ZALMAN CNPS 9500 AM2 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink

Pros: Very efficient cooling. CPU (Athalon X2 4800+) runs at 35C with both bay doors off and no other fans running, about 25C all closed up with case fans running. Lots of surface area to dissipate heat. One of the better non-liquid cooling systems I have used.

Cons: The fins are SHARP, I just about cut my thumb off on one, literally, the Doc I work for sent me to the ER to get it stitched up. Installation instructions are not the greatest ever. Due to its size there are potential case and mbd compatibility issues. Had a little trouble with getting it to sit properly on my Asus A8N32-SLI board as it wanted to rub the heatpipes on the board.

Overall Review: Great service and shipping from Newegg as always. Overall I would probably rate this as the best non-liquid cooler I have dealt with (I work on the side as freelance comp tech, $xxx an hour, and have built over 1000 systems). This one is for me though  and it is good to know I will be well served by my CPU cooler. Liquid systems are just a pain for home machines unless you plan on seriously overclocking. Even with some of the cons it is a great unit. I have been using the older Zalmans for years and have always been satisfied.

Pros: This is the best design on the market without being a major block of weight like many solutions. The fact it can be used for both AMD and Intel is a great plus. If properly installed with Arctic Silver heat from overclocking is significantly reduced.

Cons: Size. Make sure your motherboard will work with it (most do) and make sure there is enough room between the CPU and the power supply (or other obstructions). Fan is 3 pin so check your motherboard fan header to see if it is 3 or 4 pin. It will work on a 4 pin header but dynamic speed control may not function.

Overall Review: I have 2 of these now (owned 1 for almost a year) and have absolutely no complaints other than the 3 pin fan. Many newer motherboards are moving to a 4 pin CPU fan header design. 3 pin fans will work but they cannot be dynamically controlled and require a manual fan speed change from the provided controller. When applying Arctic Silver, do not smear or distribute it with a strait edge.. do not smear it, just a 'dot' about the size of 3 grains of rice in the middle of the processor and then after the heatsink is installed, rotate it left and right to spread the thermal compound. If you use too much AS or spread it. it may act as insulator insead of a thermal conductor with this product.

Pros: Its a great low rpm quiet set up. I recommend not using the fan controller and hooking it straight into your mobo this way your fan will stay maxed out @ 2750rpm's. The AM2 bracket is vey easy to snap on, very easily installed. I have an AMD FX-62 overclocked to 3ghz at 1.5 volts and the zalman keeps it 5 - 8 degrees cooler. With my cpu OC'd Idle: 38c Load: 50c, not bad.

Cons: I put this zalman next to my old copper zalman and there is no difference what so ever.The only difference is the AM2 bracket and the color & the Nvidia sticker. All I needed was the AM2 bracket for my ASUS mobo but ZALMAN WILL NOT SELL JUST THE BRACKET! What a bunch of scammers! I put this zalman next to my old copper zalman and there is no difference what so ever.

Overall Review: Zalman should let you buy just the AM2 bracket if you already own the older version!

Pros: Yes it is a copper unit. It just happens to be aluminum or nickel plated. Cools like a champ, keeps my AMD 4800 at around 25C idle and 35C loaded.

Cons: The fins are sharp like is said below so be careful when installing. Directions are not very clear.

Overall Review: Good quality company. This unit and its predicessor are some of the best fans I have ever used. It will be a while before I go with a company other than Zalman for non-liquid systems.

Pros: If anyone worries about this fan fitting in with the rest of their stuff, don't. ASUS M2N 32-sli deluxe wifi, Mushkin mem with heat shields, x-plessure case... nice clean quiet and super cool, 19-23c running average load. Green is bright, looks great!

Cons: They say the fins are sharp, not going to argue but it did not get me... lucky i guess?

Overall Review: Terrific fan for the money and even more... no don't raise the price guys. multiple mounting options are nice.

Pros: It looks cool, it's easy to install, it's working on my AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ AM2 right now.

Cons: I am kinda suprised that my temps arent lower. Using Arctic Silver 5 and in a well aired case I am getting 43 Idle low and 56 Load high (SuperPI) at stock 1.4v and stock speeds with my fan on full blast. If my temps are already that high then there's no way I'm going to attempt to overclock my processor now.

Overall Review: Had the socket 939 version running on my X2 4800+ last month and it gave slightly better results than this AM2 version, though not by much. newegg rocks! Super fast shipping.

Pros: My stock heatsink and fan idled at around 40C, and at 60C+ under load I was beginning to see some overheating issues. This cooler brought me down, much to my surprise, to an idle temp of 22C and I've only been able to get it up to 40C under load. This is at the fan's lowest setting. There's not a whole lot more I could ask for. System temp is 10C below CPU temp all the time. Oh yeah, I also recieved my entire order (4 products) two days early. *boggle* *hugs Newegg*

Cons: When I plugged the fan directly into the motherboard I noticed it would only run at around 1350 RPM - the fan's 'silent mode' and lowest speed. When I used the included speed dial I could crank it up to the top speed of 2500 (with no significant increase in noise), but after running for about a minute the LEDs faded out and the fan began to stop. *freak out* I tried it 3 times with the same result. Needless to say, I don't recommend the speed control unless you plan to troubleshoot it. The fan cools more than adequately for me on the low setting. I've noticed some other posts claim that the fan runs at 2500 RPM when plugged directly into their boards; perhaps it's some sort of compatability issue with mine. 5 eggs regardless. Even with that problem, it's doing an awesome job of cooling.

Overall Review: Mega-huge, installation might be tricky in more puny cases. (Thermaltake Armor 4tw.) Green LEDs clash beautifully with the three other colors I have in there... The fact that it can mount in four different directions means it shouldn't be a problem to carry it from board to board as upgrading goes. Mine came with a tube of generic thermal grease, wasn't sure if it did or not when I ordered it. I used Arctic 5. Yay for my first CPU heatsink installation!

Pros: Wow. That is all I can say. I have an amd dual core 3800+ put this fan on it. cpu temperature is 14C idle, cpu#1 / core#1 30C idle, cpu#1 / core#2 24C idle.

Cons: None.

Overall Review: this is a am2 version of the zalman 9500 and that fan is awesome.