FX100 Ultimate Fanless CPU Cooler Discontinued
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Zalman FX100 Ultimate Fanless CPU Cooler

The FX100 is Zalman’s first venture into passive CPU cooling and with its 95W cooling ability (130W with 92 mm fan) the FX100 makes a stunning entry, picking up a CES 2013 Design and Innovation award.

Zalman’s innovative new FX100 CPU cooler is designed to utilise natural convection where the heatsink passively transfers the heat to its surroundings. The hot air is then exhausted out of the chassis with the help of chassis fans or via natural convection through the top of a suitable case. Due to its passive and efficient operation, several factors that contribute to a shorter life span in electronics (such as vibration, dust, and heat) have a minimal impact, which makes the FX100 one of the most durable CPU cooler available on the market today.

The Zalman FX100 Fanless CPU Cooler

Features

High performance fanless CPU cooler
Black-pearl nickel plated Hexahedron heatsink
Mirror-like base finish
ZM-STG2M thermal paste supplied
Optional 92mm fan can be installed

Design

The FX100 comprises of ten nickel plated copper heat pipes as well as six separate aluminium fin stacks. Four of the heat pipes actually make direct contact with the baseplate, with two of these running up into the pair of internal fin stacks and the remaining two branching out to the four corners of the cube.

The heat-pipe structure of the FX100 CPU cooler

The unique design of the fin stacks means that the FX100 can take full advantage of existing airflow inside your chassis from almost any direction.

Passively cool processors up to 95W

Most mainstream desktop processors these days usually have a TDP of 95W or less and the FX100 cooler is capable of passively cooling processors up to 95W. The FX100 can still be used to more extreme, cool hotter running processors up to 130W with the aid of an optional 92mm fan.

The FX100 CPU cooler shown fitted with an optional 92mm fan

Compatibility

The square design means that once fitted to the motherboard, the coolers heatsink won’t obstruct the PCI-E x16 slot next to the processor and this will allow for a regular graphics card (with a non-wraparound heatsink) to be fitted in the fastest PCI-E slot on your motherboard.

The relatively standard height for a cooler of this size (157mm) will ensure that it is compatible with a wide range of ATX tower cases, but we would recommend a minimum case width of 185mm to ensure a guaranteed fit.

As you would expect, the FX100 is compatible with all modern CPU sockets including LGA 2011 and it is supplied with Zalman’s own high performance ZM-STG2 thermal grease which helps to maximise the heat transfer from the CPU to the base allowing optimal cooling performance.

Supplied Accessories

The FX100 CPU cooler show fitted with an optional 92mm fan

FX100 Image Gallery

FX100 - Underside

Mirror like precision base

FX100 - Top of cooler

FX100 - Fitted on an Intel board

Review

bit-tech.net

We were also curious to see if the coolers could cope with the overclocked settings with which we stress test other coolers, and it’s here that Zalman’s cooler has a distinct upper hand. Although temperatures steadily climbed with the Zalman cooler, it was able to stabilise our CPU at a delta T of 69°C. This is undoubtedly a very high delta T value, but it’s a victory nonetheless. It’s also worth noting that once we removed the load from the CPU, temperatures fell rather quickly, so cyclic loading over time also shouldn’t be an issue.

Specifications	FX100
Compatibility	Intel LGA2011/1366/1155/1156/775 and AMD FM2/FM1/AM3+/AM3/AM2+/AM2
Max TDP	95W Max without fan
Installation Method	Intel and AMD - backplate, requires motherboard removal
Dimensions	156(L) x 156(W) x 157(H)mm
Weight	770g
Material	Pure Copper and Aluminium
Heatpipes	10ea
Noise Level	0 dBA
Warranty	24 months
EAN barcode	8809213765346

Specifications	FX100
Compatibility	Intel LGA2011/1366/1155/1156/775 and AMD FM2/FM1/AM3+/AM3/AM2+/AM2
Max TDP	95W Max without fan
Installation Method	Intel and AMD - backplate, requires motherboard removal
Dimensions	156(L) x 156(W) x 157(H)mm
Weight	770g
Material	Pure Copper and Aluminium
Heatpipes	10ea
Noise Level	0 dBA
Warranty	24 months
EAN barcode	8809213765346

Customer Reviews

Zalman FX100 Ultimate Fanless CPU Cooler

Colin Brookes, 10th March 2014

This static CPU cooler is truly awful, both in its poor performance and the way it fits to the CPU on an Intel motherboard. The baseplate fits to the rear of the motherboard via double sided tape (which is hardly removable without damaging the PCB) and four screws. Two odd shaped brackets then attach to the CPU side of the motherboard giving a device to which the actual cooler fits.

You will need a Philips screwdriver with at least 140mm reach to then fit the cooler (after having applied the thermal compound) and a great deal of luck to connect this to the motherboard bracket by two screws. Once fitted and tightened the cooler is still able to turn clock and anti-clockwise by 30 degrees on the CPU which is rather disconcerting. Even Zalman warn about transporting a PC system with the cooler attached, so I am not the only one who thinks it is insecure.

Temperatures at idle on a i7 4770K at 3.50 MHz never went below 50C. The only good thing is that it does indeed clear the First PCIe x 16 slot even on a mATX Mobo, due to its off-set design. Avoid - Stick to Nofan and use the second PCIe slot.