Testing

To see what kind of noise this thing generates, I plugged the fan directly into the motherboard and turned the system on. At full throttle the 120mm fan moves some serious air and can make quite a racket. It's still a great deal quieter than, say, a Thermaltake Volcano11 cooler, but I wouldn't want to hear it all day. I installed the FanMate2 and, with a slight adjustment down, the volume decreased significantly; at the lowest setting the fan is practically inaudible.

For my test system I am using a DFI LanParty PRO875B motherboard and a 2.8GHz/800FSB Northwood processor in a Thermaltake XaserV case. The side intake fan bracket was removed since it was "gimongous' and I didn't want the extra cable management troubles. That leaves me with the front intake fan, the top and rear exhaust fans and the power supply for airflow. For my "idle' readings I closed out the unnecessary applications and was left with 0-1% CPU utilization. For load testing, I ran the "In-Place Large FFT's' torture test of Prime95. The external ambient temperature (room temp) throughout testing was 21° Celsius. Let's take a look at the numbers:

CPU Temperature
(Show All Graphs) (Collapse Graphs)

Idle

Load

Zalman 7700 (LOW speed)

Zalman 7700 (HIGH speed)

Zalman 7000 (LOW speed)

Zalman 7000 (HIGH speed)

AeroCool HT101

Thermaltake 103 Fanless

33

32

33

32

34

38

0

°Celsius

100

 

 

Idle

Load

Zalman 7700 (LOW speed)

Zalman 7700 (HIGH speed)

Zalman 7000 (LOW speed)

Zalman 7000 (HIGH speed)

AeroCool HT101

Thermaltake 103 Fanless

50

45

51

46

48

62

0

°Celsius

100

 

 

At low fan speeds the Zalman 7700 performs pretty well. A 50° CPU reading at full load with the fan running at low speed is acceptable and doesn't present any danger of burning your system out. At the highest fan speed setting, the CPU doesn't break 45° which is just a tad better than the 7000 on high speed.

What's most interesting to me, because I expected such great numbers for the CPU, is how well the Zalman CNPS7700-Cu cools the motherboard chipset. Without side intake fans in my system, the northbridge heatsink is completely reliant on the CPU heatsink for cooling. With its 120mm fan, the 7700 provides adequate airflow to accomplish this task, and even keeps the northbridge temps under control at its low fan-speed setting.

Conclusion

The Zalman CNPS7700-CU doesn't outright crush it's older (and smaller) brother, the 7000. However, the temperatures are lower and the extra northbridge cooling is a great benefit. With the fan set to low, the 7700 provides effective cooling while being so quiet you'll wonder if it's even spinning.

The size of this heatsink is definitely something to consider. You will want to check Zalman's website and make sure the heatsink will sit correctly and won't be obstructed by the components on your motherboard. The weight of the heatsink is a concern to me, but it didn't cause me any problems. Aside from the heatsink's size and weight, I did not come across any other problems.

You can find the CNPS7700-CU for about 45 to 50 dollars online and I think that's actually a pretty good price for what it delivers. You can find the 7700 at SharkaCorp for $44.95. I am so impressed with this cooler that I have given it our Editor's Choice award. If your motherboard and case are compatible, and you are looking for top-of-the-line air cooling, I definitely recommend you get this cooler.

Pros

Excellent cooling performance
It's purdy
Nearly inaudible at the low fan-speed setting
Cools the chipset too!

Cons

*GRUNT* Heavy! *THUD*
May not fit all motherboards