Zalman improves almost everything it's got

ZALMAN IS NEVER without goodies to show off, and this Computex is no exception. This time, the new parts are extensions and improvements of the old lines.

The first two are extensions of the Trimon line we have told you about before. There are two new additions, a 24 and 32-inch model. The 32 was shown off at GDC, but the 24 is completely new. The 24 also has a sleek new bezel showing a lot more style than the originals. They both have HDMI ins so they can be used as a TV or in HTPC situations, both are 1080p rez.

Zalman Trimon 24

The 24-inch Trimon is coming out in early July, the 32 about a month later. 3D quality on the monitor was still as solid as it looked on the prototypes, and the drivers are for cards other than Nvidia are coming, so there is hope. Expect to pay a little more than double the cost of a single monitor, around $1200 for the 24, $1900 for the 32 when they debut.

9900 enshrouded

Next up is the new coolers, the low end CNS9300 and high end CNPS9900. The 9900 is a three heat pipe cooler with a 120mm fan in the middle of the two heat sink fin rows. There is also a plastic shroud covering the fan to duct air properly. This is a prototype, the final revision will have a much more aesthetically pleasing shroud when it comes out in about a month. Zalman is claiming 9-10 degrees better performance over the older models for a retail price of about $100.

The CNS9300 is an entry level 2 heat pipe version that replaces the older 3 pipe models. Because of more efficient fins and better venting, you get the same performance with one less heatpipe. This saves about $10 over the older models.

Next up we have two new PSUs that put out 660 and 770W. Both are variants of the current models but feature 2 8-pin PCIe connectors instead of one like their older cousins.

Two tidbits to close with, the first is the GS1000 case we told you about at CeBIT. It is now a shipping product and looks just like it did at the show. The cost is under $200 and that includes one hot plug backplane, a second one is a sub-$10 option. This looks like a really nice case, well worth a look next time you are shopping. Additionally, the VGA cooler business is said to be going really well with tons and tons of design wins. It just goes to show that if you make good products, people will want buy. µ