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1. Introduction

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The crowded market of cooling systems is confusing for most users as the available products are usually advertised and promoted in similar ways, they are claimed to offer superior features and it is hard to make out which is actually the right cooler for them. Size, easiness of installation, operation noise, compatibility with PC hardware, cooling efficiency and of course retail price are the main parameters that should be added to the mix, before someone decides to spend some money and upgrade a PC system.

In most cases, the differences among competitively priced CPU coolers are not obvious. Today we will try to bring some light to the CPU cooler market by putting 12 new CPU coolers under test, made by Arctic Cooling, Glacialtech, Prolimatech, Skythe, Thermaltake and Titan:

	Model	Compatibility	Average Price
	AC Freezer Pro 7 rev 2	Intel Socket 1366/1156/1155/ 775 AMD Socket AM3/ AM2+/ AM2/ 939/ 754	$33
	AC Freezer 13	Intel Socket 1366/ 1156/1155/ 775 AMD Socket AM3/ AM2+/AM2/939/ 754	$37
	AC Freezer Extreme Rev 2	Intel Socket 1366/ 1156/1155/775 AMD Socket AM3/ AM2+/ AM2/ 939/ 754	$69
	AC Freezer LP 11	Intel's Socket 1155/ 1156/775	$20
	Glacialtech Alaska	Intel LGA sockets, AMD Socket AM2 and AM3 sockets.	$50
	Glacialtech Igloo 5751	Intel socket 775/1156/1366, AMD socket AM2/AM3	$35
	Glacialtech Siberia	Intel Socket LGA775/ LGA1156/ LGA1366 AMD Socket AM3/ AM2/ AM2+/ 939/ 754	$44
	Prolimatech Super Mega	Intel Socket LGA 775/1156/1366	$85
	Scythe Ninja 3	Intel Socket LGA1366/ 1156/775, AMD Socket AM3/ AM2+/940/ 939/ 754	$55.00
	Scythe Rasetsu	Intel Socket LGA1366/1156/ 775/478 AMD Socket AM3/ AM2+/AM2/940/739/754	$55.00
	Thermaltake Jing	Intel Socket LGA 1366/ LGA 1156/ LGA 775, AMD Socket AM3/ AM2+ / AM2	$60
	Titan Fenrir Evo	Intel Socket LGA 1366/ LGA 1156/ LGA 775, AMD Socket K8/AM2/AM2+/AM3	$55

All the products will be tested with exactly the same environmental conditions and of course same testing methodology.

In the first pages of this article you can read information about each cooler, as well as an evaluation of their design, quality of structure and retail package. Comparison and benchmark results follow in the last pages. But first, let's meet the coolers.

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2. Arctic Cooling Freezer 13

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Manufacturer	Arctic Cooling
Model	Freezer 7 Pro Rev. 2 DCACO-FP701-CSA01
Price	$33
Category	Power Users

The Freezer 7 Pro Rev. 2 by Arctic Cooling is the upgraded version of the renowned Freezer 7 Pro. Unlike its predecessor this model offers support for both AMD and Intel processors. The Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 supports Intel LGA1366/1156/775 and AMD Socket AM3/AM2+/AM2/939.

Priced at $33, this tiny 92mm cooler is a value play, as the company also produces a 120mm-based Freezer XTREME Rev.2 cooler that we will also examine later on this test.

 

- Features

• Compatible with Intel Core i7 and Core i5, as well as AMD sockets
• Cooling performance - 130 Watts
• Quiet 92mm PWM fan
• 6 heatpipes and 42 fins for efficient heat dissipation
• Patented vibration absorption to eliminate buzzing sounds
• Pre-applied ARCTIC MX-2
• Easy installation

- Specifications

- Retail package

The Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 cooler is completely visible through the packaging and all of the specifications are also visible by turning the unit around. Also visible is a small decal that lets you know that this heatsink is compatible with Intel I7, I5, Socket 775 and AMD AM3, AM2+, AM2, 979 processors:

The fan is already installed on the cooler. Besides the cooler the package includes Intel Pushpins and AMD hooks for installing the cooler in the corresponding systems. Supporting Intel’s desktop LGA processors (775, 1156, and 1366) and AMD’s clip-on socket frame (939, AM2, AM2+, and AM3), the Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 is a "performance" coolers that can replace a stock Intel cooler without removing the motherboard from a case:

The heatsink features a 92 mm PWM fan and 6 heatpipes and 42 fins that dissipate heat. The fan is mounted on the main unit through vibration absorption clips, offering quiet spinning even at full load (generates 0.8 Sone at 2,500 rpm). The cooler promises to offer performance far beyond stock coolers and achieves 130 Watts cooling capacity.

The 48 fins measure roughly 4" long and 2-3/8" wide, with the two back corners rounded off. The fins appear to be pressed on the all six of the heatpipes and thus provide a wide surface area to help control the heat.

 

 

The pre-applied ARCTIC MX-2 thermal compound makes the installation a quick and clean process. The base of the cooler is protected by a plastic cover. Removing the paste reveals a super-flat copper base with a finely-sanded finish:

- Installation

The cooler's mounting system via push pins offers stability and is applicable within a few seconds. The provided expansion plugs and wedges make bracket installation easy because low cooler weight and moderate pressure made a rear support plate unnecessary. Access to the front mounting screw is eased by unclipping the fan and extracting the wedges for bracket removal requires nothing more than a pair of long-nose pliers.

On the other hand, due to the socket orientation of most AMD AM2/AM3 motherboards, AMD users will be forced to mount the cooler with the fan blowing upwards from above the video card rather than in the proper cross-draft configuration.

This is how your test PC looks like after installing the of the cooler. As you can see the size of the cooler is small and it should fit in your motherboard and PC case without interfering with any other components nearby the CPU area:

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3. Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 rev 2

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Manufacturer	Arctic Cooling
Model	Freezer 13 UCACO-FZ130-BL
Price	$37
Category

The Freezer 13 carries the legacy of the Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 cooler, but it comes with two additional heatpipes (8 in total) and also brings 200 Watts cooling performance (130 Watt for the Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2) – enough to cool down every current CPU. It features wide compatibility with AMD and Intel sockets, the same simple mounting system as the Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 and also a 92mm PWM controlled fan.

 

- Specifications

- Retail package

The Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 is packaged in a clear plastic container so that all sides of it can be seen. On the front, the black and white fan stands out through the packaging and the Arctic Cooling logo. Underneath the Freezer 13 text is a remark stating that this heatsink supports both AMD and Intel sockets. The left side of the package adds some more information, such as it being capable of 200 watts of cooling power, and lists more specific socket compatibilities. On the rear of the package there is information about noise levels, dimensions, weight, and other features.

