Zalman CNPS 9900 MAX review -
Baseline testing the cooler
Testing The Cooler
Time to test. The cooler will work absolutely great with any processor from low to high-end (Core i3/Core i5/Core i7 quad-core and even six-core included up-to 130W) at default operating speeds, and there's room left for overclocking as well.
Now what we always do (for a little more serious testing), is test it with higher requirements, mildly overclocked as a reference. We change the processor frequency and voltage.
Methodology -- We use an eVGA p55 Classified 200 motherboard, equip it with a Core i5 750 (2.67 GHz) processor, which we overclock to 3.3 GHz/1.3 Volts. Now we'll test the cooler in two utilization stages:
- Actively cooled - The CPU has nothing to do (IDLE)
- Actively cooled - Four processor cores 100% stressed (LOAD)
Test 1 - The Baseline Performance
As stated, this cooler has two operating modes. Silent and performance. For silent operation you can connect the resistor wire which will force FAN RPM to remain below 1500 RPM. And we very much recommend doing so as the fan is noisy while remaining below 1500 RPM, audible yet normal..
Above you can see the results done with a slight overclock at 3.3 GHz on the Core i5 750 processor, we apply 1.3v on the CPU and still get excellent temperatures. Roughly 47 Degrees C when we stress all the processor cores. That in fact is impressive.
Test 2 - IDLE Temperature
Let's have a look at the results compared to other coolers we tested under the same conditions. Below, the IDLE temperatures, thus your processor is doing barely anything. Just sitting and waiting in your system.
As you can see, the cooler positions itself in the high-end performance range of heatpipe based coolers (with a fan). Both performance and Silent mode reproduced and IDLE temperature of 26 Degrees C.
Test 3 - LOAD Temperature
But now let's have a look at the processor's LOAD temperatures.
Please understand, for the above results -- temperatures are based on a slightly overclocked Core i5 750 processor with a little extra voltage (1.3v), the fan speed is set at 80% RPM on ALL coolers shown for objective comparison reasons. Obviously LOWER = BETTER.
- Anything at roughly 50 Degrees C or lower we consider enthusiast class cooling.
- Anything in-between 51 to 60 Degrees C we consider performance cooling
- Anything in-between 61 to 70 Degrees C we consider mainstream cooling
- Anything above 71 Degrees C we consider average cooling
We are way below 50 Degrees C with the processor slightly overclocked under full load. That means it's high-end performance in the heatpipe cooler class.
Roughly 47 Degrees is what we get returned with the overclocked processor in Silent mode and 46 C in performance mode, it's just top notch performance.
We review the Zalman CNPS 9900 DF CPU cooler with Dual Fan. It's 2012 and Zalman is going strong on the concept and just when you think they can't change anything on that design ...
Zalman CNPS 12X review
The one that everybody remembers and still is going strong where the initial CNPS (Computer Noise Prevention System) CPU cooler, the copper somewhat rounded "butterfly" based coolers. That model has been the biggest success of all their coolers. Anno 2011 Zalman is still going strong on the concept and just when you think they can't change anything on that design they proof that a top notch new cooler based off that old design can still work out well and look gorgeous. The Zalman CNPS 12X comes with Zalmans heat transfer solution by utilizing composite heatpipe technology allowing a Q-Max of roughly 300W, along with a bigger design Zalman claims this cooler to be offering quiet operation and broad compatibility for Intel 2011/1156/1155/1366/775 & AMD AM3+/AM3/AM2+/AM2.
Zalman CNPS 9900 MAX review
Zalman decided to reintroduce the CNPS 9900 model one more time, slightly updated tagged with MAX.
Zalman CNPS 10X Quiet and Extreme review
Zalman recently released a new series of CNPS (Computer Noise Prevention System ) heatpipe based coolers. The new 10X coolers include five nice big heatpipes being cooled by a grotesque120mm fan. The PWM Fan comes with RPM Control which allows you to fine tune the cooler to your specific cooling requirements. And all that in a nice design and not too huge (in dimension) sized cooler. We will put two out of the three to the test namely the CNPS10X Extreme and CNPS10X Quiet. Both coolers impressed us a lot.