One of the most important components in your computer is the CPU cooler that sits on top of the processor. Without this your machine would be as useless as a chocolate fire guard!
Traditionally with most processors offering multi-core technology and the enthusiasm for overclocking - which has never been stronger - we have witnessed some pretty hefty and gigantic CPU coolers in the past to contain all that multi-core power! These CPU coolers of course require massive cases in order to accommodate the extra girth!
This is one of the reasons why we were drawn to the Zalman Ultra Quiet CPU cooler (CNPS8000A) from Quiet PC, as its designed for smaller form factor PC’s, but still maintains quiet operation and efficient cooling.
Dimensions: 108 (L) x 108 (W) x 66 (H) mm
Materials...
Heatsink: Pure Aluminium
Base: Pure Copper
Heatpipes: Pure Copper
Installation
We also have to admit that this was the easiest and most enjoyable CPU/Heatsink combo that we have ever installed! Though we must point out that the CPU fan has no flashy blue neon lighting, so for those who like to show off their case’s innards, you will be disappointed.
However in the box you get a small set of instructions, all the screws, super thermal grease (maximises the heat transfer from the CPU to the based of the heatsink), a Fan-mate 2 controller and two sets of mountain brackets (Intel or AMD)..
CPU’s Supported….
Intel Sockets 1156, 1366 & 775 CPU’s
Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, Core i7 Extreme, Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Extreme, Pentium Dual Core, Pentium D, Pentium 4 & Celeron D
AMD Socket AM3/AM2+/AM2
Phenom II, Phenom, Athlon II, Athlon X2, Athlon FX, Athlon, Dual-Core Opteron, Sempron.
Following the instructions was straightforward and the normal complex part of attaching the bracket to the underside of the motherboard was made easy thanks to the screw locking mechanism. This meant that the screws did not fall out as we turned the board the right way up.
In no time at all we had the CPU cooler in place and the adjustable Fan-Mate 2 speed controler block stuck nicely to the side of our case (using the supplied double sided sticker tape) and provided quick access to the fan speed.
Noise
As we write the review we have the CPU cooler fan speed set to its highest setting and we have to say even at this speed it blends in well with the noise of our case fans. At its lowest speed its hardly audible.
Fan speed spec: 20 – 30 Dba (lowest fan speed to highest)
Temperature
We tested the core temperature of our AMD Phenom II X4 (Stock speed of 3Ghz) using a utility called Core temp.
This not only displays the temperature on our G15 display (visual clues), but can also be used to log the temperature results in a file.
At the highest fan speed, and with the computer running in general office use - for the past three hours - the CPU was running between 38-40oc.
Switching quickly to the lower fan speed the temperature was running at 43-45ococ
Of course where its really at is when playing games.
We switched to COD 4 and made a visual note of the temperature. After a 30 minute gaming sesh the temperature was getting up to a max of 52oc, but after switching to full fan speed this was then running at 46oc - which is pretty good.
Overclocking
Whilst we are not proficient overclockers we still managed to get our CPU running at 3.4 and 3.6Ghz (though we are confident this could go even higher).
For tests we again ran through a 30 minute gaming sesh of COD, but due to overclocking we kept the fan speed set to high and used CoreTemp Logs to get the temperature results.
According to CoreTemp, with the CPU running at 3.458.66, the lowest CPU temp was 44oc and the highest went up to 51oc
We then did a quick restart and overclocked the machine to 3.609.8Ghz, however after 15 minutes or so the machine Blue screened, but we must add that we were using the motherboards overclocking tool - through the BIOS - which also overclocks the memory and PCI bus at the same time. If we used a more robust tool or had more knowledge of overclocking we believe we could get more stable results - that we are positive of.
It was however encouraging that the lowest CPU temperature was once again running at 440c, but after 15 minutes it had only gone up to 49oc.
