Zalman CNPS8900-Quiet Low Profile CPU Cooler w/Ultra Quiet 110mm Fan, 60mm Height Slim Fit for ATX ITX mATX Computer Case, Copper Heat Pipes, Long Life Bearings, 4-Pin PWM (Fits Intel & AMD)

As other reviewers state, you do have to install this cooler with the motherboard out of the case. This is a fact of life, for nearly all low-profile coolers; you save height clearance by removing the stock motherboard bracket with the fan clip holders on it, and using a backplate so you can screw the heatsink's bracket directly to the motherboard.It's also a fact of life for HTPC and SFF builds; they are always more difficult, and you have to do the build in the order specified by the case manufacturer, to fit everything into the special compact case. So normally you would start by installing your low-profile RAM onto the motherboard, then your CPU, paste, and this fan. (It's best to sit the mobo on top of some anti-static foam while you're working on it; hopefully you have some from the motherboard's box or another piece of electronics you bought.) If the mobo, memory, and CPU/fan all fit together OK, then you proceed with the build according to the case's instructions.Other reviewers have also pointed out that the included instructions have small print; however you can download the manual online and see it much bigger. (It's 2013, this is a computer part, who cares about printed instructions.) The instructions are mostly pictures, not unlike assembly instructions for international furniture. So pay really close attention to the orientation of the clip items as you add them to the backplate and fan.Also, you will have a much easier time installing this fan, with another pair of hands. It's do-able by yourself, because they include some two-sided tape to help hold the backplate in place while you install the fan. But it's much easier with a friend holding the board still, while you align the backplate and tape it on. Then your friend turns the board over, and holds the board & backplate steady for you on the work surface, while you install the CPU, paste, & fan. The rest of it's easy, especially with the included (custom?) deep, spring-loaded screws making it easier to apply even pressure to the CPU & paste as you tighten the heatsink down.If you've already built your computer and just want a clip-on fan, you might want to consider something else; but this is a really great, quiet, efficient, cooler, and well worth the extra installation effort.Once installed, it's just as effective as my older Zalman HTPC model from 5 years ago from this same line. It runs quiet under low CPU load, and doesn't make much noise under heavy load. It drops the temperature over the stock CPU cooler, by at least 10° C. This is even with the Arctic Silver still fresh; that paste has a 'curing' period of 200 hours before it achieves full cooling power, so the fan is having to work harder than it will after the curing completes.I went for this fan, over the similar CNPS8900 Extreme, because it has a lower noise rating, and because it has no distracting LED for an HTPC build. The Extreme has more cooling power, but I don't need that much, because I am using a low-wattage (65W) CPU. The heaviest tasks this computer does are watching my HDTV tuner & HD video files/streams, and maybe some day upgrading it with a Bluray player. Also I usually have *tons* of Chrome tabs open (literally up to 100 sometimes). Sometimes I stream full-screen 1080p Y*uT*be on one of those tabs, and it does this fine, even for videos that last an hour or more. It also runs HD Amazon Instant Video, and that *other* big streaming video service in HD, just fine.I expect the fan will outlive the rest of the HTPC, just like the older Zalman in my last HTPC build did. If you're trying to cram a microATX or miniITX mobo into a crowded case, the CNPS8900 Quiet is definitely the best fan to keep your CPU as cool and quiet as possible. If you need a little more cooling power, and don't mind the LED and a little bit of extra noise, go for the CNPS8900 Extreme, also available on Amazon for the same price. Either way get yourself some Arctic Silver, and this fan will be more than capable of cooling everything with a 100W or less processor. The CNPS8900 Extreme with Arctic Silver would probably cool a 125W OK, but I couldn't say that for sure.

After using a stock HSF for my AMD Phenom II x4 905e, I was tired of the noise instantly. I needed something quieter. After some researching, it seemed for both the money and for the category of "low profile cooler", this was king. I put this in together with a ASRock 960GC-GS FX Motherboard in a Silverstone ML04B case and it seem to fit perfectly. It still had some head room to the lid of the case (around 1/4-1/2").The fan seems screwed in from the bottom with two screws and is on there solid. Despite looking copper, the fins are aluminum. This should help a lot with cost and weight. The base/heat pipes are copper, which is where it really counts. The mounting brackets screw on the bottom, pending Intel or AMD. The surface was pretty rough on the bottom of mine with plenty of pits and could definitely using lapping for those looking for perfection, but I installed it despite to see where it sat in performance.The install was somewhat easy, but I've also done a lot of cooler swaps with custom hardware in the past. The stock motherboard mounting system had to come off, then install their custom plate. One thing about the plate is it didn't feel very balanced against the back of the board. For my AMD setup, the instructions required 4 nuts with 4 plastic snap-in ends to retain them. It also called for a plastic center piece that I believe is causing the feel of lacking balance, as it seems a bit too tall. It didn't hit any of the components under the CPU, so I give them that. The back plate also doesn't hold to the mother board on it's own and seems to require the heatsink installed to keep in place, which is another downside to it. The CPU screws were a little awkward to put in, as the size of the heatsink makes you come at the screw head at an angle. Do not try to put the screw in at an angle or you will cross thread and cause issues! Make sure the screws go in straight, but the screw drive itself will be forced at an angle to install. After everything is tightened up, you can then put the motherboard in. I didn't use the paste that came with it (instead, I used AS Ceramique 2)Cooling wise, it works awesome. I have my motherboard setting the fan at the lowest possible settings and it has yet to get much over 45*C with my setup. At that fan setting, it's nearly inaudible. If you have the fan in your hand and manually spin it, it makes no noise, yet you can feel a bit of air being pushed through the fins. I'd say this design is solid for quiet cooling.One thing to note is this is a tight fit. With my motherboard, using standard height DDR2 ram with heat shields, it would not fit. The orientation of the heatsink was perfectly against the ram. After forcing off a the heat shield on one side of the ram stick it was hitting, I was able to get everything to fit, though the heat pipe is touching and perhaps putting a touch of pressure on the PCB of the ram stick itself. This didn't cause any issues, but it is something to note. My board supports DDR3 as well, which is a single slot over and would probably solve this issue (as long as the ram doesn't have tall heatsinks on it).All together, if you are building a silent, slim, HTPC like I was, this thing isn't going to be beat by any other air cooler at this time, especially when considering the cost. However, overclockers may feel the need to modify this heatsink for maximum cooling and the average user may have issues with fitment into their setup.

