Zalman has long been known for silent performance cooling, whether it be processor heatsinks, video card coolers, cases, power supplies or even liquid cooling systems. They've been designing products for the computer enthusiast over the last decade, and in that time another attribute that has become synonymous with their name is quality. Every Zalman item that OCIA.net has reviewed has always been extremely well-made, offering only the best fit and finish. In fact, if you browsed our review archives, you'd be hard-pressed to find a Zalman product that did not meet our Seal of Approval.

True to their company slogan "leading the world of quiet computing solutions", Zalman identifies each of their silent CPU coolers with CNPS in the model number. CNPS stands for Computer Noise Prevention System, which Zalman uses to indicate which components they offer as being "noiseless". This CNPS model naming can be found on all of their horizontal orb-style heatsinks of the 7x00 and 8x00 series, as well as the vertical oriented 9x00 line of coolers. We reviewed one of these coolers, the CNPS9300 AT just last year.


While the vertical 9x00 series of coolers carry on their tradition of orb-shaped heatsinks, the new 10X represents Zalman's first foray into the more conventional rectangular-fin tower style. There are two models to choose from, a basic no-frills Quiet version and the more advanced performance-oriented Extreme. Zalman sent over one of each of their new designs for review, and today I'll have a chance to see how they measure up.

First let's take a closer look at their features and specifications.