Installation

To mount the cooler unto the board of your choice - in this case a Gigabyte AM3 based one - simply place the supplied CPU frame unto the board with the included backplate and place the metal locking clip across the base of the 9900 NT and snap it into place. With the AM3 board you can skip the first step as the OEM cooler frame is used and thus does not need to be exchanged.


Once mounted, it becomes apparent what a beast the Zalman CNPS 9900 NT really is. Due to the circular sandwich design, one still has easy access to all DIMM slots along with the components around the socket area.


There is enough pressure being applied by the metal clip, that the thermal paste is spread nicely in a circular fashion around the CPU heatspreader. While the corners do not seem to have direct contact, this is of no consequence as the CPU die is located in the center anyways.