Zalman CNPS7000B-AlCu CPU Cooler

(4.5 star rating)

Zalman CNPS7000B-ALCU CPU Cooler - quiet, effective CPU cooling solution at a reasonable price

Background
I recently purchased a custom built PC, and one of the stipulations I had before ordering the PC was that I be able to choose the components used in the system. I had done quite a bit of research prior to ordering the system, and the HSF (Heat Sink Fan) I selected was the Zalman CNPS7000B-ALCU. It is used on an AMD socket 939 Athlon 64 3200+ and its sole goal in life is to keep the CPU cool. A negative and oftentimes experienced side effect from the HSF component is noise. More specifically, the fan noise created in order to keep air moving to dissipate the heat created by the CPU. I wanted a component that would do a good job of keeping the CPU cool while not creating much noise. I also, of course, had an overall budget that I needed to stay within.

Enter the CNPS7000B-ALCU from Zalman. It fit the bill as an inexpensive CPU cooler that had good reviews from various PC component review sites. My motherboard was also listed on the Zalman website as a compatible motherboard, and the person building my PC had had good experience with Zalman CPU coolers in the past.

Basic information
This component is made of pure aluminum and pure copper, which are both excellent conductors of heat. Copper is more effective than aluminum, but it is also more expensive and it weighs more. To keep the cost and weight down, and to offer an alternative to purely copper based CPU coolers, Zalman has combined aluminum and copper to create this HSF. They also designed it to fit a wide variety of CPUs, and it is compatible with:

- Intel socket 478 processors (Celeron, Celeron D, P4 Willamette, Northwood and Prescott)
- AMD socket 462 processors (Duron, Athlon Thunderbird, Athlon XP Palamino and Barton, Sempron)
- AMD socket 754 processors (Sempron and Athlon 64)
- AMD socket 939 processors (Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX)
- AMD socket 940 processors (Athlon 64 FX and Opteron)
- It will also work with socket 775 processors, but you have to purchase a separate adapter in order to install it.

The weight of this unit is 438g, or about 14 ounces, and dimensions are 109 (L) x 109 (W) x 62 (H) mm, which is about 4 (L) x 4 (W) x 2 (H) inches. This is a very large unit when compared to a stock HSF, so before buying make sure to check the Zalman website to verify that your motherboard is compatible with this HSF. The attached fan is a 92mm model, and is built directly into the overall HSF. So, if you really wanted to, you would be able to take out the fan to replace it with another one& but it would not be easy and probably would be more trouble than it is worth.

Fan speed is rated at 1,350 - 2,600 RPM + or - 10%. Noise level is reported to be between 18.0 - 27.5 dB + or - 10%. So at lowest setting of 1,350 RPM the noise level would be approximately 18 dB, while at the highest setting of 2,600 RPM the noise level would be approximately 27.5 dB. This is extremely quiet! It is quieter than most power supply units and hard drives, so the noise generated by this HSF should not be noticeable unless you have a particularly quiet HD and power supply.

Included in the box

1) Heatsink unit
2) Bolts, clips and brackets for installation
3) Thermal grease
4) Fan speed controller
5) Double-sided tape for the fan
6) Cable for the fan
7) User's manual - in English and Korean

Features
A couple of features stand out on this HSF:

- Fan speed controller (called the Fan Mate 2) allows you to adjust the speed of the fan from its lowest setting (called Silent Mode, even though it is not really silent since it produces a minimal amount of noise) to its highest setting (creatively named "Normal Mode"). I personally do not use this fan speed controller, since I plan on overclocking. I set it on Normal Mode and plan to leave it on that setting. One nice feature of this fan controller is that the cord is long enough to install on the outside of your system, if you so desire. You can use the double-sided tape to stick it on the side, or even the back, of your PC case. I suppose this would be useful if you liked to adjust the speed of your fan, but since I do not plan on doing that, I have it installed on the inside of my system.

- The 92mm fan is larger than normal HSF fans, and thus allows more air to be moved at a comparatively slower RPM speed. This contributes to the quiet operation of the unit.

Next: CNPS7000B-AlCu Performance and Conclusion