Final Thoughts

When I first pulled this cooler out of the box and saw its smaller size, I was thinking this cooler might be a bit underpowered to be able to handle my 9800 GTX. Boy was I surprised. Almost a 20 degree difference at load and the same at idle, there isn't anything I can knock the CoolMaxx 2000 for in the performance department. This cooler has made me think twice before judging a GPU cooler by its size.

Performance aside, I have to look at it from both sides. As a buyer, I would prefer extra sinks to cool components as I see fit, aside from the RAM sinks supplied. I'm a fan of bonuses just like the next guy, and here ZEROtherm includes a very nice fan controller. I would, however, liked to have had a bit more wire on the fan itself, so I could possibly have connected it directly to my motherboard's headers, but the configuration of my DFI wouldn't allow for such a setup. The last issue I see is that this cooler will not evacuate the air from inside the chassis, so your results may vary dependant on case cooling.

In the end I was left with a kick ass cooler that dropped my temperatures more than I had even hoped for. Along with great performance, you get a stealth inspired design, blackened plating and an eye catching cooler that doesn't require more than a stock dual slot cooler. For all this form and function, you will need to empty your wallet of a bit of hard earned cash. The CoolMaxx 2000 from ZEROtherm can be had at a cost of $54.99 plus shipping at Newegg. I remember paying as much for my VF-900 coolers when they were new, so the price is where I would expect it to be for the performance one receives. If your card is on the compatibility list, or matches the diagonal measurement, I strongly suggest you look intently at the CoolMaxx 2000 from ZEROtherm on your next hunt for a GPU cooling solution. Consider me converted!