Intro

Zalman has been bringing us quality products for our computers for over five years. Their goal is to make computers more user friendly by reducing the noise they generate. Let's face it, many of us put up with a lot of fan noise just so we can keep our components cool. But if you could get the same performance at a reduced noise level wouldn't you take it? Of coarse you would. Enter the Zalman CNPS7700-AlCu.

The Package

Inside the plain brown box from Sharka Corporation was a blister pack containing the CPU cooler, a fan speed controller, all the necessary mounting hardware for mounting the cooler to your motherboard and a small tube of thermal compound.

Can you say big? I knew that you could. This sucker is big, boys and girls. Almost five and a half inches across. Except for its size it looks almost identical to the CNPS7000-AlCu. It weighs in at 600g, that's 1.3lbs. Keep in mind this is the aluminum and copper version. The all copper one is 900g or 2lbs!

The Cooler

The cooler is constructed of copper and aluminum with copper in the center and aluminum on either side. This can easily be seen when looking at the base or the top with the fan removed.The base is machined to a beautifully smooth finish. If it weren't for the different metals you would swear it was one solid piece of metal. I see no reason for lapping. Around the central block fins radiate out from the center and are dished to allow the mounting of a frameless 120mm fan. The fan speed can be varied using the included fan speed controller but if you plan on using the fan at full speed I see no need to use the controller. As the fan has a normal three pin connector it can be hooked up directly to the fan header on the motherboard.