Not a company to sit idly by as others release bigger and better coolers, Zalman takes their extremely popular CNPS9500 cooler and makes some modest changes. By using a larger cooling area and moving from a 92mm to 110mm fan, can Zalamn keep up with the best and brightest in the cooling market while maintaining their reputation for quiet and efficient cooling?

Model	Zalman CNPS9700 LED
Compatibility	Intel LGA 775 , AMD Socket 754 / 939 / 940 / AM2
Heatsink Dimensions	90 x 124 x 142mm
Heatsink Material	Copper
Fan Size	110mm Blue LED
RPM	1250-2800 RPM
Noise Level	19.5-35 dBA
Power Connector	3 Pin
Bundle	CPU Cooler Fan Speed Controller Clips Backplate Bolts Zalman ZM-STG1 Thermal compound
Warranty	One year

The bundle included with the Zalman CNPS9700 LED is basically the same included with all recent Zalman coolers. An instruction booklet, top mounting bracket, backplate, fan controller and cable, double sided sitcky pad (for mounting fan controller), Zalman ZM-STG1 thermal grease, levers for AMD and INTEL systems, accompanying screws, and a case badge round out the assortment of goodies.

The Zalman CNPS9700 LED is really just the CNPS9500 on HIGH. Maybe not literally, but Zalman simply took a popular and efficient design, made the cooler a bit bigger, and moved from a 92mm to a larger 110mm fan and dubbed it the 9700.

Familiar to anyone who has used a Zalman cooler before, the CNPS9700 retains the blooming shape that they're known for. And for those looking to add a shot of bling to their chassis, the LED version glows blue.

It seems that all modern air coolers these days utilize heatpipe technology, and the CNPS9700 equips three of them that extend up from the base and loop around to the other side in a figure eight formation. As the heatpipes travel around the cooler, several copper fins help dissipate the heat to great effect, aided by the aforementioned 110mm fan.

The base of the Zalman CNPS9700 LED is polished to a mirror finish. We've touched on this before, but I'm not as worried about flatness as most others, as I've never seen a perfectly flat IHS (Integrated Heat Spreader) on any processor I've owned. Call me crazy (I've been called worse) but I honestly think a base free of machine marks and large blemishes is perfectly fine, and my experience in benchmarking seems to support this claim.

Overall, the Zalman CNPS9700 LED is nothing more than a larger CNPS9500. Let's get it installed, then see how it performs against some popular cooling solutions... You'll need to place the back plate on the rear of the motherboard, aligning the plate with the holes. Although there are small tabs, I'd recommend holding the backplate in place when you flip the board back over to install the top mounting bracket, as it can (and does) easily slip off otherwise.

After placing the top mounting bracket in place, match up the holes and install the screws securing the top bracket to the backplate.

The lever can be aligned either length-wise, as shown above, or cross-wise through the heat pipes, depending on how you want to orientate the cooler within your case.  Installation is easy enough that you can experiment with both orientations and see which one yields the best temperatures overall.

After securing one side of the lever with a screw, tighten down the other side. I'd recommend going back and forth, tightening each screw a little at a time. By doing this you'll balance out the pressure applied by the lever, and make finishing up the installation as easy as possible.

Lastly, plug the male end from the fan controller into the motherboard's CPU fan header, and connect the female end of the fan controller to the male 3-pin connection from the cooler. Route the fan controller outside your chassis and, if desired, use the doubled sided sticky tab to secure it to your case in a convenient location. During a gaming session, you may find yourself ramping up the fan to high, while lowering it when performing mundane tasks, such as Word processing, web browsing, and anything else that doesn't tax your processor.

As you can see from our installation pictures, the Zalman CNPS9700 LED is a monster, taking up a lot of motherboard real estate. I would definitely recommend installing and connecting everything you can before placing your motherboard into your case (4/8 pin 12V connector, fan headers, etc).

Much like the CNPS9500 series before it, the Zalman CNPS9700 LED installation is as easy as you make it. Like installing any other component, plan out your work, take your time, and have patience. Zalman's thermal paste is extremely easy to use, and performs very well. Zalman's mounting bracket does require removing the motherboard for those using INTEL LGA775 systems, but is an excellent system. Lastly, those copper fins are thin and very sharp, so be careful! It's much easier to type and frag with a full set of digits...

