Specifications

86
JUL 2011 maximumpc.com
MAXIMUMPC
JUST FIVE MONTHS AGO, we reviewed
Zalman’s superb CNPS9900Max, which
marked a return to the circle-of-fins
look that has marked the big Z’s best-
performing CPU coolers of the past
half-decade or so. The CNPS9900Max
resuscitated our faith in Zalman’s
heatsinks, which had dwindled in the
wake of skyscraper-style coolers
and Zalman’s disappointing CNPS10X
Extreme, a cooler that was larger and
more expensive than its more effec-
tive competitors. Now Zalman gives
us the CNPS11X, with yet another new
cooling-fin configuration.
The CNPS11X is a skyscraper-style
cooler, 6.3 inches high by 5.25 inches
wide by 3.75 inches deep, with five
nickel-plated heat pipes rising into
two sets of aluminum heat-dissipation
fins. The fin stacks are arranged in
a V formation, with a 12cm blue LED
fan across the top of the V, forming
a triangle with the fan as the hypot-
enuse. The top and bottom of the fin
stacks are covered with black plastic
covers, to keep air flowing from the fan
through the fins. The result is a cooler
that takes up a lot of room but also has
a lot of wasted space in the center that
could otherwise contain cooling fins.
Zalman continues to use the univer-
sal backplate design it’s been using
since at least the CNPS9900Max—the
one that requires four nuts (either
silver-colored or gold-colored, de-
pending on socket), four sliding plastic
retainers, and a special angled 2.5mm
hex wrench. You can use a standard
2.5mm head, but the tool Zalman
includes can be used from an angle—
necessary, given the placement of the
fan. The CNPS11X also ships with a
resistor cable to slow the 12cm fan and
reduce noise.
On our test bed, with an ambient
lab temperature of 22.8 C (73 F), the
CNPS11X cooled our overclocked Core
i5-750 to 65.75 C at full burn. This is
better than our baseline cooler, the
$30 Cooler Master Hyper 212+, but 5 C
hotter than the Prolimatech Armaged-
don, our favorite air cooler. Zalman’s
CNPS9900Max, by contrast, performs
slightly better than the Armageddon.
(We prefer the Armageddon’s instal-
lation process, which is why it’s still
our favorite.) The CNPS11X is also
noticeably louder than either the Ar-
mageddon or CNPS990Max. Using the
included resistor cable drops the noise
to tolerable levels but raises CPU tem-
peratures a degree or two.
The CNPS11X is not a bad cooler,
but it’s not a great cooler, either. The
CNPS11X retails for $90. For $4 more,
you can get a Prolimatech Armaged-
don with two 14cm fans, which has an
easier install, a more robust mounting
bracket, and better performance. Or,
for $10 less, you can get the Zalman
CNPS9900Max, which kicks as much
ass as the Armageddon, costs less,
and has that radial-fan look that Zal-
man does so well. Maybe you dig the
V-shaped fin stacks and don’t mind that
this is a louder, more expensive, and
less effective cooler than the CNPS-
9900Max. But if the design doesn’t
speak to you, the performance won’t
hook you either.
–NATHAN EDWARDS
Zalman CNPS11X
STARMAN Decent looks;
included resistor cable.
CARMAN Expensive; loud; outperformed
by cheaper coolers.
$90, www.zalmanusa.com
in the lab
7
VERDICT
BENCHMARKS
Best scores are bolded. Idle temperatures were measured after an hour of inactivity; load temperatures were measured after an hour
running Intel’s internal Lynnfield thermal testing utility at 100 percent load. Test system consists of Intel Core i5-750 overclocked to
3.2GHz on an Asus P7P55D Premium board in a Corsair 800D case with stock fans. Temperatures taken with HWMonitor.
 Zalman CNPS11X
Prolimatech
Armageddon (2 fans)
Cooler Master
Hyper 212+ (1 fan)
IDLE (C) 35.25 33.75 34.75
100% BURN (C) 65.75 60.75 68.5
Zalman
CNPS11X
Flying V: Great
guitar. Gimmicky
hockey maneuver.
Underwhelming
cooling configuration
Sometimes looks matter more than performance. Not in a CPU cooler, however.