We all have the need for speed. From cars to computers, it’s all about going faster. With computers, one of the by-products of speed is heat and heat is a bad thing…very, very bad thing if it’s not taken care of. Getting rid of heat in your computer has become a new industry and Zalman is one of the leaders in eliminating that heat. The difference between Zalman and some of their competitors is that they build heat solutions that are quiet. It’s fairly easy to get rid of heat with a 7000 RPM fan that generates 50+ db but it’`s much more difficult to do something that doesn’t sound like a wind tunnel when you turn your computer on.

To eliminate this problem, Zalman created the CPNS system (Computer Noise Prevention System). The system is designed to provide excellent cooling without blowing your ears out. The CNPS system covers every kind of cooling from fans to power supplies to heat-sink fan combinations. John has already reviewed their excellent power supply here (link). This review will be covering the Zalman CNPS7000-Cu. The CNPS7000-Cu is Zalman’s new product for Intel 468 motherboards and AMD Athlon 64 motherboards.

The first thing you notice with the CNPS87000-CU is how big it is. If you’re considering getting one, you should check out the Zalman site make sure that it will fit your motherboard. The second thing you’ll notice is how heavy it is. It weighs in at a whopping 773 g. That’s more than twice the weight recommended by Intel. Made from solid copper, it has a nice heft to it. This is another thing to consider before purchasing the cooler. If you take your PC on the road a lot, then you’ll want to be extra careful moving your it with this cooler. To be quite honest, I was a little nervous about installing this HSF. The size and weight are pretty intimidating but the cooler is very good looking and looks sharp inside the case.

Zalman also includes a Fan Mate box that you connect between the motherboard header and the fan on the CNPS7000-Cu. The Fan Mate allows you to switch between Normal and Silent mode. Like the name says, Silent mode runs the fan at a lower speed so you can barely hear it. Normal mode runs at a higher fan speed at the cost of a little more noise. I ran the fan in Normal mode most of the time and the difference in sound between the two modes is noticeable but not significant. Even in Normal mode the fan was significantly quieter than the stock cooler. If you overclock your PC, then you will want to run in Normal mode all of the time since Silent mode does not provide the RPMS to properly cool your CPU. Another note on Silent mode, you will want to make sure that any low RPM CPU Fan alarms you have are turned off because Silent mode lowers the RPM’s of your CPU fan to levels that may set them off.
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