Zalman CNPS7000-Cu CPU Cooler Review
By: Kurt Berger

Zalman Tech are well known for their quiet PC components, most notably their cooling products, and have recently released a new flagship Pentium 4 heatsink fan. The CNPS7000-Cu arrives today looking to dethrone my somewhat antiquated Thermaltake Volcano 7+ heatsink.

The Volcano 7+ has served reliably with my Athlon XP 1700+ for some time, but with my recent move to a Pentium 4 2.8C let's see how it compares to Zalman's new offering.

The CNPS7000-Cu comes blister-packed with mounting brackets for both Pentium 4 and Athlon 64 systems, a nice feature adding future value should you migrate to an Athlon 64 system. Also included is an instruction booklet, a tube of thermal grease, and a Fan Mate 1 (Zalman's own adjustable fan speed controller).

What's most noticeable about this cooler is it's radial dimensions. At 110mm round it is visually impressive and will make a nice aesthetic addition to any case, especially those with windows. But looks aren't what make a good CPU cooler; performance is paramount.

That said, let's see how the CNPS7000-Cu performs in comparison to the Volcano 7+.

Test Setup

• Pentium 4 2.8C
• Abit IC-7G Motherboard
• 1GB (2 x 512MB modules) Corsair PC3200 DDR SDRAM
• ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
• 2 x 120GB IBM/Hitachi 180GXP Hard Drives (2MB cache) in Raid 0
• Generic Aluminum Case
• Arctic Silver III

All idle and load temperatures were recorded as reported by Hardware Doctor with a system temperature of 27°C which did not deviate during the course of the test. Load temperatures were taken after running two instances of Prime95 (one set to CPU 0 and the other to CPU 1) for 15 minutes. The lowest speed I could run the Volcano 7+ was at it's medium setting of 4900 RPM's as the low setting couldn't sufficiently cool the P4 even at stock speeds.

The Results

The Zalman dropped load temps by a full 10-11°C, that's a big improvement but what's even more amazing is that it did this without any perceptible noise outside of the case. Since I do not have any sound measuring equipment, my conclusions in regard to noise levels are simply based on my observations. However, I don't believe any equipment is necessary once you hear the CNPS7000-Cu in action, it's literally silent at low RPM levels and very nearly so at full speed.

At full RPM's you can only begin to hear the sound of air moving, the fan itself is silent. On the other hand, the Volcano 7+ even at it's medium setting of 4900 RPM's is certainly audible from outside the case and at it's highest setting is unbearably loud.

The clear winner here is the Zalman CNPS7000-Cu, it contradicts the current paradigm of CPU coolers where more performance often means more noise. By combining both powerful cooling performance and near silent operation the CNPS7000-Cu stands to dominate the Pentium 4 air-cooling market. I must admit I've been pleasantly surprised by this cooler and the next time I need cooling equipment I will be looking for Zalman products. Finally, I would like to graciously thank FrostyTech for providing this cooler for review.

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