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5.0 out of 5 stars

• 5.0 out of 5 stars Great Item

  Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2010

  My processor has always run hot; for one reason or another, it would routinely get 80+ degrees Celsius and shut itself down. After installing this item, even under the highest loads the temperatures of the cores don't exceed 55 degrees Celsius, and it idles around 40. Still pretty hot, but less than when it was brand new with the stock heat sink.

  I had no problem at all installing it on my Athlon 6400+ AM2. the clip can be a bit tricky to work with, but if you can temporarily remove other items from your motherboard (I had to remove my video card), it can give you more room to maneuver. I can see how if you're careless you may cut yourself, but it shouldn't be a problem for anyone with a lick of common sense.

  The green LED's clash with the blue LED's from my power supply, but if I cared about that I would have sprung more for a different color.

  One caveat: shut your computer down and measure how much space you have with a wooden ruler (or other static-free measuring tool). This thing is huge, and could possibly interfere with your RAM modules or northbridge. The heat sink must be positioned so that the fan blows towards the case fan which will in turn remove the hot air from the case, so keep this in mind when calculating space.

  All in all, a great purchase for a great price.

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• 5.0 out of 5 stars Bigger is deifnitely better -

  Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2009

  The first thing you'll notice is that it is big. In fact, I was afraid there would be issues with case crowding or interference with other components.

  I installed this cooler on an Asus M32N SLI WiFi (Nvidia 590) motherboard with a newly added Phenom 9850. I opted to replace the Cooler Master (that also worked well) on my old X2 5200+ chip since it was already 2+ years old. It also let me evaluate the Zalman.

  I had two concerns when I opened the box: clearance for my newly added Corsair Dominator (1066) RAM that has a very high profile due and the weight. To my great relief, it fits perfectly. The jury is still out on the weight and I presently have my tower case laying horizontal until I work up the nerve to stand it up. The installation bar is sturdy but I will reiterate: the unit is heavy and without question I will remove it before moving the system any large distance.

  Finally, I couldn't be more pleased with the results. The stock Black Box AMD heat sink / fan is so loud it makes my office sound like an airport (that has been my experience with all AMD stock fans). The system with AMD stock fan with no over-clocking caused CPU temperatures in the 59 to 61 Celsius range. The new Z9500 AM2 dropped the temperature 10%: my system is running at 55 degrees with the fan speed set in the middle range. Nice.

  There are less expensive options, for example CoolerMaster products that I know work great with very low fan noise. But given the temperature drop and silent fan options, you can't go wrong with the Zalman 9500 AM2.

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• 4.0 out of 5 stars Works well but not exactly whisper quiet.

  Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2008

  I think this does a better job then the stock cooler, as it directs the heated air out the back of the case. One of the easier ones to install, took all of 5 min. One down side for me is the fan, while quiet, is not totally silent. But then I expect my PC to make no noise at all when it is running. Probably not the best choice for a HTPC. I think the price is a bit on the high side also.
  

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• 5.0 out of 5 stars Easy Install, quiet

  Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2010

  I have two 4U rack mount systems and the each run the AMD Phenom quad processor.
  The stock cooling fans from AMD were screeching loud. I replaced the stock fan with these fans.
  I thought that the install was going to be difficult because of the size of this fan and I had read a review that said you could cut you hand on the fins. It was one of the easiest fan installs I have done and I don't know how you could cut yourself on the fins - they are not sharp. The fans, and now the systems, are very quiet and staying cool.
  

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• 5.0 out of 5 stars A Quality CPU Cooler!

  Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2010

  After almost a year of use, I found this CPU fan to be very efficient. Even as a heavy PC user, it's kept my CPU cool. It's not exactly a quiet CPU fan but I'm not picky about that.

  If you're worried about how well the LED light in this CPU cooler will blend in with your setup, the LED color is green. Apparently, this is the only component in my system that has a green LED while all of my case fans (4 fans) have blue LEDs. But it's an nVidia CPU cooler and their main color is, of course, green. So you might want to take that into consideration...

  Other than that, I recommend this CPU cooler to any PC builder.

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• 5.0 out of 5 stars IT'S SO QUIET YOU GUYS

  Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2016

  I had a tech install this thing (and I got the tech through Amazon, too, which was kinda cool) to replace my stock CPU cooler, which was starting to whine like a sixteen year old at Bible camp. (It was annoying and loud and needed to go into the garbage.)

  This thing runs suuuuuuuper quiet. Like. I am so friggin happy with this item - I cannot overstate it. I was a little concerned that the AMD green LED would be annoying, but it's actually not so bright that it chafes - it's actually kinda nice, and it's growing on me, in spite of myself.

  Final note: YES, the AM2 bracket will fit AM3 chips! I run an AM3 chip, and it fits. I had a little trepidation about this, but it'll work, no worries.

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• 5.0 out of 5 stars Great fan for the price!!

  Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2011

  I bought this fan because I had bought a dual core AMD chip with the potential to unlock the other 2 cores. With the stock HSF Sometimes it would sometimes it would kick 1 or 2 of the cores off.
  As soon as I installed this fan all 4 cores activated and haven't shut down yet even on the lowest fan setting. Also its actually much quieter than the stock HSF but not "whisper" quiet which is fine with me since I'm not running liquid cooling in this rig. If you chassis and MB can support the weight and you have to room I definitely recommend this HSF