The Zalman Twins: 9500 & 9700 Air Tunnels
by Wesley Fink on February 19, 2007 12:40 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Zalman 9500
The Zalman 9500 burst onto the scene with the introduction of the AM2 processor about 9 months ago. It is a cooling product recommended by NVIDIA for use with their chipset motherboards for AMD. As a result the 9500 series is available in two models, the CNPS9500 AM2 and the CNPS9500 LED. The heatsinks and fans are both the same, but the cosmetics and mounting kits are different.
The AM2 version has a coating which makes it look like it is dark nickel plated and the fan has green LEDs to match an AMD color scheme. The AM2 only comes with AM2 mounting hardware and it includes the Fan Mate 2 fan controller. The LED version is the regular copper color with blue LEDs and the mounting hardware for Intel Socket 775, Intel 478, AMD 754, AMD 939, and AMD 940. It does not support AM2, but it also includes the Fan Mate 2.
The 9500 (and larger 9700) feature the Zalman Air Tunnel design, which Zalman claims is optimized for air cooling efficiency. The 9500 fan is a 92mm custom embedded fan, and it is not user interchangeable with other 92mm fans.
Since we have a good collection of Zalman coolers in the lab, it is worth mentioning that the 9500 and 9700 hardware is interchangeable. The base is the same size and socket adapters can be freely used back and forth.
Installation is both easy and very well documented. The instructions are reasonably clear, but most Zalman coolers also include installation videos on their web-site. The installation video for the 9500 LED is available here and it includes tabs for installation on Socket 775, Socket 478, and Socket 754/939/940.
Our test version of the 9500 was for AM2, but the interchangeable installation parts from the 9700 made it very easy to mount the cooler on a Core 2 Duo in Socket 775.
If you plan to mount on a Core 2 Duo then you should buy the CNPS9500 LED, which includes the Socket 775 adapter for mounting. The adapter works as it should, but it is not a particularly precise piece of plastic. We had to push and prod the back plate to get the embedded nuts on the back plate to align with the holes on the 680i motherboard. In fairness that was the only thing difficult about mounting the Zalman 9500; everything else was very straightforward. The fan uses a 3-pin connector, which is basically not adjustable, but Zalman includes the excellent Fan Mate 2 adapter which provides variable fan speed to any standard fan.
Fan Mate 2
Like most of the top Zalman coolers, the 9500 series comes packaged with the excellent Fan Mate 2 fan controller. This useful little gadget allows speed control of any fan that can attach to a 3-pin fan header, by adjusting voltage on the 12V line. In future reviews we will use the Fan Mate to more conveniently measure noise at both low speed and high speed fan settings.
| Fan Mate 2 Specifications | |
| Dimensions | 70(L) x 26(W) x 26(H)mm |
| Weight | 20g |
| Output Voltage | 5V ~ 11V +/- 2% |
| Allowable Power | 6W or lower |
| Connector | 3-Pin |
Specifications
Our test system is Intel Socket 775, but the Zalman CNPS9500 LED will mount on a wide range of systems with various CPU sockets. All the needed hardware is included to fit the variety of supported sockets. The only current socket not supported is AM2. If you are planning to mount on an AM2 motherboard you will need the CNPS9500 AM2.
| Zalman CNPS9500 LED Specifications | |
| Heatsink | |
| Dimensions | 85(L) X 112(W) X 125(H)mm |
| Weight | 530g (including fan) |
| Material | Pure Copper |
| Dissipation Area | 3,698cm2 |
| Thermal Resistance - Silent Mode | 0.16 C/W |
| Thermal Resistance - Low-noise Mode | 0.12 C/W |
| Fan | |
| Fan Size | 92 mm |
| Bearing Type | 2-Ball Bearing |
| Speed - Silent Mode | 1,350rpm +/- 10% |
| Speed - Low-noise Mode | 2,600rpmM +/- 10% |
| Noise Level - Silent Mode | 18.0dB +/- 10% |
| Noise Level - Low-noise Mode | 27.5dB +/- 10% |
The 9500 is tall and wide, but it was designed to clear components on most motherboards. We had no trouble mounting the 9500 on several high-end boards we had available in the lab. At 530g, the 9500 is a lot lighter than the two-pound heatpipe towers we have tested. It is a bit heavier than recommended by AMD and Intel, but the added reinforcement from the mounting method should make the 9500 a relatively safe install on most motherboards.
