Zalman CNPS7000-Cu CPU Cooler Review
By: Eugene Cho

As CPU's performance improves, it cannot work without heatsink and cooler anymore. The first time I realized the importance of heatsink and cooler was when I bought a Celeron 300A - perhaps the first model that we can overclock over 50% from original clock speed. Unfortunately, it worked 450 MHz when I put high voltage, 2.2V, and it makes huge heat; so I bought a new heatsink that had two coolers on it. I could solve the heat problem finally but it died about a year after.

Nowadays there is no difference to the importance of a heatsink cooling the CPU. There are many unique ideas and types of coolers, so let's see Zalman's new model, which is one of the unique ones, CNPS7000-CU.

When you see this cooler maybe you can feel two things - heavy, and huge. The weight of CNPS7000-CU is 773g and it's much heavier than Intel's guide line, 450g. So you need to be careful when you move your system. A reason for the heavy weight is of course that its body is pure copper. Copper is heavier than aluminum and a better conductor of heat.

The size is very huge. CNPS7000-Cu's diameter is 109mm and it's almost CD size. The huge size can be a strong point for better performance of cooling but it makes a problem; it cannot be installed on every motherboard so you must check your motherboard before buying this one.

As you can see, the Zalman CNPS7000-Cu heatsink base is perfectly flat. You cannot find any scratch on the base so it can adhere closely to the heat spreader of Pentium 4. No wonder the flat heatsink base will be helpful to show better performance.

There are some more things in the package. Two clip supports which for the Pentium 4 (Socket 478), two bolts for fastening the clip, two nipples for Athlon 64, thermal grease, user manual, and Fan Mate 1. Two clip supports are very helpful to install the cooler on the motherboard easily. You don't need to play around with clip but just screw bolts - That's it.

Thermal grease contains very little amount, but the heatsink base is flat enough so you don't need to use much of it.

The test system: Intel Pentium 4 1.6Ghz Northwood(Overclocked 2.13Ghz, 2.4Ghz), EPOX 4BDA2+, Leadtek 250TD LE (Geforce 4 TI 4200), IBM/Hitachi 180GXP 120GB hard drive.

Let's see a performance of CNPS7000-CU when full load the system. (I use a Super PI for full load)

Zalman CNPS7000-CU shows great performance when compares with Intel retail cooler. Not only in normal mode, but it shows better performance in silent mode also which it works with half RPM of Intel retail cooler. We can see that CNPS7000-CU stabilizes temperature more quickly than Intel's one and also the CNPS7000-CU's highest temperature is lower.

Between 12~14 min, stop to execute the program and see how fast the cooler cools the CPU. Of course CNPS7000-CU shows better performance in this part, too.

The most impressed thing is a noise level of CNPS7000-CU. It doesn't make any sound so I can't hear anything from it when it works in silent mode.Intel's cooler makes a loud spin and air noise but CNPS7000-CU makes nothing. What can I say more about it?

It's perfect!

I'm satisfied with the Zalman CNPS7000-CU heatsink. It has good performance, low noise, and if you want to make a silent PC, the CNPS7000-CU will be the best choice you can buy