Reviews for Zalman CPU Cooling Fan

Excellent cooler

Strengths: Very quiet operation Package includes thermal paste Flower-type design means that general air-flow over other motherboard/components (e.g. DIMMs) is improved.

Weakness: Large size means that access to various other components (such as the DIMM slots on my Neo 4 Platinum) is tricky. Fan speed control not particularly useful (my BIOS has CPU temperature/fan controls)

I've been using a laptop as my main 'desktop' machine for the past 2 years. It's finally starting to show its age, and the UT2004 load times are getting to be just too much, so it was time to put together a new tower PC. While I was looking for something with a reasonable specification, I also wanted something that wouldn't get too noisy. After doing a little bit of research it seemed to be a choice of 3 CPU cooling solutions:

- Zalman 7700 AlCu
- Zalman 7700 Cu
- Thermalright XP-120

Apparently, as the 7700 Cu is entirely copper, it's actually heavier than the 450g limit specified for socket 939 (and a bunch of other) boards. While I don't move my PC round all that much (hence there's less chance of it becoming dislodged), this was a bit of a turn-off.

The XP-120 scores very highly on many review sites, but from what I gather is supplied as a heat-sink only, needing you to pair it with an appropriate fan. By the time the price of the XP-120 and a decent, quiet 120mm fan was taken into account, this was becoming a bit expensive side.

So that left the 7700 AlCu, which was what I decided to go with in the end.

Fitting the AlCu was reasonably painless - I was slightly supprised to see that it was supplied with a plastic back-plate for the motherboard (replacing the metal one supplied with my mobo). I think my only problem was that the Zalman package includes all fixtures needed to attach the cooler to a variety of socket types, and could have been a bit clearer about which type of the various screws/bolts should be used with which set-up. During fitting, I also had to remove the rear fan from my Antec SLK2650 case in order to get the motherboard in with cooler mounted. It's possible that I'd have needed to do this with a smaller cooler anyway, though. I used some Arctic silver rather than the supplied thermal paste, just because I had some already and presumed that it probably had marginally better thermal properties than the paste that Zalman included.

I'm using a 3500+ 'Venice' core AMD64, running at 2.2GHz. A combination of the 'Cool n Quiet' technology on the AMD64s, the large degree of passive heat disipation on part of the 7700 and a generally good flow of air through the case means that I often find that the CPU fan is turned off, while the processor sits at around 42 degrees C. When the Zalman fan does fire up, I generally can't hear it over the noise of the ultra quiet 120mm fan fitted to the case and the fan on my nVidia 6600GT (by far the noisiest fan in the system).

Overall, I'd have to give it a bit thumbs up. I'm not one for overclocking or trying to stretch the performance of my PC beyond the number printed on the packaging. I guess I'm an average Joe, in that I want something that works, is reliable and that I don't have to fiddle with - in that, the 7700 AlCu has been perfect.

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Zalman CPU Cooling Fan

Strengths: Very Powerful, adjustable fan speed control, fits many different sockets, cools not just the CPU but the memory, GPU, and surrounding parts.

Weakness: Is rather large, but will fit many motherboards (Zalman has a list of compatable Motherboards). Isn't the cheapest HSF. It's looks are mesmerizing...(both good and bad, watch those fingers kids)

This HSF keeps my Athlon64 3500+ Winnie to a cool 38-45C between idle and load. It isn't terribly loud, but being loud doesn't bother me as long as things don't melt. I used some Arctic Silver 5 with this, as opposed to their "Thermal Grease" which is fine, I imagine, but I'd rather KNOW what I'm putting on there. This is a good HSF if you plan on possibly jumping ship (Amd/Intel) and changing sockets. I highly recommend this.

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best cooling for the price

Strengths: huge wingspan along with quiet operation. cools not only the cpu but the components around the cpu such as the northbridge.

Weakness: some motherboards might not fit due to clearance. consult the zalman site to see if it fits your specific motherboard.

keeps my 3200+ venice at a cool 87 ºC while clocked at 280 fsb.

