Conroe heatsink group test

Zalman CNPS8000

Price: £32.00 inc VAT
Supplier: KustomPCs
Manufacturer: Zalman

Zalman are well known for making well-manufactured products, and the CNPS8000 is no exception. The heat sink itself is very similar in design to the AK-960. It’s approximately the same size, so it’ll fit in any case that the standard Intel cooler will fit into.

Similarly to the AK-960 the heat pipes travel through the Aluminium fins, without passing through the copper base. The heat pipes do actually touch into the surface of the base, but they do not pass though. Additionally, when the heat sink is installed in a tower case, only two of the four heat pipes can point upwards.




Base: Because the CNPS8000 is designed to fit to many different socket types, it uses a system which bolts through the motherboard to a retaining plate on the other side.

This necessitates the removal of the motherboard, which is an unnecessary annoyance for a cooler of this size. On a more positive note, the clip system is very well made, and slips together well.

Importantly, the screws that connect the heat sink to the backplane will only screw in a preset distance, which makes it perfectly obvious when you’ve screwed down far enough. It also means that the heat sink lies perfectly flat on the top of the CPU.

Noise: It’s fortunate that the CNPS8000 comes with a Fanmate 2. Without that unit attached, the heat sink’s 92mm fan makes a lot of noise. Not unlike the Mini Typhoon, when the three-pin plug is attached directly to a motherboard its fan whooshes with gusto and aplomb. However, with the Fanmate 2 connected and turned down low, the CPNS8000 is whisper quiet.

Performance: You might not want to reduce the fan speed, however, because the CPNS8000 performed poorly under load in our testing. Disappointingly, possibly because only two heat pipes are correctly oriented, the heat sink didn’t even come close to the best coolers in the test.

Under load it only managed to shave 7°C off the Intel reference cooler, not much considering that it’s the most expensive air cooler in this test. It also didn’t help the temperature in the case, which increased to 1°C over that recorded when using the reference cooler.

Conclusion: Considering the price and performance of the CPNS8000 it’s impossible to recommend for use in a tower case. It’s nowhere near as powerful or as quiet as the Freezer or Auras. And since it’s about the same size as the AK-960, the little Akasa is a better buy, at half the price and with considerably better cooling performance.

Score:

Value 1
Performance 1
Noise level 2
Assembly and mounting difficulty 2
Quality and aesthetic 4

Overall 2