ZALMAN CNPS11X Performa 120mm Long Life Bearing V-Shaped Dual Heat Sink CPU Cooler

Pros: This is a awesome CPU cooler. Purchased this to keep my AMD A10 5800K CPU cool, they run quite warm and I run Folding @ Home. With FAH running all CPU cores @ 100% and the GPU as well, on the stock cooler I was seeing temperatures of around 68c, not to mention was extremely noisy. Now after installing the Zalman, temps at full load have dropped to 49c, a huge difference, not to mention that I can barely hear it so its much much quieter.

Cons: Even being one of the smaller CPU coolers with a 120mm fan, its still big, barely fit my case, had to mod my side panel and put in a mesh opening to gain a extra couple mm's, but Im also using a MicroATX case so bad on me for not measuring more closely before hand.

Other Thoughts: If you have a small case, this can work, just might need to modify side panel a bit.

Pros: Installation is practically idiot proof (assuming that you can read instructions), small footprint, quiet.

Cons: Fan is not ball bearing.

Other Thoughts: This thing looks like it could be an A/C evaporator in a small car, but is not obnoxiously huge like some tower coolers. No LEDs? Who cares! It works! I think the V design is more efficient than a monolithic brick cooler, and it clears the RAM on an Intel DZ77GA-70K motherboard with a little room to spare. Allows moderately sane overclocking with ease. Idle temps high 30s to low 40s, 4.5 GHz overclock just cracks the 90s in a warm room at full load (i5-3570K). This is Ivy Bridge, Sandy Bridge would run even cooler.

Pros: Good brand. Comes with the stuff to mount it on many different socket options. Comes with it's own tools for installation (at least for socket 2011).

Cons: I used this for socket 2011, maybe that socket was an oversight in their design process, or maybe the fan/heat sink just isn't good. Also, the board I was installing it on was dual socket, so I had two of these guys and both of them were the exact same.
The screws provided must have been made out of gold or some other extremely soft metal because the screws (both the heads and the teeth) stripped EXTREMELY easily. I had some motherboard issues so I had to remove/remount these guys 2 times a piece. I don't know about you, but I think that screws that are put in and pulled out 4-6 times shouldn't be stripped by the end of that event.
The way the main part of the heat sink mounted to the board by these janky little metal pieces was such a poor design. It made it very difficult to get the mounting holes on the board to exactly line up with the heatsink and screw down. I had to return these and went with a different brand altogether.

Other Thoughts: Do not buy this for Socket 2011, I can't speak for others.

Pros: Perfect Fit on Asrock Extreme 3 Gen 3 does not interfere with northbridge and doesn't cover ram slot
Low Temps Giving me 32ºC on idle
the fan is no slouch u can really feel the air coming off this if you put your had behind it
solidly built
quiet
unique design

Cons: Minor Gripes

flimsy top panel where the logo is pushes in when a slight bit of pressure is applied

installation but that is with all aftermarket coolers

Other Thoughts: took a chance on a no review product but Zalman does make great CPU coolers and i am not disappointed Installation was not to bad since i did it outside the case