my email saying I had been selected to test the product. This package that arrived had everything I needed to instal the fan except screwdrivers and fingers. The Tt Volcano quick release system (See "wide shot with Volcano 7+") was neither quick nor releasing. I remember installing it and it was a breeze. Taking it out was a pain, requiring me to unscrew one of the clip arm screws, removing the arm then turning the fan to get it out. Precarious at best.
However, compared to the clip arms for the Zalman, where installation is concerned, I would take the Tt system. Why? Well, once you have the brackets screwed on the Volcano they just snap into place on top of your CPU. With the Zalman, the clip supports lay unsecured inside the socket. There isn't much space to maneuver a screwdriver around the fan blades and you must push down extremely hard on the screw to get hold of the clip support. This turned out to be a two person job so one person held the fan and moved it around and the other pulled from underneath the clip arm to finally become secure. However, I must say that we had made a mistake and had our fan wire trapped and had to remove it and reinstall it, and the operation went 100% smoother the second time. Once the old fan was out we thoroughly cleaned the top of the CPU with lint free tissue paper leaving a clean surface for the new fan. The clips were placed in the slots and we applied our thermal grease. Though the Zalman comes with a thermal grease, we opted for Arctic Silver II.
Once applied we put the Zalman CNPS 7000-Cu on top of the CPU and got the first threads to take on one clip arm. Then when I went to start the second clip, the gap had severely widened. There was some give in the clip, but not enough to push it all the way down to catch threads with the second arm. It was at that point that my friend and I each had 10 fingers around the fan trying to lift the clip arm of one side up whilst the other tried to screw it down AND make sure the arm was still in the support bracket. As I said before, the second time, this went easier. Once installed, again the sheer mass of the fan is only matched by its beauty. The design is like a copper flower with the fan making up black petals in the middle. Comparing the look with the Volcano there is no comparison. The Zalman is a 10, Bo Derek...the Tt is, well, Bo Jackson. Powerful, but not so beautiful.
Using the Tt Volcano 7+, my CPU would run from an idle temp of 34-deg C to a max pull temp of 50.5-deg C. That is with the fan running at approx. 6308 rpm. I had to say that I was a little disappointed when I found that the Zalman CNPS 7000-Cu had a max fan speed of approx. 2557 rpm. I didn't see any way that it could possibly compete with the Volcano. I was wrong...and right. I still find the idle temp to be about 34-deg C, but the max pull temp does not go off the charts as I expected. However, the temp is still much higher than I expected. I am not sure where the damage area starts, but while playing the online MMORPG Dark Age of Camelot, I was getting temps up to 59.5-deg C. The quiet is WONDERFUL, but those kind of temperatures scare me. My neighbor put his 2-cents in as well...he said that the quiet would make him constantly open his case to make sure the fan was running at all! I never thought about it that way, but he has a point. When you are used to the paradigm that Cool = Noisy, then Quiet must = Fried CPU. Just how high is high when it comes to CPU temps?
Even with the higher temps, I am currently going to stay with the Zalman for two reasons: 1) It is quiet. Even at top speed it is so quiet that I now feel I didn't waste money on my 5.1 Surround Sound system. and 2) If it burns up, I'll buy a faster processor! Okay, all kidding aside, the Zalman CNPS 7000-Cu is efficient, beautiful and quiet. Since I like to listen to my sound system, especially when I am playing games or writing music, that alone makes the Zalman the product for me. My only concern about this entire project is the slightly higher cpu temperatures and until I find out that 60-C/140-F is so hot that my cpu will fry, I am not changing back.
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FrostyTech.com Info | ||
My
previous heatsink was a ThermalTake Volcano 7+ and I have had that unit for
about one year. It does a decent cooling job, as much as a CPU cooler can, but
the noise is unrelenting. 
