Now for testing. I let it stand for 20 minutes to get idle temps and ran the prime 95 cpu torture test to get full load. Room temp does effect the cpu temp and it was maintained at 71 degrees.

• Shuttle AK-31 rev. 3.1
• Tbird 1 gig
• 256 pc2100 DDR
• C-media 5.1 sound
• Maxtor 30gig 7200rpm
• 48x cdrom
• Windows XP Pro

That was using the full power of the fan which is rated at 28cfm running 4500rpm. It must be noted Zalman ships the 5001 with the fan blowing out, not in to the cpu. I tested it blowing in and frankly could not get much of a different temp, but it ran a few degrees higher surprisingly. So there is method to the assumed madness. I did test some using the so called quiet connectors and naturally the temps skyrocketed. Nine to 15 degrees higher idle so I wasn't about to do much testing with that and didn't bother running prime95. But I really feel adding in those connectors which are to provide a quiet cooler are a waste. The 4500 one is hardly noticable and is as quiet as any power supply fan I have. And none are loud. Anyway, you have that option but I only suggest it if you have a lower end and cooler running cpu. Forget about using those connectors on any of the Athlon 4 cpus.

This is one major pain in the butt cpu cooler, to be honest about it. I can only suggest this cooler for one making a new system and if you really need to have a heatsink that is very secure. Like for shipping or if the system gets moved around alot. At least you only have to install it once. But if you already have a system built then there are so many better cooling solutions out there and so much easier to install. Just a clip to attach and you're done. Not here, you have to have the motherboard out of the case to install it and then insert 4 screws, then 8 washers on each side, then the spacers to those screws and at last...the heatsink. It's just more trouble than it's worth. As you can see by the graph it isn't nearly as good as any we've reviewed before here at PCA. If you have a Duron then it may do you well.

Many thanks to the fine folks at 1CoolPC for sending us the Zalman 5001 for review. They have some good prices on some very good products and more and better cpu coolers to choose from also. They are another trusted site that is safe to deal with. So check em out.