Zalman CNPS6000-ALCU AMD / PIII Flower Cooler

This amazing and beautiful product is as versatile as it is effective. It will work on virtually any socketed CPU, AMD or Intel. We are recommend this Pentium 3 (socket 370) and Athlon XP+ series processors, where it will work fine for CPUs right up to the XP 3200+ and above. The heatsink consists of 56 flat copper fins, compressed very tightly together at one end and clamped between two aluminium blocks. Two very strong hex head bolts are used to keep the assembly together, and once tightened, the base of the cooler is machined totally flat, and polished so it gleams, in order to gain the best possible heat transfer from the CPU. The fins fan out like petals on a flower, giving the absolute maximum possible surface area for effective heat dissipation.

You may be wondering how a fan is mounted on such a strangely-shaped heatsink. The answer is - it isn’t! An Ultra-Quiet 92mm fan is supplied with the product but it is not mounted directly to the heatsink. Instead, it is suspended above it using a cleverly-designed adjustable bracket which affixes to the PC chassis by sharing the two or three screws which are used to secure PCI/AGP cards (see photographs below). Taking this approach allows a larger fan diameter (92mm) which means the fan blades can rotate slower to produce a given amount of airflow, hence less noise. In addition, no vibration is transmitted from the fan into the heatsink which is again good from a noise point of view, and is also better for the processor itself.

The Fan Mate controller is included in the Flower Cooler kit and allows total control over the balance between silence and cooling

The Flower Cooler ultra-quiet 92mm fan is held in place using an adjustable bracket fastened onto the PCI/AGP card slots as shown (card installation is not affected). This gives exceptionally low noise levels, and no vibrations are transmitted to the heatsink and CPU.

Installation considerations

The maximum weight for a heatsink is specified as 180g by Intel CPU (Socket 370) and as 300g by AMD (Socket 462). Should a heatsink which exceeds the relevant weight limit be installed in a computer, special care should be taken when the computer is moved. Neither we nor the manufacturer can be held responsible for any damage to a system or a CPU occurring when a PC is moved with an overweight heatsink in situ. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES must a PC be transported by courier with this heatsink in place. The heatsink must be removed from the CPU before transporting the PC in order to prevent damage.

NOTE: Some motherboards have difficulty measuring low fan RPM speeds on coolers such as this one. The problem can sometimes be fixed by updating the motherboard BIOS to the latest version available on the motherboard manufacturer’s website. However, with some motherboards, the problem remains. Regardless, this will not affect performance. In addition, some motherboards will not boot if the CPU fan speed cannot be measured, as a safety feature. After rotating the Fan Mate speed control fully clockwise to enable booting, this feature needs to be disabled in the BIOS setup (set “CPU Fan Detect” or similar to “Disabled”).

NOTE: Please bear in mind that there must be no obstructions that stop the bracket from extending round over the heatsink. Some small ATX cases are not compatible with this cooler because the power supply can obstruct the bracket, which prevents installation. Check your case!