APACK ZEROtherm ZEN FZ 120 CPU Cooler

Vote: Thumbs Down or Thumbs Up Our Rating: 94%       Manufacturer: ZEROtherm

The Cooler

The 120mm fan is held on using the wire hanger method and is void of LEDs as we have come to expect from clear fans. For the adventitious, the fan does have holes on the side where LEDs can be installed; you will need to sort the wiring but with a small amount of soldering skill it would not be difficult to make a truly custom fan like the way it was done before LED fans were the norm.

From the side you can see at the top the 5mm hole that can hold an LED. There are four of these, one on each side. You can also see the four double heatpipes that make the traditional U shape. These pick up heat at the base and run it up to the fins.

The back of the fan allows us to see the wave pattern that adds surface area to the fins. Visually this is just about the only thing that differentiates the ZEN FZ 120 from other similar coolers on the market.

From this side without the fan installed we see that the heatpipes are mounted closer to the fan side of the cooler, taking advantage of the initial rush of incoming air.

ZEROtherm likes to use the “butterfly” design and it has worked well for them in the past. Here you can see the cut in the aluminium fins that aid in creating turbulence to the passing air, making the cooler more efficient.

Up until this point, everything has been perfect with the cooler but the copper base leaves us wondering why the base is not nickel coated or at least polished. As you can see, the base has small machine marks that we are used to seeing removed from the factory on enthusiast coolers.