The Basics (continued):
The cooling fan features a 4-pin power connection that lets you control its speed through your motherboard's BIOS (or other PWM controller). The printed information had me thinking a fan controller was included, and I did look for one since many other Zalman brand cooler's have included one in the past. Data printed on the hub of the fan indicate that it is Zalman model ZD1225BTR, which is a 2 ball-bearing unit rated for 0.8A @ 12V.
The images above show the base of the cooler from two angles. In the above left image we see that four of the heatpipes (two loops) exit on one side, while the other loop exits on the opposite side. The heatpipes are sandwiched between the copper base and what appears to be an aluminum top plate by using four screws. While the aluminum piece is rather roughly cast, the copper base is extremely smooth, flat, and provides a near perfect mirror finish.
Like all things Zalman, the build quality is high end, the design is impressive, and the performance expectations are high. The cooler can't be considered small, but for a 'tower' heatpipe cooler it seems more compact than others. This is mostly due to the circular shape taking up less area than if it had been a square, but it is a bit smaller than some of the big coolers I have used.
Accessories:
The accessories for the CNPS9900 LED are shown in the images below. The package includes hardware for all modern processors; including AMD AM2, Intel LGA 775, and Intel 1366. In addition, you receive rather detailed installation instructions (with plenty of pictures), a case badge, and a bottle of Zalman's Super Thermal Grease. We reviewed some of this thermal grease in 2006 (
link), and it is definitely good stuff!