The packaging is minimal and small. It includes the mounting hardware and an installation/owner's manual.

Standing 130mm tall, the Freezer 13 heatsink is equipped with a single 92mm PWM fan that rotates at 600-2000RPM. Commanded to with a PWM fan speed controller, the Freezer 13 heatsink ranges from moderately audible to nearly whisper quiet.

The raw heatsink itself is built around a familiar combination of four 6mm diameter copper heatpipes and densely stacked aluminum fins. It weighs about 695 grams in total, making it a relatively compact and light weight heatsink.

The Freezer 13 ships with a pre-applied patch of Arctic MX-4 thermal compound applied to the copper base plate and installs onto Intel socket 775/1155/1156/1366 and AMD socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM3 processors.

- Installation

The heatsink mounts to both Intel and AMD motherboards using the permanently affixed metal bracket that is integral with the base.

For Intel computer systems a the plastic heatsink mounting cage is installed onto the motherboard with little plastic retention clips, then screws passed through the heatsink's spring metal clip and engaged with the cage to apply mounting pressure. AMD computer systems make use of the AMD heatsink mounting bracket that ships with every motherboard, and simple set of L-brackets. In either case the motherboard does not have to be removed from the computer case:

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4. Arctic Cooling Freezer Extreme Rev 2

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Manufacturer	Arctic Cooling
Model	Freezer Xtreme Rev. 2 UCACO-P0900-CSB01
Price	$69
Category	Enthusiasts

The Freezer Xtreme Rev. 2 is aimed at the enthusiast market of CPU users that push their CPUs to the edge. The cooler offers a twin tower design with 4 double sided heat pipes (8 total) and heat dissipation up to 160 watts. The Freezer Xtreme Rev. 2 is cooled by a single ultra quiet 120mm PWM fan and can be used on both AMD and Intel CPUs.

- Features

• Cooling performance – 160 Watts

• Unique twin tower 102-fin heat sink design

• Effective heat dissipation via 4 double-sided heatpipes

• 1 ultra quiet 120mm PWM fan

• Patented fan holder eliminates the buzzing sounds

• Voltage regulators and north bridge cooling

• Pre-applied MX-2

• 6 Years Warranty

- Specifications

- Retail package

The Freezer XTREME arrives in a vacuum formed plastic casing which is molded to the cooler’s shape. The casing is transparent and so you can clearly see the Freezer XTREME. On the front there are two cardboard cut-outs which list the compatible CPU’s and product’s name. The rear of the casing has a large cardboard cut-out hiding the entire cooler. On this the features are listed, specifications and performance graphs:

 

The accessories included are:

• Installation instructions
• AMD Clips
• Socket 775 Screws, Retention Plate and mounts

The Arctic Freezer Xtreme Rev. 2 heatsink has a tall twin tower design. The 120mm fan has been positioned in the center of each of the towers, with an Arctic Cooling Xtreme branding around the holder. The Freezer Xtreme stands at about 130mm in height and has 4 heatpipes on each side. Each tower consists of 51 fins, which combined total 102 fins. On the top, each of the copper pipe ends are staggered in height.

The two gloss plastic tabs on the top when pressed allow for the removal of the fan from the heatsink.

On the sides of the Freezer XTREME is a black plastic ‘X’. Arctic Cooling has also sneakily added their logo to the centre of this ‘X’ for additional attention.

On the copper block, Arctic Cooling included a generous portion of their MX-2 thermal paste. Each side of the block has 4 of the copper heatpipes curve and bend upwards through the aluminum fins. There are also 2 metal brackets that are attached to the copper block. These brackets are used to secure the heatsink to the clips for either the Intel or AMD application:

- Installation

With the flexible mounting design, Freezer Xtreme Rev. 2 is compatible with Intel Socket 1366, 1156, 1155 and 775 as well as AMD Socket AM3, AM2+, AM2, 939 and 754. First you need to remove the "sandwiched" fan and then use a long screwdriver in order to fasten the cooler on the motherboard. The procedure is similar to what we previously saw with Arctic's coolers.

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5. Arctic Cooling Freezer LP 11

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Manufacturer	Arctic Cooling
Model	AC Freezer LP 11 UCACO-P2000000-BL
Price	$20
Category	HTPC

Today we are also looking at the baby brother of the Freezer 13, the AC Freezer LP 11. The cooler is not exactly a competitive cooler to the rest of this roundup, we have decided added it to the mix. It is a low-profile CPU Cooler for Intel platforms and and HTPC. The compact-sized Freezer 11 LP brings low noise cooling into low profile and HTPC Systems. With a height of 53mm only, the cooler squeezes into even most tiny PC cases.

 

- Specifications

- Retail package

The packaging of the Freezer 11 LP is a plastic clam shell encasement indicative of a retail package with the cooler and mounting hardware enclosed. The accompanying cardboard sleeve has the specifications and features listed as well as the compatibility information.

Arctic Cooling's Freezer 11 LP heatsink is compatible with Intel socket 775/1156 processors only. Socket 1366 Intel processors are not supported, nor are any AMD platforms.

The Freezer 11 LP heatsink ships with a pile of little plastic components that create a secondary mounting platform on the Intel motherboard for the small heatsink to attach to with long machine screws.

Equipped with a quiet 92mm PWM fan and two copper heatpipes, the Freezer 11 LP offers a maximum cooling capacity of 90W. It features two performance 6mm heatpipes to dissipate the heat from the CPU into the block consisting of 50 aluminum fins.

With dimensions of 115(L)*106(W)*53(H)mm, having a weight of only 255g, the Freezer 11 LP is extremely compact. It fits virtually into any low profile PC case and is the ideal choice for any HTPC system. Below you can see how small this cooler really is:

Arctic Cooling's Freezer 11 LP heatsink is comprised of two sections, a ~100x80mm heatsink fin stack and a thin 92mm fan integral with mounting bracket and fan shroud. The fin stack is comprised of nickel plated fins which are soldered to a pair of 6mm diameter copper heatpipes that run along the bottom and through one side to the other. The 92mm PWM fan spins at speeds of 1200-2000RPM, exhausting air down through the 32mm thick fin stack.

If you remove the fan, you will see a simple layout and the basic elements of the heatsink: 2 large heat pipes that feed through the base and a series of aluminum fins to get rid of the heat.

