Zalman CNPS 12X review - Final words and conclusion

Final words and conclusion

With the CNPS 12X Zalman managed to once again surprise me. The baseline performance is excellent, and in fact amongst the best heatpipe coolers we have tested. The true benefit however needs to be found in the total cooling capacity, we can always se that really well once we increase voltages and start to overclock. Even at 4200 MHz with 1.5V on the CPU (which is way too much Voltage) under full stress this cooler manages to keep the CPU cores under 70 Degrees C. That's downright good.

So yeah, the aged design still works wonders, like fine wine. These coolers are based on that old concept introduced a long time ago, and thought the CNPS series never left the market, I was not expecting to see a performance level this good.

The dilemma anno 2011 though is that some people will dislike the sheer design/looks of the unit. It really is a bit of a freakfest in today's modern PC which are often black, tidy, cable managed and clean looking. Then again, a lot of people can and will like the design as well. Personally where I had a bit of an issue with the older CNPS units style wise, I kind of seem to appreciate the 12X.

And as stated, performance wise things are top notch.

Noise levels then, well I find the 12X on that area to be quite good. Quiet is not a word I'd use with this product, even with the resistor wire in use the fan RPM levels might remain below 1100 RPM, but it's still a slightly audible cooler yet remains very acceptable in that mode. Without that CAP (1200 RMP limitation) once the fan reached 60~80% RPM, well that's where you'll start hearing the cooler but even then .. it's not at all bad really. But as the article has shown, with the resistor in use the performance level is merely one maybe two degrees higher, so leave it in place we feel.

Performance overall is very comparable to the performance of Noctua's NH-D14 coolers. That cooler of course is completely silent though. The CNPS X12 also has a lot of additional capacity, we like that very much. The result as such is that the cooler becomes even more impressive when you start to overclock.

Okay, it's time to end this article. Performance wise you'll achieve excellent heatpipe based cooling which is downright impressive. The noise levels are fine really but we do recommend you to use the RPM capped. The looks and aesthetics, well you either love or hate the design I guess, there is nothing in-between it. The mounting system is a little inpelasant to work with, especially mounting the last two bolts can be a bit of a drag. Remember, Intel used the black washers and AMD the transparent ones -- we goofed up initially and it makes all the difference in performance.

The Zalman CNPS X12 is a truly excellent performing cooler, the looks are a matter of taste, the nice nickle plated coating we feel finishes the design. The one thing that is a bit of a downer is the pricetag though, the product can be spotted for roughly 80 EUR/99 USD in the stores as we speak.

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