Zalman CNPS7000-Cu CPU Cooler Review
By: Steven Jackson

Everyone with a modern processor needs a cooler. I live in Hong Kong where the ambient temperature is around 32 degrees Celsius this time of year. So I really need a cooler. In fact, I don't need just any cooler… I need one that is powerful and quiet.

The constant whining of my current cooler is clearly audible over the background hum of five million Hong Kong air conditioners (which are loud, believe me!). I couldn't believe my luck when I won the chance to review and own this new Zalman cooler thanks to the kind people at FrostyTech.

Here are my system specifications:

First Impression

My first thought on receiving this new Zalman cooler was… heavy. That's right, everyone says it and so will I. This thing is mighty heavy, almost 75% heavier than Intel's specification for CPU coolers. Be careful when moving your case with this installed (i.e. no LAN parties!). If this were to become dislodged from the motherboard and fall onto your AGP and PCI cards, it would probably cause a lot of expensive damage! I don't move my PC much so this doesn't really bother me.

My next thought was… nice looks. As far as coolers go this one looks sweet, like a huge copper flower. For those of you out there with case windows on your system, you may want to take a look at this cooler just for it aesthetics. Personally I like to keep all of the wires and guts of my machine hidden.

Some people rave about the quality of component packaging. Not me. If it keeps the hardware safe then that's good enough. The cooler and all of its components arrived undamaged all the way from Taiwan (although that isn't actually that far from here!) so I guess the package does its job well enough.

The package contained the following items: one cooler, one small tube of thermal grease, one fan speed controller unit (aka Fan Mate), the users manual, and numerous fastening clips. I will only discuss the Intel fastening mechanism in this review.

Everything was in order so lets get on with the installation.

The installation procedure is actually very simple. Take off your old cooler, clean the heat spreader of the CPU, apply some thermal grease to the clean CPU, install the clip supports (middle right above) into the motherboard cooler retention mechanism and finally screw on the cooler.

Simple huh? I dutifully followed the instructions that came with the package. Took off my old cooler and cleaned the CPU. Applied some thermal grease (2 grains of rice worth) and then spread it over the top of the heat spreader with a Coolermaster spreader (otherwise known as a credit card).

Now came the tricky part. When you place the cooler on top of the CPU it slides around a bit due to the thermal grease, making it more difficult to line up the holes on the cooler and the clip supports. Difficult, but not impossible.

Then next slightly worrying thing was the amount of pressure that needed to be applied when screwing the cooler down. This is because the clip on the bottom on the cooler is bent so that the cooler is held tightly onto the CPU. I needed to apply a lot of force with the screwdriver to make the clip attach onto the clip support. If I was attaching this cooler onto an old ceramic AMD CPU I feel that the amount of force used may have cracked it, rendering it useless.

Despite the worrying amount of force used (and the nagging doubt that I may be damaging my processor) I kept at it, tightening the screws alternatively until the cooler was held securely on top of the CPU. I have read reviews that said even when the screws were fully tight the cooler moved slightly. I did not have this problem, and there was no damage to the CPU (whew!).

Next, connect the fan to the Fan Mate, and the Fan Mate to the motherboard. Done! OK, here are some before and after shots of my system.

There were no problems with the cooler interfering with the capacitors around the CPU or with the north-bridge cooler. However, I did experience the slight problem that due to the size of the cooler (about the diameter of a CD) it hangs over the first of my memory slots (see above right picture). If I wanted to remove this memory module for some reason I would first have to remove the cooler! Not the most convenient situation to be in! Once again this is not a major drawback as I don't foresee myself having to change memory in the near future, but everyone should bare this in mind.

Here is one final look at the installed Zalman cooler:

To test the cooling effectiveness of the Zalman cooler I decided to use real world applications rather than synthetic benchmarking tools and CPU loaders. I wanted to know how the unit would perform compared to the stock cooler when I was doing the things I do regularly. Each of the following activities were performed for 30 minutes. The CPU temperature was recorded at the end of this period using the built in Gigabyte sensor.

I also recorded the idle temperatures of the CPU with both coolers. I ran the Zalman cooler at maximum speed for all tests, as it was still inaudible above the 5 case fans in my system. In fact when I turned off the case fans I still had to get my head under the desk and up to the case before I could hear the Zalman cooler, even running at top speed! Excellent work Zalman.

When idle there is not a significant drop in the temperatures. This is because of the very high ambient temperatures in Hong Kong. However, when the CPU is under load the Zalman cooler really beings to flex its muscles!

As you can see, the above results are pretty conclusive proof of the cooling ability of the Zalman CNPS700-Cu. When under load my CPU was around 15% (or 10'C) cooler than when using the stock Intel cooler. This is an excellent result. The reason for the increased performance is three fold: Firstly, the stock cooler was of simple aluminum make while the Zalman cooler is all copper (copper conducting heat better than aluminum). Secondly, the stock cooler has a much smaller surface area than the Zalman cooler. Thirdly, the stock cooler used a thermal pad between the CPU and the heat sink. These pads make it easier to install the cooler, but they tend to be less effective than thermal grease.

Conclusion

It is clear that the Zalman CNPS700-Cu cooler is an excellent product. It is a much better thermal management device than the stock cooler, producing lower temperatures in all situations. Combine this with its virtually silent running ability and Zalman have a winner on their hands.

Remember though that this cooler is heavy, way above the Intel recommended maximum weight. Also bear in mind that this product is a little on the large side. Some owners of cramped motherboards may experience difficult installing this cooler or changing other motherboard components with it installed. All in all I am very please with the performance of this cooler and would like to thank FrostyTech for giving me the chance to review it.

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Time stamped: 4:19PM, 09.02.2010