Author: Terren Tong
Editor: Howard Ha
Publish Date: Monday, March 29th, 2004
Originally Published on Neoseeker (http://www.neoseeker.com)
Article Link: http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/zalmancnps700acu/
Copyright Neo Era Media, Inc. - please do not redistribute or use for commercial purposes.
When I think of things that are big, I think of things such as the blue whale, an elephant, Andre the Giant and the Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu. One of Zalman's newest coolers in their lineup, the CNPS7000A-Cu comes in at a hefty 773g, dwarfing the Swiftech MCX462 but falling just shy of our current weight champion the recently reviewed 3DCooler ULTRA. What the CNPS7000A-Cu lacks in weight, it makes up in volume. It is easily the largest heatsink that we have worked with yet.
Zalman is a familiar name in the enthusiast community because of their work on quiet cooling solutions when the creed for everyone else seemed to be faster and louder. Zalman got into the market at a good time as enthusiasts became less willing to trade off performance for extremely loud cooling solutions marking a migration to alternative cooling solutions including thermoelectric and water cooling. For the hobbyists who are not comfortable with such exotic solutions there were fewer choices and this the niche that Zalman is looking to fill. The last four years has seen Zalman come from the brink of obscurity to one of the leaders in PC cooling. Recent high profile products include their passive cooling solutions for video cards and their totally fanless heatsink case.
| Heatsink | Weight |
| Swiftech MCX462 (heatsink only) | 650g |
| Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu | 773g |
| Gigabyte 3DCooler ULTRA | 780g |
| Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu | |
| Dimensions | 109(L) x 109(W) x 62(H) mm |
| Dissipation Area | 3170 |
| Base Material | Pure Copper |
| Weight | 773g |
| Thermal Resistance | Silent Mode 0.27 Deg.C/W
|
| Speed | Silent Mode 1350 RPM +-10%
Normal Mode 2400 RPM +-10% |
| Noise Level | Silent Mode 20.0 dB +-10%
Normal Mode 25.0 dB +-10% |
| Bearing Type | 2-Ball |
| |
The Zalman is big and heavy. In fact it is heavy enough to prompt a warning from Zalman when the computer is being moved; it would not be a bad idea to unmount the heatsink to make sure it does not break and smash up other components inside the case. The Zalman has a nice finish. The fins are polished well and really shines. The fins themselves are flexible as they are made of fairly thin copper sheets. The first thing that is noticed is that there are a lot more pieces than the Gigabyte 3DCooler Ultra. For each different processor there is a pair of mounting clips associated with it. The Zalman also comes with a fan control unit. Unfortunately they did not take a cue from Thermaltake and Gigabyte and the fan control unit mounts inside of the case and is not accessible through a PCI slot or 3 1/4" drive bay. This makes the usefulness of the fan control a little suspect.
The Zalman is somewhat reminiscent of the Gigabyte 3DCooler. Instead of the usual distinct fan on top like most coolers, both feature an imbedded fan with fins around the outside. Besides the comparable weight, the similarities end. Zalman takes the width route while Gigabyte uses vertical space to increase surface area, creating two unique looking heatsinks.
The finish on the bottom of the CNPS7000A-Cu is very smooth - noticeably better than that of both the Gigabyte and the Thermaltake coolers we have in the lab but it is not quite as smooth as the Swiftech MCX462. Upon closer inspection the heatsink is constructed very differently from other heatsinks- each of the fins actually forms a section of the contact point. The fins are compacted together from two bolts that go through the center and hold the entire heatsink together.
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We've been a bit spoiled by the tool less design of the 3DCooler series and having to remove the default mounting brackets on the Athlon 64 is a bit of a hassle. P4 owners are a bit luckier as there are metal clips that are inserted into the P4 bracket. A note for those of you who are eyeing this for an Athlon XP- a board with the mounting holes around the CPU socket is needed. This excludes a fair number of boards as some manufacturers removed the holes after AMD dropped it from their specifications. The instructions for the Zalman are good. They illustrate well how to install the brackets for each CPU type. Beyond the removal of the Athlon 64 mounting bracket, it was fairly trivial to attach the heatsink to the processor. The Zalman does not actually rely on clips but on screws so everything is just bolted down. Each different processor type has a different set of clips like the style of the Gigabyte 3DCooler. There are two sets of washer sizes so the screws do not have to eat into the motherboard itself.
The tapered design of the fins should allow the CNPS7000A to fit on even the more crowded Athlon XP based motherboards. The actual profile of the heatsink contact area is not much larger than medium sized heatsink fan units like the Silent Boost and should allow capacitors to fit underneath.
