Zalman CNPS6500-Cu Fan Heatsink Review

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The recipe card for the CNPS6500Cu reads like this; take 52 copper fins, place in a machine that presses them together under high pressure, bolt in place with stainless steel screws, mill base razor smooth. There is certainly no denying that Zalman have hit upon a good thing, and the 6500-series is proof of that.

This time, the full-copper CNPS6500Cu weighs in at 910 grams, or almost 1 kilo! For a heatsink, this currently is the heaviest cooler we have ever reviewed. Socket clips are out of the question, and even the standard socket 478 HSRM is left out. This time, the heatsink is bolted directly to the mainboard, and there is no way it's coming loose... we hope.

When we reviewed the Aluminum and Copper version of this heatsink we were very impressed with its performance as a quiet cooler. Suffice to say the full copper version performs even better, only a few degrees below that the best performing socket 478 heatsink we've tested. Given that, and the lower amount of noise that the CNPS6500Cu creates, I'm actually going to be dropping this 'little' guy into my own system at the end of this review - I just won't be moving that case around too roughly in case 1 kilo of copper heatsink comes loose ;-).

	Heatsink Specsheet: Model: CNPS6500-Cu (52) copper 0.5mm thick fins. Fan: 92mm case-mounted Fan Dim: Power Cooler 25x92x92mm, 12V, 3.36W FHS Dimensions: 115x94x65mm Weight: 914 grams Surface area: 3400cm2 Thermal resistance: 0.28C/W Machine milled base Made & Sold by: Zalman Tech Co. Cost: ~$55USD Sold By: www.zalman.co.kr

There are two tabs on the sides of the CNPS6500Cu that come with several holes in them. A small army of screws and lock washers, and brass standoffs are included with the kit so that the heatsink may be mounted on just about any configuration of socket 478 motherboard.

Mounting the heatsink requires removing the motherboard from the chassis, but is fairly straight forward and the instructions are well illustrated.

Basics on the Noise Reduction System

The easiest way to improve the performance of a heatsink is to increase the amount of air the fan generates. This is not the best way to improve a heatsink, but it is the easiest, and most common method.

To this effect, computers all over the world have become very noisy. In most situations we are apt to grin and bear it - tucking the computer under a table or putting headphones on and turning up the music.

This is where Zalman steps in with "CNPS," an acronym for "Computer Noise Prevention System." In addition to the large 92mm fan that comes with the CNPS6500Cu, they also include the FanMate 1.

The FanMate 1 allows you to further decrease the degree of noise generated by the fan, by lowering the amount of voltage it receives, and in turn how fast it rotates.

The Fan Mate 1 is rated to handle fans drawing 6W or less (via a three-pin power connector), and will output from between 12V to 5V depending on where the dial is set.

The flower heatsinks comes with a 92mm fan on a adjustable armature. The mounting arm attaches to the case by using the first three slot card screw positions and a 25cm long fan wire plugs directly into the motherboard to offer RPM monitoring.