Rather than the standard rectangular look of most CPU air coolers, the Zalman CNPS9900-DF Dual Fan Quiet CPU Cooler (CNPS stands for Computer Noise Prevention System, by the way) is an aesthetically pleasing circular shape instead.
It measures 140 x 100 x 154mm and weighs a reasonable 850g. The heatsinks are a copper-based, nickelplated affairs attached to a highly polished, mirrored CPU contact plate. The CPU contact plate has four heatpipes that, according to Zalman, are constructed from a triple composite. This triple composite has a feature Zalman calls Sintered Metal, which increases the thermal conductivity through a capillary pumping action. Basically, it means that the heatpipes have micro-grooves engineered into them that allow the heat to pass along them in a more effective manner. To be honest, we have no idea whether this works or not, but we like the idea behind it.
The heatsink is split into two sections, with the heatpipes running through each section accordingly. There’s a front 120mm fan mounted inside the fins of the first section that spins at 1000rpm, followed by a fairly large gap where there’s a second 140mm fan that spins between 900 and 1400rpm. The rpm of the second fan can be controlled by the PWM option on your motherboard, and both fans are blue LED activated.
Fitting the cooler was certainly a lot easier than the Be Quiet Dark Rock. We did miss the vibration padding on the motherboard backplate, though, and the plastic locking nuts as well, but there was a lot more clearance and we could easily manoeuvre the cooler due to the fact that it is considerably lighter.
The setup is Intel and AMD compatible, with the right fittings for each CPU model included in the package, as well as a decent amount of thermal paste. Furthermore, since the dimensions and shape of the cooler are a little smaller and different than usual, there’s a surprising amount of room left available for bigger than normal memory sticks and large VRM heatsinks. And we quite like the blue LEDs as well.
Testing the Zalman CNPS9900-DF on our overclocked i7-4790K at 4.4GHz, we recorded an idle temperature of 28ºC, which is only one degree higher than the Be Quiet cooler. The under stress test, of running Prime95 for 20 minutes, recorded the temperature at 69ºC, slightly higher than the last test we ran on the Be Quiet model. As for noise levels, they were identical at just 40dbA.
The Zalman is a really good cooler. The CPU load temperature is a little higher than we’ve already seen, but only by a mere 4ºC – a small price to pay perhaps for better fitting, better aesthetics and design and, of course, blue LEDs. It’s slightly cheaper too, at just £67 instead of £76. In the end, it’s down to what's going to work best with your system.
Intel: LGA 775 / 1150 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011(-3)
AMD: 754 / 939 / 940 / AM2(+) / AM3(+) / FM1 / FM2(+)