Zalman CNPS8700 LED CPU Cooler: Update of a Classic

October 18, 2007 by Lawrence Lee

Zalman was one of the first companies to specialize in quiet heatsink/fans for computers. We here at SPCR have a soft spot for their original flower series of heatsinks which were highly innovative and top-of-class in their heyday. But over the years, their top position for quiet yet effective coolers has been gradually eroded by Scythe, Thermalright, and others who took an accelerated path in integrated heat pipes into massive tower heatsinks. Zalman was much slower to adopt heatpipes, finally adding them to their designs in the last year or two, and going vertical with the CNPS9500 and CNPS9700.

Now Zalman looks to return to their roots by producing a new low-profile CPU heatsink. You could call the CNPS8700 LED an updated heat pipe version of their classic, highly popular CNPS7000 and CNPS7700 models. The 7000 was first introduced back in early 2003, some five years ago, yet it is still widely available in the marketplace! This is a very long time by computer standards, and a testament to the product's success.

Interestingly, the 8700 also has similarities to the Zalman VF900 graphics card cooler — enlarged and adapted for use on a CPU. That graphics card cooler also features two heatpipes, all copper materials, and a radial fin structure. It proved to be one of the most effective GPU coolers we've tested, despite is moderate size.

Let's see if the 8700 can live up to its pedigree.

(Editor's note: In case you've been away from the CPU heatsink scene for several years and have not encountered them before, be advised that heatpipes have become ubiquitous, used even on some stock heatsinks supplied with high end retail AMD processors. It's not a new technology but it's new to computer cooling. Here's Wikipedia's current entry on heatpipes and how they work.)

Inside the simple box, the heatsink lies encapsulated in a plastic clamshell.