Zalman CNPS7700-Cu 120mm CPU Cooler

Reviews: Cooling

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Nicholas Hart
Kurtis
SharkaCorp
Dec. 27, 2004

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Introduction

Founded in 1999, Zalman is a relative newcomer to the computer industry. However, in the short time they have been around, they have built up quite a reputation. Zalman has a wide variety of low noise cooling products for virtually every component of your system. Their newest drool-worthy CPU cooler comes in the form of the Zalman CNPS7700-Cu flower heatsink. If you have been keeping track of Zalman's product offerings, then this should look pretty familiar. The design is essentially the same as the CNPS7000-Cu, but on a larger scale. Sporting a 120mm fan and weighing in at no less than 918g, this beautiful chunk of copper is sure to have the ladies, or at least your processor, purring happily along.

First Looks

I own the Zalman CNPS7000-AlCu cooler already, so I have some previous experience with this series of products. Even so, nothing could prepare me for the shock of opening the box from Sharka and finding the CNPS7700-Cu inside. This thing is HUGE! I jokingly say that a 7000 cooler could fit right inside the 7700, but it's true! When I pulled the package out of the shipping box I could feel the full heft of the beast. 918g is equal to about two pounds, which is more than double the 450g rated weight limit set by Intel for the Socket478 heatsink bracket. This does not necessarily mean that you shouldn't use this heatsink, you just need to be especially careful when moving your case around with it installed.

The construction of Zalman's flower heatsinks is pretty interesting. The fins are all stamped in the same shape and then pressed between two blocks that are bolted together. The fins are bent into the characteristic round shape and the contact surface is milled flat and smooth. I'm curious to see if the fins would all actually come apart if I removed the bolts, but I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to get it all back together again if I did.

With the CNPS7700-Cu comes a FanMate2 fan-speed controller. If you wish, you can plug the heatsink directly into the motherboard and run full speed, but to cut down on noise, you will want to use the FanMate2. The cable for it is long enough that you shouldn't have any trouble putting it in a suitable spot in your case.

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Page 1: Introduction / First Looks
Page 2: Installation
Page 3: Testing / Conclusion

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