 

The copper base is covered with Arctic Cooling MX-2 thermal compound. The solid copper base is flat but does not have a highly polished finish, although it should be fine for the 90 Watt maximum heat load specified for this cooler:

 

- Installation

The motherboard need not be removed from the case to install the Freezer 11 LP heatsink. Once installed the heatsink can be unscrewed and reinstalled with ease.

The mounting is a  very simplistic and effective method. You place the bracket across two mounting holes and insert the adapters (white ) into the holes and then just place the black pins into the white adapters which spread them to secure it to the motherboard. The heatsink is then secured by 4 mounting screws that are threaded into the black brackets previously mounted to the motherboard.

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6. Glacialtech Alaska

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Manufacturer	Glacialtech
Model	Alaska
Price	$50
Category

GlacialTech Inc has become a popular brand of heatsinks, mainly due to its cost effective cooling components. Today we have in our labs the Igloo Alaska CPU cooler . The tower cooler that will work with all the Intel LGA sockets as well as AMD AM2 and AM3 sockets.

GlacialTech has implemented a useful way to keep your processor cool. When running resource hungry applications and you have the PWM version installed, turn up the RPM to 700 (±300) ~1600 (±250) to manage your heat dissipation more effectively.

The fin leading edge of adopting to meet hexagonal honeycomb design concept is unique. Not only this but also the grill design reduces wind resistance and reduce the noise. The 6 mm heat transfer capacity of the sintered heat pipe has given a special effect to latest Alaska.

Basic features :
　1 ) Six ¢6 mm high performance heat pipes with nickel coating
　2 ) Fins with breathing effect
　3 ) Copper base
　4 ) Axial fan with PWM function
　5 ) Multi-platforms (Intel LGA775, 1156, 1366, AMD AM2, AM3)
　6 ) Easy to install

- Specifications

 

- Retail package

The Alaska comes with everything that is required to mount the cooler to your Intel or AMD socket. As well as extra fan clips for a second fan and a tube of thermal paste.

The tower heatsink has aluminum cooling fins, a honeycomb cross sectional fin geometry and six 6mm diameter copper heatpipes arranged in a dual V pattern are packed behind a nickel-plated copper heatspreader.

The 2mm diameter perforations dot each of the 40 or so aluminum fins on the Alaska heatsink and function as a pathway for air pressure to equalize between the different cooling fins. Glacialtech call this the "breathing effect."

Standing an average 156mm tall, the Glacialtech Alaska heatsink ships with one 120mm PWM fan but is capable of accommodating an additional rear-mounted fan (2nd fan not supplied, clips provided) should users wish to operate two fan at reduced speed and decrease noise to a minimum. The Alaska's translucent blue fan runs at 1600-700RPM.

The second treatment applied to the aluminum fins of the Glacialtech Alaska heatsink is a small trough that crosses the 130mm length of each fin, in alternating Z-directions. This creates a honeycomb pattern when viewing the heatsink from the side.

In the following figures you see the relatively small in size base of the cooler. It is plain, with no mirrored looks.

- Installation

Installing the Alaska cooler is easy. Before installing it, you need to attach two clips to its base and also the metal wires that hold the fan. After that, put the backplate on the solder side of the motherboard, put the cooler in place and fasten the four screws (with springs) that hold the cooler in place.

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7. Glacialtech Igloo 5751

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Manufacturer	Glacialtech
Model	Igloo 5751
Price	$35
Category

GlacialTech IGLOO 5751 PWM Cooler features a unique design, incorporating a specially aligned copper heat pipe combination of four pipes with nickel coating which disperse the heat from the CPU directly into the heat sink fins. The cooler is equipped with two 92mm fans, with the top fan running at a fixed speed of 1400RPM. The bottom fan gets the PWM signal from the fan cord and can vary in speed from 800-1800RPM.

Heat is drawn up from the CPU into the CPU heat sink. The nickel coated heat pipes draw the heat further into the aluminum radiator fins. Cool air is propelled into the aluminum fins from the top fan, extracting the heat from the metal as it goes through. The second fan propels the air further, which has been slowed down slightly by this time because it has increased in volume. The second fan thus speeds up the airflow, thrusting it directly onto the CPU heat sink. Glacialtech claims that the combined wind cooling effect and heat transfer adds increased efficiency to a rock solid design. However, according to our previous tests with some coolers, the specific design has proven a little bit weak in terms of cooling efficiency. It's usually hard to make a heatsink work well with dual fans because the airflow from each will sometimes interfere with the other. But anyway, we 'll have to wait for the measurements before drawing any conclusions.

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- Specifications

CPU Compatibility/ CPU Clock Speed (max.)

Intel LGA775 Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor (Up to 95 watts) Intel® Core™2 Extreme Processor (Up to 130 watts) Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor (Up to 65 watts) Intel® Celeron® D Processor (Up to 86 watts) Intel® Celeron® Processor (Up to 65 watts) Intel LGA1156 Intel® Core™ i5 Processor (Up to 95 watts) Intel® Core™ i3 Processor (Up to 73 watts) Intel® Core™ i7 Processor (Up to 95 watts) Intel LGA1366 Intel® Core™ i7 Processor (Up to 130 watts) Intel® Core™ i7 Processor Extreme Edition (Up to 130 watts)

AMD Athlon II X3 (Up to 2.9 GHz/95W/AM3) Athlon™ II X4 (Up to 2.8 GHz/95W/AM3) Phenom™ II X4 (Up to 3.4 GHz/140W/AM3, AM2+) Phenom™ II X3 (Up to 2.8 GHz/95W/AM3) Phenom™ II X2 (Up to 3.1 GHz/80W/AM3) Phenom™ X4 (Up to 2.6 GHz/140W/ AM2+) Phenom™ X3 (Up to 2.5 GHz/95W/ AM2+, 940) Athlon™ II X2 (Up to 3 GHz/65W/ AM3) Athlon™ X2 (Up to 3.2 GHz/125W/ AM2, AM2+, 939) Athlon™ (Up to 2.8 GHz/89W/ AM2, 939, 754) Sempron™ (Up to 2.7 GHz/62W/ AM2, AM3, 754)

Model		Igloo 5751
Cooler Dimension (mm)		100(W)x1 35 (L)x1 30 (H)
Cooler Weight (gram)		550
Fan	Bearing Type	Entering Bearing
	Rated Voltage	DC 12 V
	Dimension (mm)	92 x 92 x 25
	Speed (RPM)	Up Fan:1400RPM Down Fan: PWM 800 (±300 RPM) at 30% duty ~ 1800 (±10% ) at 100% duty
	Airflow (CFM)	Up Fan: 26.8; Down fan: 34.4(Max.)
	Noise (dBA)	Up Fan:18 dBA; Down Fan:26 dBA (Max.)
Interface Material		IceTherm II

