The Zalman CNPS9700 NT CPU Cooler is not a small cooler by any
means. With a dimension of 90(L) X 124(W) X 142(H) mm it's best you are
sure it will fit in your system before purchasing. Refer to the chart
below for Compatible CPUs and Motherboards:
One of the first things you will notice about this cooler is the
aerodynamically designed ultra slim copper heat sink fins which
radiate out from the three "figure 8" heat pipes. These heat pipes pump
heat from the base into the fins and the fans dissipates the heat.
Heatpipes have been around for a while and they work very well. As a
matter of fact, coolers that implement an excellent heat pipe design can
almost match the results of some water cooling kits.
The pure copper and aluminum base is ultra smooth. This is
excellent because it means fantastic contact between it and the
CPU.
The green LED 110mm fan gets plugged directly into the motherboard's 4 pin fan
header. This fan is PWM controlled. PWM stands for Pulse Width
Modulation and simply put is a modulation technique that generates
variable-width pulses to represent the amplitude of an analog input
signal*.
PWM has been long regarded as much too complicated for use with PC
fan speed control. So why use this instead of a rheostat or linear
voltage regulator? There are a few reasons. Little heat is generated
and therefore allows higher powered fans can be used. It's cheaper
to produce. Also, the fan doesn't stop or fail to spin at minimum speed.
NOTE: When using this fan on a standard 3-pin motherboard
connector it will run in silent mode only.
