15. Zalman CNPS8700LED CPU Cooler

Do-it-yourselfers might get a kick out of this new offering from Zalman, a well-known and respected purveyor of quiet, capable CPU coolers. The LED in the product name lets you know this puppy is lit from within, and the 8700 designation tells you it runs an 87 mm diameter (3.425") fan to provide the cooling. It's shrouded in bright copper cooling fins, and includes a set of equally bright copper heat pipes that give the unit a pretty spiffy appearance.

Copper, copper everywhere surrounds the cool glowing fan at the CNPS8700's heart.

What really makes the CNPS8700LED a nice piece of work, and a great choice for most do-it-yourself PC aficionados, is the range of CPUs you can use it to cool. It covers all the makes and models for Sockets 775 (Intel Celeron D, Pentium 4, Pentium D, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad), AM2 (AMD Sempron, Athlon 64, Athlon 64 X2, Athlon 64 FX), 754 (AMD Sempron, Athlon 64), 939 (AMD Athlon 64, Athlon 64 X2, Athlon 64 FX, Opteron, Dual Core Opteron), and more. This makes one of these puppies a pretty safe bet as a gift for anybody who's likely to get a bang out of removing their old stock cooler and replacing it with something cooler, quieter and better-looking.

That said, with an 87 mm fan surrounded by copper cooling fins, your do-it-yourself will need some room to fit this cooler into his or her case. The relevant dimensions are 4.72" length x 4.84" width x 2.64" height (120 mm x 123 mm x 67 mm). The fan runs at 2,550 RPM when plugged directly into the fan header on a motherboard, if not routed through some kind of variable speed controller. At lower speeds (1,150 RPM) the fan emits a very quiet 17.5 dBA; at moderate speeds (2,300 RPM) it runs at a somewhat audible 33 dBA. At top speed (2,550 RPM) that noise level goes up to 39 dBA. Zalman includes its Fan Mate 2 speed control along with this cooler.

At a price of around $40, bestowing one of these copper cuties on your student of choice won't require too much outlay, but it will help his or her PC keep its cool, and hopefully let you bask in its cool LED glow. For more information about the Zalman CNPS8700LED, please visit the vendor's product page.