- Retail package

Glacialtech's Igloo 5751 PWM heatsink ships with brackets for Intel LGA775/1156/1366 and AMD 754/939/940/AM2/AM3 motherboard. The heatsink mounts to both Intel and AMD motherboards. The package also includes a manual:

If you remove the upper fan you will see four 6mm diameter heatpipes threading though the 0.3mm thick aluminum fins. There are two 92mm fans on the cooler. The top spins at 1400RPM, the bottom 800-1800RPM depending on demand. Power is supplied to both fans via a single 4-pin PWM motherboard:

The cooler stands 125mm tall and its weight is 550grams. Below you see the structure of the device, with , the heatsinks' two fans sandwich the section of aluminum cooling fins which are supported over the processor on four copper heatpipes:

As you see in the pictures below the cooler has a small base - a not be a very smart design in some cases. However, the a heatsink is in many ways only as effective as the contact it makes with the processor and the nickel-plated copper base of the Glacialtech Igloo 5751 PWM heatsink has a great roughness as well as finely sanded finish:

- Installation

For Intel processors there are separate brackets for LGA775, LGA1156 and LGA1366. Installation on Intel systems is easy, as you'll have to Intel's standard procedure: Push-to-click plastic retention brackets and no need to remove the motherboard and position a metal back plate. AMD users will need to remove the plastic retention frame from the motherboard and install a few metal stand offs before the AMD brackets can be screwed into position:

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8. Glacialtech Siberia

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Manufacturer	Glacialtech
Model	Siberia
Price	$44
Category

The Siberia is a cooler designed with HTPC and midi tower cases in mind, since it follows a top fan design. However Glacialtech has added a second lower fan, smaller than the top one, resulting to what we usually call a " push and pull" configuration. In order to get the optimal performance, you'd better adjust the RPM of each fan independently.

- Features

• Six F 6 mm high performance heat pipes with nickel coating
• Copper base
• Fins with high heat exchange ratio
• Multi-platforms (Intel LGA775, 1156, 1366, AMD AM2, AM3)
• Easy to install.

- Specifications

CPU Compatibility/ CPU Clock Speed (max.)

Intel LGA775 Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor (Up to 95 watts) Intel® Core™2 Extreme Processor (Up to 130 watts) Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor (Up to 65 watts) Intel® Celeron® D Processor (Up to 86 watts) Intel® Celeron® Processor (Up to 65 watts) Intel LGA1156 Intel® Core™ i5 Processor (Up to 95 watts) Intel® Core™ i3 Processor (Up to 73 watts) Intel® Core™ i7 Processor (Up to 95 watts) Intel LGA1366 Intel® Core™ i7 Processor (Up to 130 watts) Intel® Core™ i7 Processor Extreme Edition (Up to 130 watts)

AMD Athlon II X3 (Up to 2.9 GHz/95W/AM3) Athlon™ II X4 (Up to 2.8 GHz/95W/AM3) Phenom™ II X4 (Up to 3.4 GHz/140W/AM3, AM2+) Phenom™ II X3 (Up to 2.8 GHz/95W/AM3) Phenom™ II X2 (Up to 3.1 GHz/80W/AM3) Phenom™ X4 (Up to 2.6 GHz/140W/ AM2+) Phenom™ X3 (Up to 2.5 GHz/95W/ AM2+, 940) Athlon™ II X2 (Up to 3 GHz/65W/ AM3) Athlon™ X2 (Up to 3.2 GHz/125W/ AM2, AM2+, 939) Athlon™ (Up to 2.8 GHz/89W/ AM2, 939, 754) Sempron™ (Up to 2.7 GHz/62W/ AM2, AM3, 754)

Model	Siberia
Cooler Dimension (mm)	146(W)x150(L)x120(H)
Cooler Weight (grams)	620
Fan Bearing Type	Entering Bearing
Fan Rated Voltage	DC 12 V
Fan Dimension (mm)	Up fan: 140 × 140 × 25; Down fan: 92 × 92 × 25 (mm)
Fan Speed (RPM)	Up fan: PWM 800~1400 ; Down fan: 1300
Fan Air Flow (CFM)	Up fan: 72 CFM at 100% duty; Down fan: 19 CFM
Fan Power Consumption (Watt)	4.92W (Max)
Fan Operating Voltage (Volt)	6.0~13.8
Fan Noise (dBA)	Up fan: 33 Dba at 100% duty; Down fan: under 18 dBA
Interface Material	IceTherm II

 

- Retail package

The Glacialtech Siberia heatsink ships with three different rear motherboard support brackets and a couple pairs of metal clips for Intel or AMD platforms. The Intel socket 775/1155/1156 mounting brackets can be used for any Intel socket and screw into place with spring tensioned collared screws. For AMD motherboards, Glacialtech use metal brackets which accommodate socket AM2/AM3 platforms.

 

The cooler uses two PWM fans in a "sandwiched " configuration. Between them there are the aluminum fins. To manage heat dissipation most effectively, the two PWM fans should be generally operated at different speeds: 800~1400 for the top fan and ; 1300 RPM for the bottom one.

The Glacialtech Siberia heatsink stands 122mm tall and as you see in the picture below, the bottom-most fin being 68mm above the CPU socket. The heatsink has six heatpipes positioned side to side where they make direct contact with the processor and expand outward before intersecting the aluminum fins.

The saw-tooth leading edge of the fins as well as an extra 10mm thick aluminum fins section on the top of the cooler's base offer some extra cooling.

Viewed from the side, the staggered profile of the Siberia heatsink allows a large footprint (149x146mm at the top edge) to clear adjacent board components below.

The nickel plated copper base of the Glacialtech Siberia heatsink measures just 30x40mm in size and soldered to the six copper heatpipes.

Below you see the nickel plated copper base of Glacialtech's Siberia heatsink, which has a sanded finish and it is flat:

- Installation

The Glacialtech Siberia heatsink ships with three different rear motherboard support brackets for the Intel socket 775/1155/1156 mounting brackets as well as the AM2/AM3 platforms only. It is recommended to take the motherboard out before installing the cooler, since it requires a backplate installation. The cooler screws into place with spring tensioned collared screws.

