ZALMAN CNPS9900MAX-R 135mm Long life bearing CPU Cooler Red LED

Pros: Very quiet, very cool looking, lightweight, easy to install, and clears the tall heat spreaders on my Vengeance RAM.

Cons: Can't think of any.

Other Thoughts: Running a mild overclock on my 3930k... running at 4.3GHz... I've never seen a temp above 59C. Even during long gaming runs.

Pros: Looks great, i bought this because it was recommended by a friend with the same processor.

Cons: It did not fit my motherboard! Like a few others had mentioned, the design is poor and like another, I figured it wouldn't be worth bending the motherboard over. Bending the piece wouldn't allow for good contact so I am sending this back. This would've been great if it worked.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear valued customer,

We sincerely apologize for the issue. Please contact our customer service e-mail support.usa@zalmanusa.com or via toll free number 1-888-925-6266 for further assistance.

Thank you.

Best regards,

Zalman USA Customer Service

Pros: Great looking cooler, great design, looks aggressive, keep a AMD FX-8120 nice and cold. Great Pull-Push flow.

Cons: As noted by everyone else, IT IS A PAIN IN THE REAR END IN INSTALL. Much of the information n the manual is horrible. I installed it AFTER 2 hours of trying to figure out why there was a HUGE GAP between the bolt and socket. I did not use the square plastic and that made it a lot better. I even took out the double sided tape and was finally able to install the CPU with the inefficient torque screw driver that was provided. EXTREMELY HARD TO INSTALL

Other Thoughts: Dear Zalman, You make amazing products throughout the year, please make sure that the average customer are able to install it without a problem. Just because it works on paper doesn't mean it work in the real environment.

Pros: My processor is AMD PhenomII 955:
- With stock cooler idle around 40C, and heavy around 50C
- With Zalman, idle around 29C and heavy around 40C
I'm happy with the performance and how the cooler physically looks.

Cons: Took me almost 3 hours total to install. I have mid-tower and although I have access to the underside of the motherboard, there is no way I can install the final screws if I don't take the mobo out. Even with the mobo out, I first didn't think the screws would work. They appear way too short to reach the bracket. But after lots of pressure I managed to install the screw one by one.. Start with one corner, don't tighten it! As long as it catches the thread, it's good enough then do the opposite (diagonal) screw. Again don't tighten it, and do the 3rd and 4th screws. Then tighten them slowly one by one. I think this cooler bends my asus mobo a bit, but nothing scary.

I gotta give -1 due to the difficulty of installation.

Other Thoughts: The little square block that comes with it is what causes the big gap between the screws and the nuts. That's what really makes this cooler very difficult to work with in my case. I really don't want to take this cooler off now (for reapplying fresh cpu grease for example) considering how painful it is to reattach it. I won't redo it at least not until I do significant upgrades on my cpu and mobo.

I think Zalman needs to provide alternative longer screws.

Pros: Cools the cpu
Possibly attractive design to some?

Cons: fan may be hard to replace??
also its a bit of a pain to install, strange design

they give you a allen key(wrench?) with a really long side.. but as you can only use the long end to tighten 1/4 screwws(newegg filter) the long 'handle' end just gets in the way for the other 3/4 as it will run into case walls/tall heatsinks... and g*d(wow@filter) help you if you already installed something like your ram/gpu :D ( i ended up using my own normal allen key )

Other Thoughts: took off 1 egg for the install / non-generic(replaceable?) fan

got this on sale so i put it on my i5, keeps the temps in the low 30's(stock). when on, the fan between the two heatsinks actually shakes or resonates back and forth... possibly for reducing vibration as its not attached dirrectly to the fins like other coolers... its got its own little stand thing. comes with a voltage reducer cable "silent connector"(think they call it something like that) im not using it as the fans currently at 900~950 rpms and not terribly loud.

Pros: Cools great. Looks great. Quality build. Even the packaging is great.

Cons: It must have happened like this: The design engineer spent all night with his nose in a thermal dynamics book. He designed it on autocad and emailed it to China. When ten thousand units arrived the stock boy said, "Looks cool... how are you supposed to mount it?" The the engineer gets this look on his face like OOOPS!

Other Thoughts: I'm a 43 year old tradesman and tinkerer of all kinds. It burns me when a product "misses" like this. The fins block the mounting screws. If the screws were twice as long and the fins were shaped a little different it would work. But it doesn't. Installation is ridiculous. Too bad. It could have been a gem.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear valued customer,

We sincerely apologize for the issue. Please contact our customer service e-mail support.usa@zalmanusa.com or via toll free number 1-888-925-6266 for further assistance.

Thank you.

Best regards,

Zalman USA Customer Service

Pros: I previously had a Cooler Master Hyper 212. Either this cooler is significantly better or my application method was better when I installed it.

Idle temperatures
~ 40C Cooler Master
~ 36C Zalman

High load (Prime 95)
~ 56C Cooler Master
~ 46C Zalman

Cons: Installing this thing on my AM3+ motherboard was a disaster. My Cooler Master's backplate was secured by screws and nuts; the Zalman's backplate is secured by two sided tape. The backplate pulling away from the motherboard while trying to get the last scew in was a serious issue. I managed to get it on, but who knows how much damage I did.

Pros: I'm sure this would have been a great product if it had worked. But as it is, no pros

Cons: Installation is impossible with the provided hardware.
Box clearly says AM3+ is supported, but upon installation I found that the screws are too short. I figured it wasn't worth forcing the screws in and potentially damaging my mobo. Can't return this stupid thing because I already sent in the rebate. Now I have a $60 paperweight.

Other Thoughts: Contacted customer service to no avail. Worst product I've ever owned and even worse customer service. STAY FAR AWAY!

Pros: Had this monster for quite some time, time to give it a followup review.

Continues to be a beautiful centerpiece to my red and black theme setup, while keeping a superclocked AMD Zambezi 8150 cool. I have done overclocks upwards to 5.0GHZ with only minor instability.

I use this in a semi truck, so its going to see alot of abuse with the vibrations of the rig and bouncing that may occur, so I needed something that has the best cooling ratio to size possible, and this is it. Doesn't stress the motherboard and the back plate is big enough to keep an even pressure points all through the mounts.

Cons: Err... it broke. Yep no eggs docked, why? Well the side without the fan attached that is held on by 2 heat pipes (instead of 4 on the fan side) completely broke off. So its just the heatsink with the fan attached, and the cooler seems to perform better than with both side heatsinks. Remaining side seems to be showing no signs of stress, so in the future, making both heatsinks with quad heat pipes for durability may be a better selling point.

Other Thoughts: Even with it breaking, it looks great, performs great, and looks like it'll be seeing many more miles of service, literally.

Pros: Excellent cooling, good price with the rebate, quality build.

Cons: Noise level higher than what I'm used to, mounting plate can touch MOBO components causing MOBO shorting.

Other Thoughts: This cooler replaced my Thermaltake Big Typhoon which was so quiet you wondered if it was actually spinning. I would have reused it if it worked with this new setup but it wasn't compatible. My idle temps with an i7-3770K are 19-25C which is about as good as you could ever expect them to be. The installation of this cooler can be a problem for some MOBO's so be extra careful. The problem I had with my MSI Z77-65 was that the mounting plate of this cooler came in direct contact with the mounting "legs" of some electrical components that protrude from the underside of the MOBO. I was fortunate to notice it prior to powering up for the first time but had I not, it would have definitely caused damage to the MOBO. I had to snip the offending "legs" off with a small end cutter to avert a potential expensive disaster. You will need to carefully check around the mounting plate on the underside of your MOBO to make sure nothing is making contact with it before powering up.