Although large and heavy, it runs several degrees C cooler than the heatsink/fan delivered with the Intel Quad Core CPU. Running Core Temp, all 4 cores run under 40 C where as the Intel factory provided system was running 44 and higher at idle temps and 65 C + under load, which is what prompted me to purchase a larger heatsink.
I rarely hear the fan spin up faster and never see temps over 45 C even while running gaming applications.
CON: It is large and may require a little caution when installing depending on how your power wiring in your PC is setup. I had to tie one power wire to the case to keep it from touching the heatsink. Also it's own power wire for the fan needs a little care when installing. It can be pulled to tight and interfere with the fan.
Install was simple but does require you remove the motherboard as there is a back plate you must install to support the weight. It does not use the horrible push pin locking system that the factory setup does. Zalman CNPS9900LED Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler
OMG! I can't OC my Phenom from 3.0ghz to 3.8ghz with the stock cpu cooler without reaching 75'C-80'C (its true!)Then I bought this thing and added Arctic Silver 5 as my thermal paste. WHHHOOOAAA!!! Im 3.8ghz now with 57'C-60'C at 100% stress test. Isn't that lovely! Guys Highly recommended for the oc's, it work for me!
This was the easiest to install CPU cooler I have done. An AMD install should take about five minutes to do though it includes brackets for various intel chips as well. Check the Zalman site for animated installation instructions as the paper instructions are difficult to follow (though for an AMD install they are hardly needed). There is a lot of room in my case with plenty of space between the cooler and the graphics card and ram modules. I see a lot of complaints about the copper fins being fragile but mine came with a hard plastic shell around the fins that I left on until I had it secured to the mother-board. I then carefully cut through the shell and had no problem with bent fins or cut hands. The blue led has a subtle glow which is nice. CPU was running at 39 degrees celsius which is fantastic! I'm glad I made this purchase for my new build. Specs below to help out anyone with the same mobo or other wondering if it will fit:
Cooler Master HAF 932 High Air Flow ATX Full Tower Case Black - (RC-932-KKN1-GP)
Gigabyte Socket AM3/AMD 880G/Hybrid CrossFireX/SATA3&USB3.0/A&V&GbE/ATX Motherboard GA-880GA-UD3H
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGMBOX
Zalman CNPS9900LED Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler
Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1 GB DDR5 2DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort PCI-Express Video Card 100283-3L
Corsair CMPSU-650HX 650w HX Series 80 Plus Bronze Certified Power Supply
Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL
I am running a core i7 940 and was previously using the Intel stock cooler.
Performance:
I have the fan set to be controlled by the motherboard. When kicking off something like prime 95 you will instantly hear the fan kick up. At normal speeds the fan is pretty silent though. I also do not hear the fan spin up when playing games so the noise of the fan at full throttle doesn't really bother me since I rarely do anything except video encoding that would kick the fan up like prime 95 causes it to.
Temps:
Ambient temps 77-80 F (25 - ~27 Celsius) The basement tends to get warm during the summer.
The ranges are largely due to differences between the 4 cores.
Idle
Stock cooler: 47-51 Celsius
Zalman 9900: 35-40 Celsius
Gaming (Specifically tried World of Warcraft and Borderlands)
Stock cooler: 59-67 Celsius
Zalman 9900: 47-52 Celsius
Full load using Prime 95
Stock cooler: 90-95 Celsius
Zalman 9900: 60-63 Celsius
The full load I found very impressive also I am pleased with gaming temps being around the level it previously idled at.
Construction:
Fairly sturdy structure. The fins are incredibly thin which is excellent for airflow but you must be careful as I could easily see someone cutting themselves on them. The bottom contact surface looked very flat and had a mirror finish. I read reviews of peoples fans causing a rattling noise, but this was not the case for me at any speed. It is big, but due to its circular structure it fits well in my case and I did not have to remove my side 120mm fan that blows on the video card/north bridge area.
Installation:
To install I had to take the motherboard out which wasn't too much trouble since I have a full tower with tons of space. The only really annoying part was screwing the heatsink into the bracket. The one side of copper fins is wider than the other and the screws are unfortunately placed in a difficult to reach spot because of the fins. My advice would be to use a screwdriver with a long slim neck and even then you will be at an angle.
Summary: I would fully recommend this CPU cooler. The installation is what caused me to drop it to 4 stars and also the fact that there are better coolers on the market. For me though the performance was everything I hoped for and looks slick to boot.
Wow, this is awesome. It's brought my idling temp down from about 45°C to around 30°C, and the temp when playing games hasn't gotten more than around 45°C. I do have a case with very good airflow however.
Speaking of cases, if you don't have a big one, then try a smaller one of Zalman's coolers. This thing is preeeeeeeettyyy big.
I love this thing; it keeps everything super cool and it has a blue LED :D.
I would definitely recommend this cooler. Zalman FTW - Am3 - Cpu Cooler - Cooling - Core I7'
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