Zalman CNPS10X Optima Shark’s Fin Blade Review

For convenience here is all the mounting hardware we showed you on page 2 again.

With the fan installed the unit looks pretty good but there isn’t really anything out of the ordinary. Installing the fans is very simple with the provided standard 120mm fan clips.

The fan adds an extra 25mm to the width.

Ideally you will sink the fan down as low as possible to ensure the fan blows over the whole heatsink. Having an extra inch or so of the fan at the top will only cause air to be blown into the case without cooling the heatsink.

The fan comes clearly labelled with airflow arrows in case you get confused during the fan installation.

To install the heatsink you have to loosen the screws on the base, slide the appropriate brackets into the gap and then tighten the screws again to secure them into place.

Here is what it looks like with the Intel brackets in. You have to make sure all the notches line up for the best mount.

When you mount you must refer to manual to see what backplate configuration you need. Below is the LGA 1155 configuration.

Here is a close up of the corners where you have to use the little black plastic squares to secure the backplate screw threads into place. Check at the top of the page for a recap of all the included mounting hardware.

Next you add some plastic spacers to the backplate and secure with adhesive tape before securing the backplate to the motherboard with more adhesive tape.

With the heatsink installed the backplate kind of “clings on” to the motherboard and doesn’t fit that well like some other mounting mechanisms.

However, it still works and gives a very firm mount.

RAM clearance was generally good and I had no complaints. If you are looking for a cheap and cheerful CPU cooler to use with you unlocked Core i5 with some high profile RAM on an ATX motherboard then you shouldn’t have any problems at all.

I think the CNPS10X Optima looks pretty cool and the fan really sets it off, although the cable really needs to be black. Most system builders will want to tuck this cable away.