Final Thoughts

I'm left feeling very satisfied with the CNPS10X Extreme as a whole. The black nickel coating seems to be all the rage in high-end air cooling these days and Zalman picked up on the trend by providing a sturdy yet sexy product to cool your CPU. The fan incorporated is capable of containing our rig and even if the temps weren't great, they are still admirable. The fan controller is one of a kind. With a simple twist dial speed control and a large push button to swap between fan speed modes, this is a nice addition to any cooler, but the design allowing the controller to nestle into the shroud is top notch.

Pricing of the CNPS10X Extreme is at premium levels, which compares to the prices of the coolers I have been comparing the Zalman to. At 79.99 U.S. Dollars at Newegg, I think the price is both reasonable and justified. Performing close to the Hammer and offering both a fan and a sweet built-in removable fan controller is just icing on the cake. Given the choice of the three, I'm leaning towards the Zalman for the most complete package for your premium dollar.

Issues were limited in my time testing the CNPSX10 Extreme. I do have one issue and it is for the AMD users out there. The cooler has a similar issue to other three, four and five heatpipe coolers. They tend to block off the area to slide the latch in from the sides. This causes the issue where some AMD users will find they have to orient the fan blowing up at the top versus out the back. This completely depends on which of the two ways the AMD socket ring is installed. Sticking with the installation, the Intel version of the hardware isn't all that bad, but the implementation of the push pins can be a bit tricky if you don't read up on the installation completely first.