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Review on Zalman Performa Performance Powerful Included by John Holliday

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Huge cooler - with tremendous performance (but not the easiest to install.)

The important thing here - literally - is the cooler. It's huge and requires at least 6.5 inches of clearance from your CPU to the side of the case to accommodate it, so small cases aren't necessary. If you have a large enough case, you will need to look into a mounting system that is very secure. and inspires a lot of confidence, but it's not that easy to use. What you end up with is a backplate (for the sockets that don't have a built-in backplate) and a mounting mechanism that centers around 2 spring-loaded screws that attach the cooler itself the back plate and the brackets. Given the size of the cooler itself, it is very difficult to reinstall and then tighten the screws. It really feels very secure when tightened, it's a bit of an adventure to pull it out. Once you install it (if it fits), this cooler has HUGE performance. My testbed runs at 4790k - after running Prime95 for 10 minutes, this cooler kept the CPU temp 10C cooler than Thermaltake's "Performance" "-cooler with this or thermal paste . , Even when idling, switching to this cooler has reduced temperatures by 3-5 °C, which is of great importance for achieving high performance as well as part durability. So this cooler is very efficient despite its size. Given the size of the fan, it is also significantly quieter than other coolers under load. So if you don't mind a complicated setup and you have a case big enough to fit in, then you're going to see great cooling and a quiet experience. The payout is definitely worth it to me!

Pros
  • Fingers crossed
Cons
  • Useless features