Zalman CNPS 10X Extreme

Posted 10/14/2009 at 9:00am | by Nathan Edwards

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The radial-copper-finned stalwart tries something new

The Zalman CNPS line (especially the long-lived 9000 series) is known for its distinctive copper-finned air coolers, which are nearly always organized in a circular pattern around the fan. This arrangement worked well for a long time, with the CNPS9700 and 9900 garnering rave reviews in these pages. But all the top-performing coolers we’ve tested recently (July’s Thermalright U120-eXtreme and August’s Noctua U12P) have had one thing in common: a skyscraper formfactor, whereby a tall stack of closely packed cooling fins jut upward, with one or more 12cm fans strapped to the side. Now, Zalman is getting in on the game with its latest CNPS cooler, the 10X Extreme, which takes the skyscraper-and-12cm-fan design and adds variable-speed fan control.

The Zalman CNPS 10X Extreme sports five heat pipes running through a closely packed array of black nickel-plated fins. It’s a great look, and proves that Zalman doesn’t just do copper well. The fan remote can be slotted into the plastic cowl at the top of the heatsink or, more usefully, be routed to the outside of your case with the included extension wire. The fan has three auto-speed settings: low (up to 1,500rpm), mid (up to 1,950rpm) and high (up to 2,150rpm), and one manual dial, for fine-tuning between 1,000rpm and 2,150rpm.

Like similar coolers, in order to mount the heatsink to your motherboard, you have to remove the cooler’s fan. But unlike the Thermalright and the Noctua, which use clips, the Zalman’s fan is screwed on, making installation difficult. Worse, the fan’s (very short) four-pin connector is routed behind the fan inside the cowl, which makes it very painful to install. Aside from the fan issue, mounting the Zalman on a Socket 775 motherboard is easier than installing most of its peers. There’s no backplate, and the mounting bracket attaches with a pin mechanism that is quite sturdy. The retention mechanism is the same as on Zalman’s previous coolers and attaches with four spring screws.

The Zalman CNPS10X is even bigger than its similarly shaped peers.

Unfortunately, though the Zalman 10X’s form matches that of the category’s top coolers, its performance does not. In our tests, the Zalman (at maximum fan speed) couldn’t match our current champion, the Thermalright U120, with one fan. Idle temperatures from the Zalman were within two degrees Celsius of the U120, but temperatures at full CPU burn were four degrees C higher than with the Thermalright cooler.

The 10X is even bigger than its peers, too: At 5.3 inches tall, 4 inches deep, and 6.3 inches wide, it’s slightly larger in every dimension than the Noctua U12P, and it weighs more than two pounds. The 10X comes dangerously close to being too large—some orientations just don’t work because the heat pipes bump capacitors or the northbridge heatsinks. Both the Noctua and Thermalright coolers can mount additional fans—the Zalman doesn’t have that option, nor (because of its fan-connector placement) can you easily replace the included fan with a higher-performing one, as many air-cooling users prefer.

We appreciate Zalman’s efforts to hit a higher performance mark with its products, and we like the CNPS 10X’s looks and fan control. Zalman also gets points for including mounting brackets for Core i7, Core i5, and AMD motherboards. But the performance isn’t quite at the level of our slightly smaller, more-customizable champions, and the price is higher.

And we really wish manufacturers would stop calling their coolers “Extreme.”

Zalman CNPS 10X Extreme

Zombo

Good looks, variable-speed fan controller.

Zombie

Bigger, more expensive, and not quite as effective as its peers. No multi-fan support.

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