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Summary

This is a basic summary preview of three new products from Zalman intended for readers who just want a quick look.  If you are interested in going straight to the full review, with all the technical details, more photographs, and comparison tests that you are used to seeing on PC Perspective, please click on the following link.

 

Click this link to get the full article

 

Introduction and Features

 

Today we have three new products from Zalman up for review.  First is the new CNPS9500 AM2 Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler, which supports AMD socket AM2 (along with socket 754/939/940 processors).  Next is the VF900-Cu LED Ultra Quiet VGA Cooler for your latest video card and last but not least is Zalman’s new ZM-STG1 Super Thermal Grease.  Both of the Zalman coolers feature all copper construction, multiple heat pipes, an integrated fan with LED lights, and a Zalman Fan Mate 2 speed control.  Zalman claims their Super Thermal Grease maximizes heat transfer while being very easy to apply.

 

 

CNPS9500 CPU Cooler          ZM-STG1       VF900-Cu LED VGA Cooler

 

 

CNPS9500 Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler

 

The CNPS9500 AM2 cooler is the latest addition to Zalman’s CNPS9500 series of Ultra Quiet CPU Coolers.  The new cooler is all copper and finished with a Titanium-look coating that has become very popular these days.  The heatsink was built with a combination of thin fins (0.2mm) and air-tunnel design to help smooth the airflow and minimize noise. The integrated, variable speed 92mm fan blows air in thru the cooler and comes with green LED lights to highlight the collaboration between Zalman and nVIDIA.  The AM2/K8 mounting clip allows positioning the cooler to work with the direction of airflow in your particular case.

 

 

One of the CNPS9500’s unique features is the patented heat pipe design.  Close inspection reveals that there are actually three, upside down, U-shaped heat pipes, which have been formed into a figure-8 shape.  All six ends fit snugly inside the base where they pick up heat.   The base of the CNPS9500 cooler appears very flat and has been polished to a mirror-like finish!  The Zalman CNPS9500 AM2 supports AMD Sempron, Athlon 64/64 X2/64 FX, and Opteron processors in socket AM2/754/939/940.  The mounting clip attaches to the two center lugs of an AM2/K8 style retention frame.   Included with both the CNPS9500 AM2 CPU cooler and the VF900-Cu LED VGA cooler is a Zalman Fan Mate 2 fan speed controller.

 

VF900-Cu VGA Dual Heatpipe Cooler

 

The Zalman VF900-Cu LED Dual Heatpipe VGA cooler comes with everything you need for easy installation on your favorite video card.  From the name you might think the new VF900-Cu LED VGA heatsink fan was just a larger version of the Zalman VF700-Cu LED cooler but it fact it has been totally redesigned to provide even better cooling performance with greater mounting flexibility while maintaining easy installation.

 

 

The VF900-Cu LED video card cooler features pure copper components and incorporates two heat pipes to help maximize heat transfer.  The integrated, variable speed 70mm fan has a blue LED light built into the hub for additional lighting effects.  Just like its larger CPU counterpart, the base of the VF900-Cu LED VGA cooler is flat and very smooth.

 

ZM-STG1 Thermal Grease

 

Zalman’s new Super Thermal Grease (ZM-STG1) was formulated to maximize heat transfer by eliminating the minute air gaps between the CPU/GPU (heat source) and the heatsink base caused by micro irregularities in the mating surfaces.

 

       

 

Zalman claims their Super Thermal Grease is as good as or better than any other thermal grease on the market.  We will try to verify this claim during our testing.

 

Testing   

 

The Zalman CNPS9500 AM2 CPU and VF900-Cu LED VGA coolers were tested on an open frame Athlon64/9800 Pro test rig.  Tests were conducted using the cooler’s integrated fans – with and without the Fan Mate 2. 

 

CNPS9500 AM2 CPU Cooler

 

 

CPU – Temperature reported by Asus PC Probe utility (internal diode)

Tc – Temperature obtained with calibrated thermocouple attached to IHS

Delta T – Fully loaded Tc temperature rise above ambient

dBA – Sound pressure level recorded 3’ away (background ~30 dBA)

 

As you can see the CNPS9500 AM2 CPU heatsink fan did a very good job of keeping the fully loaded Newcastle core cool.  Zalman has improved the performance of their CPU cooler since the earlier CNPS7000A-Cu model.  When operating at full speed on 12 VDC (2,596 rpm) and at High speed when using the Fan Mate 2 (2,463 rpm) the fan noise was noticeable but certainly not loud.  Using the Fan Mate 2 fan speed controller to reduce the fan rpm quickly reduced the noise and at Low speed (1,383 rpm) it was virtually silent.

 

VF900-Cu LED VGA Cooler

 

The Zalman VGA cooler was tested on an ATI 9800 Pro video card and performed significantly better than either the stock ATI heatsink fan or Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer Rev.3 cooler.   The following results were obtained using the ZM-STG1 super thermal grease and ATITool was used to monitor the video card temperatures during idle and while fully loaded running 3DMark2001 SE.

 

 

Excellent results for the Zalman VF900-Cu LED VGA cooler!  At full speed (2,576 rpm) the noise level was 38.6 dBA measured 3’ away in an otherwise quiet room (30 dBA backgroung).  Slowing the VF900’s fan down with the Fan Mate 2 made the cooler virtually silent.

 

ZM-STG1 Super Thermal Grease

 

Note: Testing thermal compounds is difficult – frequently the measured difference in performance between one product and another is less than the variability’s produced by the application technique.  With that disclaimer in mind, I present the following observations.

 

CNPS9500 AM2 Cooler on Athlon64 3200+

• ZM-STG1 lowered the CPU temperature 0.1-0.6°C compared to Arctic Siler 5
• ZM-STG1 lowered the CPU temperature 2.7-3.2°C compared to white generic paste

 

I also found that the ZM-STG1 was very easy to apply.  It’s a thick liquid that is painted-on using the small brush inside the bottle.

 

 

Conclusions

 

All three of the new Zalman products lived up to the manufacturer’s claims and performed very well.  Both the CNPS9500 AM2 CPU and VF900-Cu LED VGA coolers offer significant performance increases over previous models and the ZM-STG1 Super Thermal Grease is one of the best products of its type that I have used to date.

 

 

VF900-Cu LED Dual Heatpipe VGA Cooler

 

The CNPS9500 AM2 Cooler, VF900-Cu LED VGA Cooler, and ZM-STG1 Super Thermal Paste are all available from our friends at SharkaComputers.com or you can use our price checking engine to find additional resellers and the best prices for anything else you may want to buy! 

 

If you are interested in reading the full review, with all the technical details, more photographs, and comparison tests that you are used to seeing on PC Perspective, please click here for the detailed review.

 

Next Page - Introduction and Features

Review Index:
- Select - Summary Introduction and Features CNPS9500 AM2 Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler VF900-Cu LED Dual Heatpipe VGA Cooler ZM-STG1 Super Thermal Grease Installation Testing Testing (cont'd) Pricing and Conclusions