Zalman CNPS9500 LED on an AM2/AM2+ motherboard

[WAZ]

A while back I purchased a CNPS9500 LED for my socket 939 board. I'm about to upgrade my system to an AM2/AM2+ board... and while I see that Zalman makes a nickel-plated AM2-specific 9500, I wondered if the only difference was in the adapter/attachment bracket, rather than the coolers themselves.

More specifically, can I purchase an AM2 bracket (I researched and found one called the
"Zalman 95AM2 Cross Mounting Bracket" -- here on ebay -- replace the asterisks with cgi-dot-ebay-dot-com) and use my CNPS9500 LED on an AM2+ motherboard? That description makes it seem like you can, but I never trust ebay sellers' technical descriptions... and the 9500 LED and 9500 AM2 LOOK virtually identical except for the finish.

This is also assuming the CNPS9500 LED will effectively cool an AMD X2 7850...? (For reference, it has been excellent at cooling my socket 939 FX-60).

Thanks!

 

[WAZ]

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[WAZ]

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[zagood]

The bracket should be fine if you can find one. Looks like that auction is over?

The 9500 will be better than stock, but don't expect miracles.

 

[lopri]

CNPS9500 doesn't need a bracket or backplate for AM2. All you need is the clip(s). Did you use screws on Socket 939? Then you need to purchase the clip. If you used the clip then it'll work on AM2 the same way it did on 939.

 

[WAZ]

Yeah, that's my mistake on the terminology. It is just the clip, not any sort of backplate or anything that attaches to the motherboard. Just the clip that holds it down:

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I don't need miracle cooling, but I'm hoping it performs as well on an X2 7850 as on my FX-60? Right now the 9500 works GREAT, and has my temps really low... I was hoping that would be the case on the new processor, unless there's a better HSF I should be looking at for the X2 7850...? (I also considered getting the AC Freezer 64 Pro but didn't think that would be any better than my 9500 LED).

Also didn't want to add $50 to $75 to my budget for cooling if the 9500 would do the job well enough to let me overclock that Black Edition 7850 and beyond.

 

[WAZ]

For reference, in case anyone comes across this thread with a similar question, Zalman customer support responded to me, and YES, you can use a 9500 LED on an AM2, as long as you get the AM2 mounting clip (Zalman 95AM2 Cross Mounting Bracket).

Thanks for the replies guys... I've been really happy with the 9500 LED and am glad I can pay $5 for a clip instead of needing to buy a new cooler.

 

[WAZ]

Just to follow up, the 9500 LED fit perfectly with that 95AM2 clip, and my X2 7850 is running at a cool 27°C idle, 45°C load.