Can't Touch This! A Comparison of 46 CPU Coolers

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Zalman CNPS2005 (Aluminum): Below Expectations

The unconventionally designed Zalman attracts attention prima facie. It is made up of a heat sink topped with 112 fins arranged in the shape of a fan and a contact surface also made of aluminum. However, the passive heat sink only works in conjunction with a fan that has to be installed in addition (included in the package). Although this cooler seems, on the face of it, to promise passive and thus silent cooling, flipping the switch on the active fan proves the opposite. The noise level is a relatively high 56 dB(A). Installing the fan is anything but easy - only after three attachment screws for the components have been removed can it be affixed. Its cooling performance is below the expectations created by the design - 46 degrees are really nothing to write home about!