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Operandi - Monday, February 19, 2007 - link
Yes 10dBA (not 3) is generally perceived as twice as loud.3dBA is double the sound energy but because the scale is logarithmic doubling the energy is not heard to the human ear as twice as loud. For example two 9700s would be 3dBA louder then one but would not be considered twice as loud.
jcarle - Monday, February 19, 2007 - link
The person who wrote the article is an idiot... why? Because the CNPS9700 has been available for purchase for MONTHS. It is NOT a new product...Wesley Fink - Monday, February 19, 2007 - link
The 9500 has been available for quite a while. We first saw the 9700 announced in late October/early Novermber. It was shown by Zalman at CES in early January and we reported the 9700 in our CES coverage and provided pictures.wolf68k - Monday, February 19, 2007 - link
...from that review. They showed how effective the Zalman, and others, are at cooling for both idle and stress. They also showed coolers noise levels at high and slow speeds. But they didn't show how effective they are at cooling for those various speeds.I use to have a Thermaltake Volcano 12+. At high speed it was very good at cooling, but loud as hell. At the lowest speed it was very quiet but the cooling sucked, I got better cooling with the stock cooler. And there's my point. The Tuniq Tower 120 showed to be a better cooler than the Zalman, but that's at high speed and where it's loud as hell. So how good is it compared to the Zalman, and the other coolers, at each of their lowest speeds?
Operandi - Monday, February 19, 2007 - link
The 9700 and 9500 both do very well with their fans running at reduced speed, you can take a look in this http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articlei...">FrostyTech review. You'll see that there is a relatively small penalty in performance with the fan at at it's lowest setting and relatively little gain in performance at highest.These heatsinks are not designed for the overclocker they designed for low noise/performance cooling.
strikeback03 - Monday, February 19, 2007 - link
Any idea why the Tuniq seems to be out-of-stock pretty much everywhere? I have purchased all my other components except a cooler.For an E6600 running near stock X6800 speeds at most, am I correct in assuming one of the Zalmans would provide cooling reasonably close to the Tuniq, as they are actually available?
LoneWolf15 - Monday, February 19, 2007 - link
When your cooler is considered the best, and for reasonable prices (at least in the realm of air cooling), your product remains in demand.Best bet --put a watch on the product at NewEgg, when it comes in stock, they'll e-mail you. That's what I did, fortunately it was in within 24-48 hours. Otherwise, FrozenCPU might have it.
If you're running stock speeds with a Core2 Duo/Quad, there is little reason to buy a fancy cooler, you might as well stick with stock. I'd advise looking into ways to keep the ambient temperature of your case down through better fans instead; if that's not an issue, then why spend the $50-60?
JarredWalton - Monday, February 19, 2007 - link
Try http://www.xpcgear.com/tuniqtower120.html">these guys Or just look at http://froogle.google.com/froogle?hl=en&q=%22t...">Froogle.strikeback03 - Monday, February 19, 2007 - link
I did end up buying one from one of the Froogle companies I had never heard of. Kinda odd though that most of the links from Froogle are OOS though, and following the "Find the lowest prices" link in the Tuniq review eventually states that the item is no longer available.The room the computer will be used in will likely see temperatures over 30C, which is why I want a cooler which keeps the CPU as close to ambient as possible for a reasonable price.
yyrkoon - Monday, February 19, 2007 - link
Final page, conclusion. Paragraph 2, and 4 both have 'that', that should be 'than'. I will assume this is DNS acting a 'fool' again :)