Although the Siberia heatsink allows a large footprint (149x146mm at the top edge) to clear adjacent board components below, it may interfere with your installed memory modules, especially if they feature any heatsink:

Above you see the Siberia heatsink spinning in dark, but we are not sure that the selected lightning effect contributes to an overall "cool" look. Of course, this is just our opinion :)

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9. Prolimatech Super Mega

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Manufacturer	Prolimatech
Model	Super Mega
Price	$85
Category

ProlimaTech, the company behind the award-winning Megahalems heatsink, has released the ProlimaTech Super-Mega heatsink for Intel CPUs. The device comes with not any fan installed and uses a dense array of aluminum and copper fins which are split down the middle to form two separate heatsink halves. Six heat-pipe rods span to each side and offer twelve total cooling ends:

- Features

• Copper and Aluminum Hybrid for best heat collection and dissipation ratio.
• Copper fins are strategically positioned for better heat dissipation.
• Top fin made of scratch-resistant stainless steel to preserve shine.
• Minimal air resistance between fins allowing best balance between noise and performance for fans in the range of   800-1200RPM. For all out performance, fan RPM at 1600 or above is recommended.
• Vertically adjustable 120/140 mm universal fan clips redesigned for better installation compatibility.
• The Black screws are included to provide extra pressure for better contact with CPU and heatsink.

- Specifications

- Retail package

The Prolimatech Super Mega is packaged in an elegant white box with a gold logo and the words "Prolimatech" in the top left corner, and "Super Mega" across the top. The box includes all the mounting hardware, thermal paste, and the instruction manual.

The Prolimatech Super Mega a huge . Even with no fans, it tips the scales at almost two and a half pounds. The fins on this cooler are quite thick, definitely attributing to the weight of the Super Mega, but will allow for more heat to be stored in the cooler before backing up into the processor. The side profile shows that the cooler is relatively thin, but it makes up for it with its height and six 6mm heatpipes. However, once two 120mm or 140mm fans are added, it turns into a massive cooler in all directions

 

 

There are 45 aluminum plates stacked and pressed together on each side of the ProlimaTech Super Mega heatsink. The top fin pieces have been nickel plated and polished, and uses single-piece construction for each half.

The base of the Super Mega is incredibly flat and perfectly-finished, without any imperfection:

 

- Installation

In case you are not familiar with Prolimatech's coolers, you'd better read the manual before installing it on your Intel system. The procedure is not any difficult but there are some steps you should follow. The first step is to stick the rubber piece onto the backplate and use the four thumbscrews and "rivets" that pop into and secure the backplate. The thumbscrews are hand-tightened to snug, and then the two aluminum strip adapters attach to the top of the thumbscrews with the supplied nuts.

These are also hand-tightened to snug, which then have the main crossbar screwed in, holding the heatsink in position. There are two "barbs" sticking out of the bottom of this crossbar that fit into the top of the base, which ensures that the heatsink is in the correct position relative to the socket. The screws used to attach the crossbar are spring loaded.

Here is how your motherboard may look like with the ProlimaTech Super-Mega heatsink installed. For our tests, we also installed a Noctua NF-P12 fan (120mm).

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10. Scythe Ninja 3

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Manufacturer	Skythe
Model	Ninja 3 SCNJ-3000
Price	$55
Category

The Japan-headquartered Scythe keeps on turning out new CPU coolers. Designed for overclockers, the newest Ninja 3 is the third edition of the Ninja CPU cooler and comes along with a revised high-performance design. The huge cooler has eight u-shaped heat pipes constructed and the optimized fin structure named as M.A.P.S. (Multiple Airflow Pass-Through Structure). The airflow generated by the Scythe Slip Stream 120 PWM Adjustable fan can cool the heatsink. You can choose the fully automatic PWM feature fan speed control or alternatively adjust the PWM band range for tuning purposes.

- Features

M.A.P.S. (Multiple Airflow Pass-through Structure)
The developed M.A.P.S. (Multiple Airflow pass-through structure) is a completely new fin structure, where the airflow generated by the Scythe Slip Stream 120 PWM Adjustable fan. Ninja 3 fanless performance could be improved up to 7% compare to the former model by using the M.A.P.S. in combination with eight heatpipe high-performance design.

F.M.S.B.2 (Flip Mount Super Back-Plate 2)
Improved version of F.M.S.B (Flip Mount Super Back-Plate), the compatibility has been maximized as well as achieving the solid mounting of the cooler onto the motherboard. Scythe Ninja 3 provides broad socket compatibilities for AMD & Intel platform.

Slip Stream 120 mm PWM Adjustable
Equipped with Scythe original Slip Stream PWM 120mm PWM Adjustable fan, it allows a user to choose the fully automatic PWM feature fan speed control or alternatively adjust the PWM band range to fulfill demands from silent to high performance users.

- Specifications

Model Name:	Ninja3 CPU Cooler
Model No.:	SCNJ-3000
manufacturer:	Scythe Co., Ltd. Japan
Heatsink
Dimensions:	120 x 120 x 160mm
	4.72 x 4.72 x 6.30 in
Material of Base Plate:	Nicel-Plated Copper
Fan	Slip Stream 120 PWM Adjustable
Dimensions:	120 x 120 x 25mm
	4.72 x 4.72 x 0.98 in
Speed:	Max. Band 740 (±25%) - 1,900rpm (±10%) Min. Band 470 (±30%) - 1,340rpm (±10%)
Noise Level:	Max. Band 9.8 - 37.0 dBA Min. Band 7.05 - 27.3 dBA
Air Flow:	Max. Band 37.15 - 110.31 CFM = 63 - 187?/h Min. Band 23.0 - 76.53 CFM = 39 - 130?/h
Bearing Type:	Sleeve Bearing
Weight Included Fan:	1040g 36.38 oz

