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Zalman CNPS14X

crazyeyesreaper

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The Zalman CNPS14X continues Zalman's trend of offering unique and varied products. The dual-tower design makes use of six 6 mm heatpipes and offers support for up to three fans, but is that truly enough to take on the competition?

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FreedomEclipse

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to be honest - who ever expected Zalman to 'perform well' is probably living on another planet.

I dont think Zalman truly understands how far behind they are compared to the competition and that there are better options available that cost less. They have branched out into making PSUs, Cases, keyboards, Mice & mouse pads, speakers, amps, headphones and 3D & 2D monitors but a lot of the monitors look like Korean re-brands.

Their like a jack of all trades but a master of none, hell. even their AIO coolers are made by Asetek
 
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I guess they are just trying to make money in a lot of areas of pc tech.
 

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to be honest - who ever expected Zalman to 'perform well' is probably living on another planet.

I dont think Zalman truly understands how far behind they are compared to the competition and that there are better options available that cost less. They have branched out into making PSUs, Cases, keyboards, Mice & mouse pads, speakers, amps, headphones and 3D & 2D monitors but a lot of the monitors look like Korean re-brands.

Their like a jack of all trades but a master of none, hell. even their AIO coolers are made by Asetek

Not all of them are made by asetek. Though this one is not for sale anywhere as far as I can google.
 

crazyeyesreaper

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well for reference its not that bad with 2x fans added its the same price and same performance level as an H90. But sadly as it comes in box is underwhelming. It was pretty damn quiet to for what it is.
 

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to be honest - who ever expected Zalman to 'perform well' is probably living on another planet.

My CNPS9900 is quiet and cools my 3820 very well. My only gripe was how you mount it on LGA2011. Just because one Zalman cooler is only "okay" doesn't mean that they're all like that. I had a 9500 on my Core 2 Duo and that worked well too.
 
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is there a reason why the noise charts only are at 20, 50 and 100% but not at the different loads that the cooler gets tested at?
 

crazyeyesreaper

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because testing at fixed level gives a noise reference compared to other coolers directly because not everyone runs a Sandybridge-E ES chip that pulls over 150w at stock?

Noise levels at load on SB-E will be difference compared to Noise levels at load on Ivy Bridge/ Haswell / AMD FX etc etc. Thus 20 / 50 / 100% noise testing.

Going forward with future reviews between software and hardware Ill be able to get more accurate reading for RPM and Noise levels as not all software functions the same.
 
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ClaytonB

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This cooler is pretty ugly! I mean compared to say a Thermaltake NIC C5.
 
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because testing at fixed level gives a noise reference compared to other coolers directly because not everyone runs a Sandybridge-E ES chip that pulls over 150w at stock?

Noise levels at load on SB-E will be difference compared to Noise levels at load on Ivy Bridge/ Haswell / AMD FX etc etc. Thus 20 / 50 / 100% noise testing.

Going forward with future reviews between software and hardware Ill be able to get more accurate reading for RPM and Noise levels as not all software functions the same.

Just getting the RPM of the fan at the given temperatures would bee adequate to give an impression of the noise since there already is a good, separate rpm/dB test.

Event tho few people use a 150 W chip it stays the same with all the cooler, and the noise levels can be compared to temperature on the same chip to give an idea of that all important performance/noise relationship
 
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to be honest - who ever expected Zalman to 'perform well' is probably living on another planet.
Whoever bashes someone for no reason, should be bitchslapped :slap:

Zalmans usually perform well. CNPS14X is no exception. But its installation is indeed difficult, which is most likely the reason it performed so poorly. I had to reinstall CNPS11X Performa a couple of times to get it perform properly. Xbit had no such issue with CNPS14X http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/zalman-cnps14x_5.html#sect0

3D & 2D monitors but a lot of the monitors look like Korean re-brands.
Zalman is a Korean company...

even their AIO coolers are made by Asetek
Problem? Most AIOs are made by Asetek.
 
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crazyeyesreaper

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I wouldnt say Xbit had no issues there cooler hit 78 to my 72 with stress testing which is most likely due to the .010 higher volts andf higher clocks
 
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My CNPS9900 is quiet and cools my 3820 very well. My only gripe was how you mount it on LGA2011. Just because one Zalman cooler is only "okay" doesn't mean that they're all like that. I had a 9500 on my Core 2 Duo and that worked well too.

+1 on the 9900 really nice cooler only that it can cut up your hands if you are gentle installing it. I used it on an i7-930 and a i7-2500k. Quietness vs. performance is really, really good - it is my benchmark for performance/quiet. It also looks pretty ace and original.

I do think they are a little behind the game nowadays though.
 
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I had a Zalman 9700CNPS once. Worst cooler ever had. Terrible noise, horrible cooling and ridiculously overpriced. It can't even cool my Q6600 at stock 2.4GHz. Never looked back at Zalman's product ever since.
 

squarestar

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I had a Zalman 9700CNPS once. Worst cooler ever had. Terrible noise, horrible cooling and ridiculously overpriced. It can't even cool my Q6600 at stock 2.4GHz. Never looked back at Zalman's product ever since.

I think you should ask for RMA replacement since it shouldn't be the case for this cooler.
 
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I had a Zalman 9700CNPS once. Worst cooler ever had. Terrible noise, horrible cooling and ridiculously overpriced. It can't even cool my Q6600 at stock 2.4GHz. Never looked back at Zalman's product ever since.

I have the very same on my i5-2500K, idle 32C, load 50C.

I had only Zalman on my rigs for years now, I like them. Great test, thank you!
 
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