The heatsink plugs into the fanmate control unit which in turn plugs into the motherboard itself. The Fanmate unit is optional and if the heatsink is connected directly to the motherboard it will run at full speed. The ideal situation would be to have some sort of Smart Fan control software like AOpen's SilentTek to control the fan instead of having to open up the case to use the Fanmate unit.
Gigabyte KN88XP
Windows XP Pro SP1
Motherboard Monitor 5
Prime95
Seagate Barracuda SATA V 120 GB
GeForceFX 5950 Ultra
Gigabyte 3DCooler PRO
Gigabyte 3DCooler ULTRA
Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu
Ambient temperature during testing was 25 C / 76 F.
Measurements for the temperatures were done on an open work bench and not inside of a case.
Measurements for noise were done with just a powersupply and the lone cooler in an open area.
We've switched our test platform over from the venerable Athlon XP over to the Athlon 64 3400+. Measurements were taken off of a Gigabyte K8NNXP Nforce 3 based motherboard. The processor was allowed to heat up over a period of 45 minutes while running Prime95 with the in place FFTs for maximum heat output.
| Temperature (C)
Ambient 25 C | |
| 3DCooler PRO Low | 56 |
| 3DCooler ULTRA Low | 51 |
| Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu Low | 50 |
| 3DCooler PRO High | 47 |
| 3DCooler ULTRA High | 44 |
| Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu High | 44 |
The Zalman manages to cool better than both Gigabyte coolers at the low speed setting by a single degree. At the high speed fan setting we see the 3DCooler ULTRA perform the same as the Zalman. Impressive performance from the Zalman so far.
One of the main complaints that we had about the 3DCooler Ultra was the fact that it was much louder than the PRO version especially at the maximum setting because of an additional 500rpm in fan speed. The extra noise really limited the usefulness of the 3DCooler. Noise is an area that Zalman is known for and the expectation here is that they will perform very well. We mentioned previously that at a low speed setting the 3DCoolers should be very quiet inside a closed case. Noise measurements were taken from an Omega HHSL1. For further details on noise measurements and a further explanation of decibel ratings refer to this guide.
| Noise (DB)
Ambient 36.2 DB | |
| PRO Low | 40.2 |
| ULTRA Low | 38.7 |
| Zalman Low | 36.2 |
| PRO High | 52.2 |
| ULTRA High | 57.4 |
| Zalman High | 39.7 |
The noise levels on the Zalman did not disappoint. At the lowest setting the fan was barely audible from about a meter away. It was so quiet in fact that our DB meter did not pick up a difference, the ambient noise was louder than the fan output. Inside of a case, it should not be heard at all. Impressively, at the high setting, the noise level was subjectively about that of the 3DCooler at its lowest setting . The best news is that even at this setting, the Zalman manages to cool as well or better than its two competitors.
Zalman definitely made an impression with the CNPS7000A-Cu. Not only does it cool better than competing solutions, but it is much quieter as well having a 10-17 decibel difference in noise compared to its competitors (2 to 4 times quieter!), yet cooling just as effectively if not better. The quiet mode of the fan is near silent and users will be hard pressed to hear it inside the case. Even at the maximum fan speed setting, the noise level is amazingly low; rivaling the Gigabyte 3DCoolers at their lowest settings and even the Thermaltake SilentBoost (which you've probably heard people raving over in various forums).
Although the performance of the cooler was excellent there are a couple things that we would like to see changed in future iterations of this product. First off, the Fanmate control unit is not very useful. Unlike competing solutions which use a PCI bracket or a spare drive bay for the rheostat, Zalman chooses to include a small plastic box located inside the case as its method of fan control. This is not particularly useful for the enthusiast who may want to tinker with fan speeds depending on the situation. The way that Zalman has it setup, adjustment of the fan is very inconvenient because it forces the user to adjust the fan to a noise level that they find acceptable and leaving it as is.
The mounting method of the CNPS7000A-Cu could use some work also. It is not nearly as elegant as the Gigabyte solution as mounting requires the removal of the back plate and bracket on the Athlon 64. On the Athlon XP side, the Zalman requires mounting holes around the CPU socket area, something that is not found on quite a few boards. While installation was not difficult, it lacks the elegance of the tool-less design employed by Gigabyte.
In short, the Zalman gets an extremely enthusiastic recommendation from us for not only being the quietest solution, but also the best cooling one. There are some minor gripes we had about the design but as far as performance goes, the Zalman is the one to beat and its competitors have some way to go to match the effectiveness of the CNPS7000A-Cu.
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