Zalman CNPS 9700 NT Cooler

The Blower

Zalman's CNPS 9700 NT looks very much like a blower.  The 125mm wind tunnel design instantly grabs your attention.  With this, two thoughts come to mind; the large amount of surface area and how tight a fit it will be when installed in a case.  The seven translucent blades of the 110mm fan encircle Zalman's product label that is only marginally larger than the NVidia label seen just above it.  This is explained by the package marking of "Recommended by NVidia."  Well, at least explained in part I suppose.  The fan is powered off of a four pin PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) plug seen on many P4 boards.  Don't worry, you can still use the four pin plug on a standard three pin mainboard fan header.

The depth of the fin wind tunnel is a full 90mm.  Again, we are struck by the incredible amount of surface the CNPS 9700 NT offers.  A small cutout on each fin creates an aesthetically pleasing ring around the entire assembly seen below.  Outside of aesthetics, I'm not sure what use this can have.

Taking a back view, we see the Zalman figure eight pattern of heatpipes.  The heatpipes begin on one side of the base, wrap up, cross over one another and bend back down to the base' opposite side to provide the framework for the fin design that is so noteworthy.  The top of the base has a notch set into it.  This notch is where the mounting clip well secure the CNPS 9700 NT to your board.

The base of the big Zalman was perfectly smooth to the touch and had a first rate lapping job qualifying it as a true shaver.  This is a good time to point out that the CNPS 9700 NT is constructed of nickel plated copper giving the fins and large assembly a gunmetal tone adding more to the CNPS 9700 NT's "hippness" score.

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