ZEROtherm BTF90 CPU Cooler (Page 3 of 5)
Delving Inside
Inside the box there is another, smaller box which contains all the fixings required to attach the cooler to any of the supported CPU’s (LGA775, AM2, 939 and 754) as well as a tube of ZEROtherms own-branded TIM paste and an exceptionally well written instruction manual.
Handily enough, you also get the BTF90 cooler itself, and its at this point I should mention the fact that whilst this cooler is of great quality, its actually fairly fragile. Ive fitted quite a number of coolers in my fairly short journalistic career and I have to say that I have never known a cooler which has such soft copper fins…..they seem to bend if you even look at them in the wrong way!! 
That said, assuming you handle the cooler carefully and follow the installation instruction (paticularly for LGA775) you shouldnt have any problems, and whats a bent fin or two between friends?
So, taking a closer look at the BTF90, and starting from the heat sink itself, we see that it has a stainless steel fixing bracket which has a solid copper heat sink fitted. It is between these two that the four copper heatpipes emerge and fold delicately upwards through the mass of cooling fins. The copper base itself is protected by a clear sticker, removal of which reveals a finely machined surface, not polished to the exceptional standards of our Zalman CNPS9700NT, but still a good finish.
Moving up the cooler we see that the heatpipes, as well as performing cooling duties, are actually the support for the rest of the cooler. The fins are attached to the heatpipes and in turn support the central pillar which acts as the mount for the cooling fan.
The fan is of open-vaned design in clear plastic with ZEROtherms own branding, running between 750 and 2500 rpm’s the fan pushes out a claimed 42.8 CFM of air with a maximum of 27 dBA. All of which bodes well considering the numbers are better i.e. lower than, the numbers of the CNPS9700NT. The fan is PWM controlled and when is spins up, allowing your motherboard to control its speed according to CPU load.
« Read the previous page, ‘Packaging And Specs’.
» Read the next page, ‘Installation And Testing’.