Compatibility
Intel®LGA1366 Professor Intel® Xeon® 3500 Series Intel®Core™ i7Processor Extreme Edition Series Intel®Core™ i7Processor 9xx Series
Intel®LGA1156 Professor Intel® Xeon® 3400 Series Intel®Core™ i7Processor Series Intel®Core™ i5Processor Series Intel®Core™ i3Processor Series Intel®LGA775 Professor Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor 3200 Series Dual-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor 3000 Series Intel®Core™ 2 Extreme Processor Intel®Core™ 2 Quad Processor Intel®Core™ 2 Duo Processor Intel®Core™ Duo Processor Intel®Premium® Processor Extreme Edition Intel®Premium® D Processor Intel®Premium® Processor Intel®Premium® 4 Processor Extreme Edition Supporting Hyper- Threading Technology Intel®Premium® 4 Processor Supporting Hyper-threading Technology Intel®Celeron® D Processor
AMD Socket AM3 Processor AMD Phenom™ II X4 Processor AMD Phenom™ II X3 Processor AMD Phenom™ II X2 Processor AMD Athlon™ II X4 Processor AMD Athlon™ II X3 Processor AMD Athlon™ II X2 Processor AMD Sempron™ Processor AMD Socket AM2+ Processor AMD Phenom™ II X4 Processor AMD Phenom™ X4 Processor AMD Phenom™ X3 Processor AMD Athlon™ X2 Processor AMD Socket AM2 Processor AMD Athlon™ X2 Processor AMD Athlon™ FX Processor AMD Athlon™ Processor AMD Sempron™ Processor
AMD Socket940 Processor AMD Phenom™ X3 Processor AMD Athlon™ FX Processor AMD Socket939 Processor AMD Athlon™ X2 Processor AMD Athlon™ FX Processor AMD Athlon™ Processor AMD Socket754 Processor AMD Athlon™ Processor AMD Sempron™ Processor

 

- Retail package

Everything is packaged and bundled safely in styrofoam and carton.

Below you see he accessories that come with the cooler: fans and brackets, back plates that support a wide variety of Intel 775, 1156, 1366 and AMD AM2, AM2+, AM3 processors. Also a little thermal paste is included. The fan is not pre installed as you see below and it comes with a fan controller. You can regulate the fan RPM manually from 1900 RPM downward:

The Ninja 3 heatsink is a massive 4-section tower measuring 120x120x160 millimeters at 890 grams of weight (without the fan). The four separate aluminum fin arrays are creating a lot of space and thus make room for airflow to blow away that residual heat.

The Ninja 3 absorbs the heat in the copper base and gets transferred into the first set of four, 6mm heat pipes. The heat that is taken away by the eight pipes is delivered into thirty-nine uniquely shaped aluminum fins. Scythe finishes it off with the chromed caps we see on other coolers from their lineup:

 

The minimum thickness of the base below the pipes in the bottom tier is 1.8 millimeters. The 38x38mm nickel-plated copper base is perfectly flat and ideally finished:

- Installation

The new Ninja is universal and every modern platform. It is fastened by means of the included Flip Mount Super Back-Plate 2. The Ninja 3 installs on the CPU in the same way as the new-revision Mugen 2 does. The installation is not very easy; first you you need to attach two clips on the base of the cooler. You will need to install four nuts on those clips according to the socket used by your CPU. Then you should install the backplate, which is very solid in order to hold the weight of the cooler. To install the cooler align the two mounting brackets and secure them with four nuts. It's not the most comfortable job to do as accessing these nuts with your fingers can be a problem if say the motherboard's heat sink is close and in the way.

You may also install more than one fans on the cooler, either in a push-pull configuration or in two adjacent sides of the heatsink.

 

 

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11. Scythe Rasetsu

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Manufacturer	Scythe
Model	Rasetsu
Price	$55
Category

Another cooler by Scythe, the Rasetsu, is much smaller in size than the massive Ninja 3 we previously presented. The fan included, the cooler weighs only 730 grams. The top-design Rasetsu is a low-profile cooler, which combines the design of the Yasya CPU Cooler with a top-flow layout. The newly developed T.M.L.F.(Trident Multi Layer Fin) structure provides a higher intake volume, thus enabling a more efficient use of the unparallel Six Heatpipe Construction. Equipped with new "Slip Stream 120 PWM Adjustable" fan, you can manually adjust the bandwidth between 470 to 1,370 rpm and 740 to 1,900 rpm. Rasetsu using the VTMS-Versatile Tool-Free Multiplateform System for quick and safe mounting.

- Features

V.T.M.S. (Versatile Tool-Free Multiplatform System)
Improved Version of TVMS allows multiplatform installation without any tools.

Twist Intersected pipe Structure
Twisted intersected 6 heatpipes achieved high heat transfer structure concentrated onto topflow heatsink layout.

Trident Multi Layer Fin Structure
By placing the number of triangle shaped main & supplemental heatsink fins to maximize the air intake volume, heat absorb rate from the built-in heatpipes is ideal for extreme over-clocking purposes as well as to cool the high-end multi-core CPU.

Slip Stream120 PWM Adjustable
Equipped with Scythe original Slip Stream 120PWM Adjustable fan, it allows a user to choose the fully automatic PWM feature fan speed control or alternatively adjust the PWM band range to fulfill demands from silent to high performance users.

- Specifications

Model Name:	RASETSU
Model #:	SCRT-1000
Manufacturer:	Scythe Co., Ltd. Japan
Heatsink	Dimension:	130 x 141 x 130 mm
		5.12 x 5.55 x 5.12 inch
	Weight:	730 g (Including Fan)
		25.74 oz (Including Fan)
Fan	Dimension:	120 x 120 x 25 mm
		Scythe Slip Stream PWM Adjustable
	Speed: Maximum Band	740(±25%) ~ 1,900 rpm (±25%)rpm
	Speed: Minimum Band	470(±30%) ~ 1,340 rpm (±10%)rpm
	Noise Level:Maximum Band	9.8 - 37.0 dBA
	Noise Level:Minimum Band	7.05 - 27.3 dBA
	Air Flow : Maximum Band	37.15 - 110.31 CFM
	Air Flow : Minimum Band	23.0 - 76.53 CFM
	Bearing:	Sleeve Bearing

Compatibility:
Intel® LGA1366 Processor Intel® Core™ i7 Processor Extreme Edition Series Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 9xx Series
Intel® LGA1156 Processor Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 8xx Series Intel® Core™ i5 Processor Series
Intel® LGA775 (SocketT) Processor Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor 3200 Series Dual-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor 3000 Sequence Intel® Core™2 Extreme processor Intel® Core™2 Quad processor Intel® Core™2 Duo processor Intel® Core™ Duo Processor Intel® Pentium® Processor Extreme Edition Intel® Pentium® D Processor Intel® Pentium® Processor Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor Extreme Edition supporting Hyper-Threading Technology Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor supporting Hyper-threading Technology Intel® Celeron® D Processor
Intel® Socket478 Processor Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor Extreme Edition supporting Hyper-Threading Technology Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor supporting Hyper-threading Technology Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor Intel® Celeron® D Processor Intel® Celeron® Processor
AMD Socket AM3 Processor AMD Phenom™ II X4 Processor AMD Phenom™ II X3 Processor AMD Phenom™ II X2 Processor AMD Athlon™ II X4 Processor AMD Athlon™ II X3 Processor AMD Athlon™ II X2 Processor AMD Sempron™ Processor AMD Socket AM2+ Processor AMD Phenom™ II X4 Processor AMD Phenom™ X4 Processor AMD Phenom™ X3 Processor AMD Athlon™ X2 Processor AMD Socket AM2 Processor AMD Athlon™ X2 Processor AMD Athlon™ FX Processor AMD Athlon™ Processor AMD Sempron™ Processor AMD Socket940 Processor AMD Phenom™ X3 Processor AMD Athlon™ FX Processor AMD Socket939 Processor AMD Athlon™ X2 Processor AMD Athlon™ FX Processor AMD Athlon™ Processor AMD Socket754 Processor AMD Athlon™ Processor AMD Sempron™ Processor

- Retail package

Here are the contents of the Rasetsu: The cooler itself, the mounting hardware for both AMD and Intel sockets, a small packet of performance thermal paste, and your handy man installation guide.

