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In English
SuomeksiTemperatures
The temperature tests were done in the Silverstone Fortress FT01 case we reviewed not too long ago. Some changes were required for all the coolers to be on even ground. First of all the roof fan was turned around to blow air out of the case, rather than suck air in like it usually does. Another change was that the Corsair Hydro H50 fan was used as an exhaust fan on the rear fan hole. For the Corsair temperature tests the fan was again turned a round as it should, according to the installation manual.
For comparison the temperature tests were also ran using the Intel Boxed cooler, the already quite old Xigmatek HDT-S1283 and the Corsair Hydro H50 that we tested a while back. Out of these the Corsair is the one to beat, as it best represents the high-end cooler of today.
Less surprisingly the Boxed lost to all the other coolers by a margin of 10 degrees. Out of the real coolers the CNPS10X came very close to beating the Hydro H50. At full speed the load temperature was exactly the same, while on idle the Corsair took the win by just one degree. The Xigmatek lost to the best two by four degrees on load, which isn't too bad considering the lower fan speed.
With the Zalman's controller set to minimum and with the fan speed at 1000 RPM it was just about par with the Xigmatek.
Noise
At full speed (2200 RPM) the Zalman's fan was the second fastest after the boxed cooler, and unfortunately also the second loudest. For me atleast the noise would be just too much in everyday use. Anyway then turned down or with the PWM mate set to auto, the noise became much more pleasant and at minimum speed the cooler was pretty quiet, if still audible. Anyway there's the CNPS-10X Quiet version for all those users who are looking for a really quiet cooler.
Conclusion
With the CNPS10X range Zalman made a large leap from the flower-design to the more conventional tower design, and it seems to have paid out. The performance sure is up to the competition and the outlooks are plain beautiful. Zalmans coolers have sometimes been criticized for the proprietary fans, the performance you get out of the box is all you get as the fans have been embedded within the fins. While the fan on the 10X Extreme still isn't the easiest to change, it's still possible to swap it. I think this is a step to the right direction, letting the end user choose the fan of his/her choice if always nice. Unfortunately the cooler still isn't perfect. First and foremost there's the mounting that just isn't as easy as it could and should be. The awkward little adapter pieces are a pain to get in place, and tightening the cooler in place isn't much easier. While there's the Quiet version for those looking for even quieter cooler, I'd still like the Extreme to be a bit quieter at the minimum speed. The performance could definitely cope with even a bit lower fan speed, so why not widen the fan controller range just a bit further down? |
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