Have been always liked Zalman since LGA775. This one not an exception, despite some mounting issues. I know it is hard to make something that fit it all but installation has some tricks. First of all, support brackets mounted directly to cooper body with very small screws and it is very easy to overtight them and damage thread in soft cooler body. Good news - it fits mini ITX board (at least the one from Asrock). Second - the big cooper hat cover mounting screws and you have no access to pint them with your fingers. Using screwdriver at angle is not that easy but doable. And for the last - you will not be able to change DIMMs without removing cooler. Other than that - one of the best coolers, nice and really quiet.

Mi sento di dare 5 stelle a questo dissipatore nonostante ci siano alcune piccole pecche (non troppo pesanti).Lo scopo era sostituire il dissipatore stock per un i7 6700 e devo dire che le temperature sono scese di circa 12 gradi a fronte di un dimezzamento del numero di giri della ventola. Arrivo al massimo a 79 gradi di picco (su singolo core) dopo molti minuti al 100%, in una configurazione mini itx che fornisce ben poca aria, dunque sono soddisfatto. Le temperature di solito stanno un po' più basse anche in full load.Le dimensioni sono tali da entrare in un case Cooler Master Elite 130 con motherboard mini-itx ASUS z170i. Questo è forse il più grande dei dissipatori compatti ad entrarci, non ci sono modelli Noctua con le stesse prestazioni che vadano bene con quella scheda madre.In secondo luogo la silenziosità è superiore alla media, anche rispetto ad altri modelli più grandi.Rispecchia appieno le mie aspettative e dunque è consigliato.Per quanto riguarda il montaggio, è un po' laborioso e per la pasta termica è meglio ricorrere a qualcos'altro rispetto a quella nella confezione che è scomoda da applicare.

Lo instalé en una caja slim, una placa con lga775, y cabe perfectamente. El complicado de montar y, como es muy ancho, hay que tener cuidado con los componentes de alrededor de la cpu, pero una vez en funcionamiento, no te das cuenta de que está girando: es súper silencioso.Vale lo que cuesta.

Hatte einen Athlon 8Core in der boxed - Version gekauft. War im Winter gerade noch erträglich. Im Sommer drehte er immer mehr auf und war einfach nervig. Durch meine PC- Gehäuse war ich gezwungen einen flachen Kühler zu verwenden. Test habe mich zu dieser Lösung geführt. Musste das MB wieder aus und einbauen, für mich kein Problem. Wenn ich jetzt zum PC gehe denke ich immer er ist aus weil nichts höre. Himmlische Ruhe.

Ich habe hier versucht den CNPS8900 quiet mit einem Athlon FX-8350 zu benutzen. Der Lüfter kam gut verpackt hier an, weil die Lamellen aus Aluminium sich schnell verbiegen und durch Schweiß oxidieren. Die Montage bringt auch den einen Stern Abzug, denn an die Schrauben des Sockels kommt man nur mit einem dünnen Schraubendreher den man durch die Lamellen würgen muss. Ausgestattet mit PWM hat er im Betrieb dann hier bis zu 1600 RPM drehte und dabei knapp über 20dB an rauschen verursachte.Der zweite Grund für Punktabzug ist das Zalman die TDP Leistung verschweigt und ich als Endkunde dann feststellen muss das er keine 125W handhaben kann, die CPU mit 90° in den Throttle geht. Das gehört dabei geschrieben, damit der Kunde gleich richtig kaufen kann.

Ho acquistato questo dissipatore per un e8400 socket 775.. qualche problema in fase di montaggio del backplate.. all'interno della confezione ci sono infatti 2 bioadesivi che devono essere fissati in maniera accurata dietro la scheda madre per centrare perfettamente il backplate.. risolto con un po' di attenzione.Il dissipatore offre un notevole raffreddamento e un'ottima silenziosità.Metto 4 stelle perchè in un dissipatore del genere potevano mettere la pasta termica a siringa piuttosto che la "bustina".. non si applica facilmente ed in modo omogeneo.. per il resto grandissimo acquisto! spedizione arrivata con 1 giorno di anticipo...