ZALMAN CNPS9500A-LED 92mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler

Pros: looks great

Cons: fan falls off bracket; fails to cool

Other Thoughts: This is a revision of my earlier review. A couple weeks after installation, I heard a clunk and discovered that the fan fell off the mounting bracket. As noted in other reviews, the idea of holding the retaining clip to the mounting bracket by screwing fine-pitch screws into plastic is just plain dumb. After the failure, I bent the clip so it wasn't pulling so hard on the screws and tried some larger diameter screws. They are holding so far. Now the only problem is that the CPU temperature is rising to 60 C, causing my programs to crash. This fan is headed for the trash.

Pros: Great looks, love the all copper design and the style.

Cons: Mounted this to an FX-8350 on an AM3+ socket using an ASrock 970 Extreme3. The first problem is that the entire HSF unit can rotate on top of the CPU when using the retention clip supplied. Not good! I expected much better cooling performance with this unit, but I actually get better performance with the stock cooler. I have tried various TIM to see if that was the issue, but all resulted in the same poor performance. In the end, I think it was the combination of poor mounting hardware coupled with a processor that generates more heat than this cooler can handle under load.

Other Thoughts: This is obviously a popular cooler and many people have had success with it. For me, I think I had the wrong combination of harware for this to be of any use to me.

Pros: - Beautiful, and elegantly designed. Seems well manufactured.
- Copper construction.
- Amazing cooling! 15-18c reductions in CPU Temps over stock cooler, under load, at slowest fan speed.
- Clears RAM slots, and other components.
- Can be mounted in proper horizontal orientation on AM3+ board.

Cons: - A bit hard to install
- No PWM support. Somewhat mitigated by the fact the cooler is so good, it gets left on the lowest speed all the time.
- Poor manual/instructions.

Other Thoughts: Installed on AM3+ Asus board, with AMD 6300 CPU.

As mentioned, a bit fiddly to install on this smaller board, but clears all other components, and once in offers fantastic performance.

They obviously take great care in their design and manufacturing process, and it shows in the product performance.

Despite the Cons, this cooler works so well, and is so well designed and built, that I had to give it 5 eggs, anyway. Well done Zalman, would buy again.

Pros: put in a 3570k Intel chip. With an MSI Thunderbolt add 16 1600 RAM, stir and you have a great set up except the stock heat sink runs in a hard game 150 F. Replace heat sink with this and the highest under the greatest possible load and a room temperature in the 80,s 113 F. It is very easy to install because it is smaller than the biggest model.
The amount of noise can be controlled at low which is most of the time not sure computer is on at high some fan noise but playing a game its not that it can't be heard,

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: You need huge heat sink to get great results, not so. This is not very big has a nice little lite. It is not that expensive for what you get at all in fact it is cheap for what you get. Much easier to install than years ago so don't panic.

Pros: quiet, cool, runs forever.

Cons: none so far

Pros: For 1155 socket - none

Cons: As another reviewer stated, the supplied screws that attach the retaining clip to the bracket are way too short. They're also tapered, so they simply will not grab enough threads to secure the clip adequately and the screws pops out from the clip tension. Tried for an hour to get the screws to go in. All I got were stripped screws, smeared thermal paste and a headache. This thing is getting RMA'd.

If you're looking for a cooling solution for your 1155, I suggest you look elsewhere.

Other Thoughts: Sure, people could go buy replacement screws, but they shouldn't have to. And the threads inside the bracket may get stripped as well after fighting with the inadequate supplied screws.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear valued customer,

We sincerely apologize for the issue. Please contact our customer service e-mail support.usa@zalmanusa.com or via toll free number 1-888-925-6266 for further assistance.

Thank you.

Best regards,

Zalman USA Customer Service

Pros: this cpu cooler is easy to install and definitely works. and the subtle blue glow of the fan inside the copper fins looks awesome and happens to match my blue and orange theme very well. id put it on any air cooled build. its a lot easier to clean than a stock style cooler too since the fins are all right there and exposed.

Cons: fins are sharp be careful!

Pros: cools well; well built

Cons: not quiet without speed control

Other Thoughts: The kit includes a speed control, but I did not install it. I use my computer for heavy duty number crunching, so it can run for days at 100% load. To keep it cool at that load takes everything this cooler has, so I left off the speed control. In this configuration, the fan is rather noisy.

Pros: None

Cons: Intel 1155 - Mounting screws are too short. There is absolutely no way they will seat with the clip in place, and I'm not going to destroy my motherboard trying.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear valued customer,

We sincerely apologize for the issue. Please contact our customer service e-mail support.usa@zalmanusa.com or via toll free number 1-888-925-6266 for further assistance.

Thank you.

Best regards,

Zalman USA Customer Service

Pros: It works as it should. My CPU idles at about 34-35C and has only touched 50C once under 100% load. I installed this cooler on to my new build from the start, so I don't have a temperature difference to report from the OEM cooler.

Cons: The mounting hardware, or at least part of it. The bracket that mounts to the motherboard is fine and screws on relatively easily. Once you apply some thermal paste and actually sit the heatsink on the CPU, there is a clip/bracket that you bolt down over the top of it to secure it in place.

It is either poor design or mine was faulty. The screws are very small and you can only get maybe 2 threads in. At that point, the other side of the bracket was a full 1/4" raised - so no way the other screw is going in. I had to bend the clip to a more straight position and still managed to strip one of the wells.

Luckily, I was able to use another orientation to utilize the other two clip holes. Bent clip aside, if the screws were another 1/8" long or so, I'd feel much better about it. I may actually go buy some for my own piece of mind since I don't want this thing to be hanging by the fan cable one day.

I'm only taking off 1 egg for this. If I had to actually go buy more screws, it would be 2 eggs off.

Other Thoughts: The side with the fan face should be facing away from the direction you want the airflow to be going. That isn't made clear in the instructions and saves you the time of figuring out which way the fan rotates, etc.