Zalman usually impresses us with the quality of its products, but quality doesn’t always come cheap. A $60 Web price makes this one of the more expensive single-fan coolers in today’s test.

Great news for fans of motherboards not based on an LGA 1156 interface is that the CNPS10X Quiet also supports LGA 1366 and LGA 775 platforms, in addition to AMD’s Socket 939, AM2, AM2+, and AM3 standard brackets. However, we are a little concerned about how such a large cooler is installed in Core i5 and Core i7 motherboards without a support plate, using little more than four nuts from underneath to support its top-side mounting bracket.

Zalman’s Fan Mate 2 is yet another expense that could help balance the value in the CNPS10X Quiet. However, we prefer dynamic fan speed through BIOS and the included three-pin fan does not support the pulse-width modulation method that so many motherboards enable.

A gold-plated, polished base is one of Zalman’s quality traditions. Yet, like most polished coolers, this one isn’t completely flat. Thermal paste fills any small voids that result from installing a heat sink on a processor’s heat spreader. The gold is thick enough to prevent oxidization without being so thick as to hinder heat transfer to the copper plate beneath.
Installing the CNPS10X Quiet begins by adding its plastic bracket to the motherboard, a process as easy (or difficult) as putting screws through the top side and adding tiny plastic washers and nuts to the bottom. This must be done before the motherboard is installed in a case.

The cooler-retention bracket clamps the heat sink base firmly over the CPU via spring-loaded screws. The fan must be removed to gain access to the front screws, but wire clips make its removal and replacement a simple process.
Orientation of the AMD-compatible clip forces an updraft rather than cross-draft installation on most motherboards. This should make the CNPS10X Quiet an Intel-only cooler design in the minds of most enthusiasts.
- Lynnfield Can Take The Heat, But Should It?
- Features Comparison
- Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2
- Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
- Noctua NH-D14
- Scythe Mugen-2 Revision B
- Sunbeamtech Core-Contact Freezer
- Thermalright MUX-120
- Thermaltake Frio
- Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme
- Xigmatek Thor’s Hammer
- Zalman CNPS10X Quiet
- Test Settings
- Thermal Testing Results
- Fan Speed, Noise, And Value
- Do We Have A Winner?
Hey Tom's - what temps are you getting at 3.2 GHz with the Arctic Cooling 7? Did you use arctic silver 5?
no worries there you will be fine
Thermalright sent the MUX-120.
Some companies didn't respond to the invitation. Sorry, I didn't keep a list.
I was surprised the new Thermalright Venoumous X was not included. It's an updated version of the Ultra 120 Extreme specifically designed for the new Intel Core i5/i7 cpu's.
Didn't THG mention in an older article that those extra tall heatspreaders that sort of look like a comb did not provide any additional cooling over stock heatspreaders?