 

The Rasetsu combines the design of the Yasya CPU Cooler with a top-flow layout. There are two aluminum fins arrays hung on six 6mm heat pipes. The thickness of the fins is 0.35 mm and the same distance apart (1.8 mm). The Rasetsu uses the Trident Multi Layer Fin structure.

Three heat pipes are coming through each heatsink section. They cross each other intricately before entering the heatsink fins. Scythe calls this a "twisted intersected heatpipe structure" and it is supposed to achieve high heat transfer.

 

The cooler’s nickel-plated copper base measures 47 x 50 millimeters and is 2 millimeters thick. It is well-finished but not to a mirror shine:

- Installation

Rasetsu mounts quickly and easily via pushpins for Intel, or a clamp-down system for mounting on AMD boards.

 

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12. Thermaltake Jing

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Manufacturer	Thermaltake
Model	Jing CLP0574
Price	$60
Category

 

Thermaltake Jing CPU air-cooler has been specifically developed for silent operation while maintaining a maximum of cooling efficiency. Its name is derived from the Chinese, representing “Silence.” The universal socket support makes it compatible to all computer processors currently available on the market. It offers a maximum cooling capacity of up to 200W and an almost un-audible noise level of 16 dBA at a fan speed of 800 RPM.

 Unlike traditional up-side-down air flow designs, the Jing utilizes a tower side-flow design. To attain maximum cooling performance, Thermaltake’s Jing adopts 5 Φ6mm heat-pipes conducting heat from the Nickel coated mirror base directly into the cooling tower which is made of 41 0.5 mm thick specially designed aluminum fins to increase the overall thermal dissipation area. The two preinstalled extra silent 120 mm VR fans can be manually adjusted between 800RPM and 1300RPM according to differing user needs. Through their inhale-exhaust reverse fan design a greater airflow is achieved resulting in enhanced thermal performance.

By utilizing a particularly thin fan enclosure frame which is open to all four sides, noise generated by the airflow is reduced as much as any possible. Additionally a recess in the cooling fins at the entry and exit points of the airflow creates something similar to an air-cushion, giving the air an optimized angel to stream into between the cooling fins while at the same time reducing noise development even further.

good, well designed, two fans, 6 heatpipes, accessories, u-shape tower, well organized accessories, backplate installation (remove fans first, clipped fans)

- Features

Optimal cooling performance:

• Large Aluminum fins with five Φ6 heat-pipes offers good cooling capacity. It supports to OC 4.0G in i7 CPU.
• All nickel plated fins, copper base and heat-pipes for better heat transmission.

2 silent 120mm VR fan, adjustable speed from 800~1300RPM.

• Ultra quiet operation with 16 dBA under minimum fan speed.
• Dual unique inhale-exhaust 120mm reverse fan design generates greater air flow to enhance thermal performance.
• Vibration-absorbent gaskets decrease noise while operation.

Universal Socket Compatibility & Accessory Package

• All-in-one back-plate design for accelerated installation
• Universal support: Intel socket LGA1366/1156/1155/775 and AMD socket AM2/AM2+/AM3.
• Thermal grease maximizes heat transfer

- Specifications

Model	Jing
Compatibility	LGA 1366 Core i7 LGA 1156 Core i7 Core i5 Core i3 LGA 775 Core 2 Extreme Core 2 Quad Core 2 Duo Pentium D Pentium 4 Pentium Celeron D Celeron AM3 Phenom II X6 Phenom II X4 Phenom II X3 Phenom II X2 AM2+ / AM2 Phenom X4 Phenom X3 Athlon 64 FX Athlon 64 X2 Athlon 64 Sempron
Dimension	131(L) x 123(W) x 162(H) (with 2 Fans)
P/N	CLP0574
Heatpipe	6mm x 5PCS
Rated Voltage	12 V
Rated Current	0.2A
Started Voltage	6 V
Power Input	2.4W
Fan Speed	800 ~ 1300 RPM
Max. Air Flow	42 CFM
Max. Air Pressure	(air in) 0.85 mmH2O (air out) 1.43 mmH2O
Noise	16 dBA(at 800RPM)
Life Expectation	50,000 hrs @ 40℃
Connector	3 Pin
Weight	920 g (with 2 Fans)

- Retail package

Inside the retail box there is a printed manual as well as a kit of hardware. All the mounting hardware come in a convenient little box. Inside there is an Intel back plate and a closable plastic box with all the mounting hardware, and a Thermal paste.

Below you see the dimensions of the cooler, with single and dual fans installed:

The fins have been constructed from aluminum, while the base and heatpipes are made from copper. This makes for a total weight of 920 grams, which is very heavy, though this is becoming typical of high-end air-cooled heatsinks.

Thermaltake is trying to maximize cooling efficiency by using five dual heatpipes that extend through a large series of aluminum fins. In total there are five copper dual heatpipes measuring 6mm in diameter that run through the copper base and up through the fins on each side of the heatsink.

Light green and grey are the colors of the cooler:

 

On the top, Thermaltake covers most of it with this lime green cover. The centre has a cut out that exposes the Thermaltake logo and Jing etching found on the top aluminum fin.

The dual 120mm lime green fans each feature their own voltage regulator designed to adjust the speed anywhere from 800 to 1300 RPM. In push-pull configuration, the one fan is used to push air through the heatsink, the other is designed to suck it out.

The copper base is for the most part flat. The nickel plating helps to smooth out the imperfections, but as you can see the base isn't mirror like in any way.