Today's HardwareLogic Test Bench consists of the following components.

• INTEL E6600 Core 2 Duo Processor
• ECS PN2-SLI2+ 680i Motherboard
• 2GB Crucial PC2-64000 DDR2 Memory
• eVGA 8800 GTX Video Card
• Enermax Galaxy 1000W PSU
• Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750GB HDD
• HSPC Tech Station Test Bench

Arctic Silver Luminere was used with all coolers in our tests for a couple of reasons. First, nothing but Arctic Silver touches our components, and second, Luminere is the best testing thermal compound available (zero cure time, non-conductive). All testing was done using the following heat sinks in a 73F testing environment. Idle temps were recorded 30 minutes after a cold boot, load temperatures were recorded after 30 minutes of 100% load using two instances of CPU Burn In. for consistency in testing, all heat sinks were mounted three times.

• Idle Settings: 1.86GHz, 1.3V
• Overclocked Settings: 2.8Ghz, 1.45V

Cooler	Stock Idle	Stock Load	OC Idle	OC Load
Cooler Master Gemini II	31	44	37	55
Thermaltake Big Typhoon	31	45	37	57
Zalman CNPS9700 LED	36 (Low) 33 (High)	51 (Low) 46 (High)	44 (Low) 39 (High)	67 (Low) 60 (High)
Gigabyte 3D Rocket II	36 (Low) 34 (High)	53 (Low) 48 (High)	46 (Low) 42 (High)	68 (Low) 63 (High)
INTEL Stock Cooler	42	56	WNR	WNR

The results are a bit misleading; while the temperatures recorded with the fan controller set to high are comparable to Cooler Master's GeminII and Thermaltake's Big Typhoon, the noise generated is almost unbearable (akin to listening to a mother-in-law for a prolonged period of time, but luckily you can control the fan!). With the fan set to "Low", the Zalman CNPS9700 LED still easily bests the stock Intel cooler on our test bench, but lags well beyond the top dogs in terms of thermal performance, especially when overclocking.

Category	Score	Comments
Thermal Performance	17/20	Although it performed admirably, I was disappointed with the Zalman CNPS9700 LED, as it came in just ahead of the CNPS9500 during all of our testing and trailed both the Thermaltake Big Typhoon and Cooler Master Gemin II
Installation	17/20	Having to remove the motherboard is something we have to accept with INTEL LGA775 based systems, and as such, Zalman's mounting system is among the best and easiest to install. Add in arguably the easiest to use thermal grease and the Zalman CNPS9700 is a great option for the first time installer.
Acoustics	17/20	The CNPS9700's 110mm fan offers only slightly better performance than the 92mm fan found on the CNPS9500, however the 9700 generated much more noise at higher speeds.
Overclocking	16/20	Decent, although not on par with the Gemini II or Big Typhoon. However, keep in mind Zalman coolers are meant for those balancing performance and silence.
Price/Value	7/10	A little pricey when compared to the competition
Warranty and Support	10/10	Zalman has a vast and full featured website that features a FAQ section, a Q & A section that is basically a support forum, and a customer service section where you can ask Zalman specific questions.

Our Recommendation

At low speeds the Zalman CNPS9700 LED is an almost silent cooler, at the high end....not so much.  Installation is pretty simple, unless your working in a cramped space or are easily frustrated, in which case you'll probably spill some blood and bend some of the beautiful copper fins. Adding their ZM-STG1 Thermal grease to the bundle is a nice touch, as it's great stuff that doesn't get nearly enough recognition.

Well, what can I say - I love Zalman products, and the CNPS9500 series is among the best around. Having said that, the Zalman CNPS9700 LED is a good option for those buying OEM processors or looking to replace the stock cooler that comes with retail processors. If you already have a decent aftermarket cooling solution, I'd pass here.

Other Reviews of Note

Its always nice to have more than one opinion on a component before you spend your hard earned money. For one, We may see something others missed, or vice versa. As with all reviews published at HardwareLogic, we'll not only give you our recommendation, but also point out some reviews from some other great sites around the web.
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