Introduction:

   Zalman recently sent me one of their newest (and probably best looking) CPU cooler to date: the CNPS9500-LED. It's just a stunning piece from the cooler gods that makes just about everyone who sees it in action stare. The best part about this cooler, it's not just a looker, it performs great! Although that isn't much of a surprise considering Zalman's heritage so far in the high-end cooling market, and the size of this cooler. I mean, it's no low profile cooler, so it better cool well right? Well, no worries there...read on!

A Closer Look:

Front Close-Up	Rear Close-Up	Around 4" Wide
Heatpipes Side	Very Smooth Base	Attached to Socket 939

   The Zalman CNPS9500-LED CPU Cooler. It's quite large but fantastically engineered. Gripping the cooler is like gripping a softball sized circular set of copper fins. Don't grip too hard though, they will cut, and cut deep very easily.

I've got to say I've been a huge fan of it's "Figure 8" heatpipe design since I first laid eyes on it and now, having it in my possession, it's just as cool as I thought it was. The quality is typical Zalman, and that's saying that it's "superb as usual".

The "figure 8" heatpipe design is about as good as it gets with heatpipes. It's probably the most ideal setup you could have in a vertical heatpipe configuration, as this is. As the heated vapors escalate through (up) the figure 8 design, it is cooled at the top back to liquid form and proceeds back down the pipes. It's a non-stop cooling factory unlike the typical non-heatpipe cooler.

Heatpipe cooling has dominated the air-cooled cooling scene for awhile now and this is a pristine example of one of, if not THE, best heatpipe design on the market today. Anyone can make 2-4 heatpipes stick straight up thru some aluminum fins and a big fan, but Zalman took it to a new level of both cooling and design with the CNPS9500-LED cooler.