Asrock 939Dual-SATA2
AMD 3200+ Venice E6
Corsair VS 2x512
Maxtor Diamond Max 10 250 SATA
TT Silent Pure Power 420W

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Zalman CNPS7700

Strengths: Great performance, Unbelievable value for the money.

Weakness: Installation for socket 775 is not clear enough in the manual

Exceeds all expectations.
I o/c an Intel q6600 2.4 to 3.1 Mhz.
ran 2! film encoders, an audio recorder at 24 bit 192,
and played one of the most cpu hogs around,(Synthogy Ivory Piano. The CPU's Max temp was 60c...To all the critics out there, Please recognize the marvel of a $40 piece of hardware
and don't be too snotty.
Best regards.
Jacob

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decent heatsink/fan

Strengths: 120mm fan which remains relatively silent even when running max RPMs, while cooling a large area.

Weakness: very large. not the most intelligently built mounting kit. max RPMs = 2000rpm

It's a decent setup, which kept my intel e6400 idling at 41C. I highly suggest buying Arctic Silver 5 cooling grease. Im now mildly overclocked to 2.3GHz (vs. 2.1) and am idling at 36-37C.

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Beware of compatibility issues

Strengths: Good reviews from third party sources, comes with speed control box. One of the quieter components in my case on lowest speed.

Weakness: Size, weight, compatibility issues, no longer quiet at higher rpms.

I purchased this for a new computer build after checking the Zalman website to make sure it was compatible with my motherboard. It was, so I was excited to buy such a highly reviewed product. However, the motherboard compatibility was incorrect. While the fan fit the motherboard without touching any components, it partially covered the 20-pin power connector and I couldn't plug in my power supply. (To be fair, my power supply has fairly stiff cables). Operation was pretty quiet, but my sempron 3100 ran at around 37-40C. I think this is good, but not the amazing results I was hoping for. All in all a nice product, but I returned mine due to the compatibility issues.

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Was expecting more (why not?)

Strengths: Cools other components around it

Weakness: Not as I expected....

I had the 92mm version of this type of heatsink/fan. That one cooled excellently. Going to 120mm I expected a lot more difference, but alas, there was barely any. The fan is larger and unfortunately Zalman lists it as being louder!?? But it is still pretty quiet.

The thing I look for is innovation and improvement. Users should probably go with the 92mm all copper version of the zalman if they want cooling (or even the heatpipe version which cools even better!)

The 92mm is listed as quieter (though I honestly can't tell a big difference).

On the plus side, the fan is HUGE and it does spread air around to the other components where as the 92mm really did not.

The thing is, I believe, is that when you compare this version to the 92mm there are the same # of fins, so there for the cooling potential is the same, there's just a bit more air being blown on the heatsink...

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Great Product

Strengths: Quiet and cools chipset too

Weakness: doesn't have PWM pin for MB to control and fan speed maxes out at 2k rpm

Easy to install if you read the instructions.

The extra knob is a cool idea, but its range tops at 11V and I need that extra volt to keep from throttling. I'll probably increase the voltage on the fan a bit to cool it even more.

Very happy with this heatsink and will buy Zalman again.

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Zalman CNPS7700-ALCu

TestSeek.com has collected 4 expert reviews for Zalman CNPS7700-ALCu and the average expert rating is 90 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use TestSeek.com to find all ratings, product awards and conclusions.

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10 Mammoth CPU Coolers:Size Does Matter

We introduced Zalman's cooler in article Zalman CNPS7700: The New Giant of Coolers, and compared it with its precursor, model CNPS7000. Today it faces the other challengers.

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Zalman CNPS7700 Heatsink/Fan

Pros <p>* Excellent cooling performance <p>* 22 dBA/1m min noise is very good <p>* Great accessories package <p>* Excellent cross-platform compatibility <p>* "Tried and true" radial design <p>* Weight reasonable <p>* Pretty easy to install <p>* Probably better compatibility than XP-120 <p>* Well priced for performance & package <p>* CU (all-copper) model probably performans better <p> <p>Cons...

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