Date: October 17th, 2005
Article by: Joe Anderson (Hardware Reviewer)
Edited by: Nathan Glentworth (Owner / Head Editor)
Product was submitted by: Zalman USA
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PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES
As you can see from the above chart (from the Zalman website) this cooler is BIG! It's also HEAVY! For the metric-challenged types among us, that's almost 5.5 inches in diameter and just a shade over two pounds. Unlike most Zalman products, the Fatal1ty cooler doesn't let a little noise get in the way of performance either. At over 40 dB, you're going to know it's there.
While the FS-C77 is compatible, cooling-wise, with the above processors, motherboard compatibility is another issue. An extensive motherboard compatibility chart can be found on the Zalman website (
http://www.zalmanusa.com/ ), but if the motherboard in question is not listed, Zalman states that “ No motherboard components with a height greater than 39mm (1.53inch), as well as the PSU, disk drives, VGA card, and RAM should be present within a 68mm (2.68 inch) radius from the center of the CPU.” The user must do his homework to assure that this big boy will fit on the motherboard and in the chassis.
PRODUCT COMPOSITION
The cardboard box and clamshell plastic insert provide excellent protection while being easily opened, a big plus in my book.
Inside the packaging, we find the following:
• User's manual
• Cooler
• Screws, washers, clips and thermal grease
• Backplate for AMD socket 754/939/940
• Clip support and backplate for Intel socket 775
• Clip supports for Intel socket 478
PRODUCT PICTORIAL AND WALKTHROUGH
The heatsink is all-copper and the 120mm fan, turning at 2400RPM, should provide ample cooling performance not only for the processor, but the surrounding components as well. The fan has clear blades and features red LED's for an extra bit of visual appeal. More than 120 fins radiate out from the center, drawing heat away from the processor to be dissipated by the fan. Sporting two ball-bearing sets, the fan should have a very long lifespan, at a cost of a little more noise. However, as discussed earlier, the Fatal1ty is all about maximum cooling and noise be damned. The fin material is copper, but has a unique finish (I assume the copper is anodized, but have no direct knowledge of this) giving it a reddish hue. Vaguely reminiscent of dried blood, the finish is striking when illuminated by the red LED fan, and could provide a unique styling element in a windowed gaming case.
Here we can see a size comparison with the venerable Zalman CNPS7000 series cooler and the stock Intel aluminum HSF that came with my retail P4 2.8C processor. There's no doubt about it, the Fatal1ty is a big unit. The difference in finish between the between the Fatal1ty and the raw copper of the 7000 is readily apparent.
While coolers featuring various heatpipe designs seem to be all the rage these days, Zalman has chosen the more conventional direct-contact configuration for the Fatal1ty. The processor contact area shows no evidence of anodizing and seems to be dead flat. The finish in this area, while not mirror-like, passes the old thumbnail test with high marks.
