Installation
For this review, I will be using an AMD Athlon 64 K8 CPU and Radeon 9800 Pro video card. Both of the Zalman coolers were very easy to install. The CNPS9500 AM2 CPU cooler uses a single spring-steel clip that attaches to the two center lugs of an AM2/K8 retention frame. I mounted the Zalman CPU cooler so that it was blowing towards the back, where most PC enclosures have a rear exhaust fan. Alternately, I could have mounted the CNPS9500 so that it was turned 90° and blowing out the right side of the motherboard. This configuration can work well when using a power supply that has a bottom mounted intake fan in a mid-tower case.
On my test bed (Asus K8N-E Deluxe), the CNPS9500 AM2 heatsink cleared all of the surrounding components with ease.
Installing the Zalman VF900-Cu LED VGA cooler proved equally as easy. After removing the previous VGA heatsink fan, the GPU was cleaned with isopropyl alcohol before applying thermal grease.
After selecting the locations on the VF900’s retention frame that matched the 9800 Pro’s GPU heatsink mounting hole pattern, two threaded standoffs (nipples) were installed along with the rubber O-rings.
The VF900-Cu LED VGA cooler is securely held in position by thumb screws on the backside. A PVC insulating washer and spring go between each thumbscrew and the video card’s printed circuit board.
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As you might expect, the VF900-Cu LED VGA cooler takes up an adjacent PCI slot, which is pretty much the norm and rarely a problem these days.
The Zalman GPU cooler comes with eight, blue anodized aluminum heatsinks that can be applied to the V-RAM chips to help cool them as well. They even look cool next to the VF900-Cu’s LED fan… 🙂
