Conclusions
The CNPS9500 has exotic lines and a striking look, but this cooler's compatibility and performance are its most impressive assets. With the lowest fan speed setting, the CNPS9500 is quieter and cooler than Zalman's CNPS7700-AlCu, and it's practically silent compared to a stock AMD cooler. This thing should be able to handle the hottest CPUs around, too. Zalman has validated the cooler for all of AMD's and Intel's dual-core processors, and we couldn't even get a 3.6GHz Prescott to break 65C. But Zalman coolers have traditionally offered good performance and lower noise levels. What makes the CNPS9500 really stand out is the fact that its design allows for broad motherboard compatibility. The cooler's extremely low weight is a nice touch, too, as is the inclusion of mounting hardware for all modern desktop CPU sockets.

Unfortunately, the CNPS9500 doesn't come cheap. The cooler is currently selling for between $62 and $80 online, which is significantly more expensive than Zalman's CNPS7700 series. Of course, the CNPS7700 series weighs more, is a little louder, and has some compatibility issues with a number of motherboards. You get what you pay for.

Whether the CNPS9500 is worth the extra scratch will ultimately depend on how much you value weight and compatibility. The CNPS9500 excels on both fronts, and it's certainly a superior design to Zalman's previous offerings. I'm just not sure if my fetish for funky, silent CPU coolers runs deep enough to compel me to drop over $60 on one.