I would like to remind you that Zalman CNPS8700 NT uses four copper heatpipes that pierce the heatsink plates at two different levels:

The heatpipes lie in special grooves in the cooler base and are soldered to it:

The base is as even and nicely finished as the base of Thermaltake V1 AX:

Besides nickel-plating, Zalman CNPS8700 NT also has a slightly different fan, namely, it has a fan with four-pin power connector and support of PWM rotation speed management. The minimum rotation speed remained the same and equals ~1150 RPM. However, the maximum was lowered from the former ~2550 RPM to ~2100 RPM. As a result, the maximum noise lowered from 35.5 to 30 dBA and the lowest noise level remained at the same 17.5 dBA.

The fan uses two ball bearings with claimed MTBF of 50,000 hours.

We have already described the installation procedure for this cooler in detail in our older review, so I don’t think I need to repeat it here again. The cooler is compatible with all contemporary platforms, is very compact inside the system case and doesn’t interfere with any components in the area around the processor socket. Instead of the formerly used blue LED highlighting, the LEDs on the Zalman CNPS8700 NT fan glow green.

Zalman CNPS8700 NT is priced around $50.