- Installation

Due to the pre-installed dual 120mm fans, getting access to them for installation is difficult as they cover the socket area entirely. So it's better to remove both fans before installation. Then use the "T-Mounting bars" to the base of the heatsink, which allows it to be secured to the mounting bracket.

Bundled with the package is the universal back plate, which is designed to work with the supported AMD and Intel platforms. A set of four long screws is next secured to the back plate using four plastic spacing nuts. Then either the Intel or AMD mounting bars are put in place and secured using four steel nuts.

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13. Titan Fenrir Evo

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Manufacturer	Titan
Model	Fenrir Evo TTC-NK85TZ/CS2(RB)
Price	$55
Category

Succeeding to the TITAN heatpipe CPU cooler, FENRIR, the EVO version carries forward its superior performance of targeting 160W TDP. Compare with the 1st version, the FENRIR EVO, features a powerful fan with nine kukri-shaped blades for maintaining a lower noise level at 15dBA only. It is highly recommended to the gamers looking for overclocking potential and an improved hushed operation. The all-in-one socket support is compatible with most Intel and AMD systems.

The FENRIR EVO utilizes plating technology to create dual-color gradation of heatsink allowing you to build your own cooling platform.

The EVO uses the same basic principles that made the Fenrir model great, while adding a slick new color scheme and upgraded fan.

The Fenrir uses large aluminum finned array design with four 8mm thick heatpipes that make direct contact with the CPU. The direct contact design transfers heat more efficiently to the finned array, which allows the heatsink to dissipate heat even faster than a standard design.

The new look of the Fenrir EVO is definitely eye catching:

- Features

• 4 x 8mm heatpipes with Heat Pipe Direct Contact feature: for rapider heat conductivity.
• 12cm ultra-silent fan with nine kukri-shaped blades: compare with the 1st version, the  newly revamped fan is perfect for comprehensive cooling capacity and  noiseless operation at 15 dBA only.
• PWM intelligent fan controller: provides an excellent balance between high and low speed.
• High density fin design: large surface for heat dissipation while overclocking.　
• All-in-one socket support: compatible with Intel LGA 775/LGA1156/LGA1366 and AMD K8/AM2/AM2+/AM3 systems.

CPU Support

For AMD K8/AM2/AM2+/AM3 ‧AMD Phenom™ II X6 Black Edition 1090T ‧AMD Phenom™ II X6 1055T ‧AMD Phenom™ II X4 805~965/B93~B95/900e~905e ‧AMD Phenom™ II X3 710~720/700e~705e/B73~B75 ‧AMD Phenom™ II X2 545~555/B53~B55 ‧AMD Athlon™ II X4 620~635/600e~605e ‧AMD Athlon™ II X3 425~440/400e~405e ‧AMD Athlon™ II X2 215~255/235e~240e/B22~B24/250u~260u ‧AMD Phenom™ X4 9500~9950/9100e~9450e ‧AMD Phenom™ X3 8450~8750/8250e~8450e ‧AMD Athlon™ X2 up to 6400+/7850/BE-2400/5050e ‧AMD Athlon™ 64 up to 4000+/LE-1640 ‧AMD Athlon™ 64 FX up to FX-62 ‧AMD Sempron™ up to 3800+/140/LE-1300 ‧Quad-Core AMD Opteron™ up to 1389/1224SE/1218HE For Intel LGA 1366 ‧ Core™ i7 i7-920~i7-960 ‧ Core™ i7 Extreme Edition i7-960~i7-980X For Intel LGA 1156 ‧ Core™ i7 i7-860~i7-870 ‧ Core™ i5 i5-680~i5-760/i5-750S/i5-655K ‧ Core™ i3-530~i3-560 For Intel LGA 775 ‧ Core2 Duo up to～E8600 ‧ Core2 Extreme up to～QX9770/X6800 ‧ Core2 Quad up to～Q9650 ‧ Pentium D up to～960 ‧ Pentium Dual Core up to～E6500/E6500K ‧ Pentium Extreme up to～965 ‧ Pentium 4 up to～672 ‧ Pentium 4 Extreme up to～3.73G Hz ‧ Celeron up to～365/E3300

Specifications

Outline Dimension Fan Dimension Rated Voltage Rated Current Power Consumption Rated Speed Airflow Static Pressure Noise Level Connector Bearing Type Life Time 124 x 107 x 160 mm 120 x 120 x 25 mm 12V DC 0.32A 3.84W 800~2200 ± 10%RPM 24.23~66.62 CFM 0.02~0.14 InchH₂O <15~<35dBA 4-PIN PWM function Z-AXIS 60,000 Hours

- Retail package

The Titan Fenrir EVO comes packaged in a retail blister package with a portion of the fan showing out of the front.

The package includes plates for any AMD mounting as well as for Intel LGA775/LGA1366/LGA1156 mountings. Additionally, Titan also included thermal grease and a 4-pin to 3-pin power adapter.

The Titan Fenrir EVO is nearly identical to its predecessor, except for the black and gold color scheme. The heatsink comes with a large aluminum finned array and four copper heatpipes connecting the base to the array.

The Fenrir EVO is made from the same arrangement of fins and heat pipes as the other two are, no major changes in the basics. Where the EVO differs is in the color scheme most obviously. This time you will find a layer of twenty-two black fins stacked on top of ten gold fins, and then both of those are stacked above twenty more black fins. These fifty-two aluminum fins are all press fit onto the four, 8mm heat pipes. The "U" shaped heat pipes are held in place with an aluminum base plate that allows the pipes to make direct contact with the processors.

Titan has armed the Fenrir EVO with a TFD-12025H12ZP, 120mm fan. Now, this fan can attain speeds of 2200 RPM and deliver up to 62 CFM of airflow. While doing all this, Titan says that it can accomplish both of these at a measly 15 dBA.

When looking at the base you can see that Titan has gone to great lengths to ensure the base is as flat as possible. This will ensure better contact with the processor, which will improve the overall cooling performance.

- Installation

To install the Fenrir EVO on an LGA 1366 socket, you first secure the back-plate though the motherboard. Align the back plate through the holes as well as the metal clip to the screws.Next up, secure the heatsink in place with the thumbscrews.

After the heatsink is secured to the motherboard, the last thing to do is secure the fan to the finned array, and attach the 4-pin power connector to a power source.

 

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14. How we test

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Here is our test bed:

• CPU: Intel Core7-920 Retail
• Case: Open Air testbed
• Motherboard: Asus P6T Deluxe Bios 1403
• Memory: 3x1GB Crucial PC3-1066
• PSU: OCZ 720W
• HDD: WD 80JB
• Operating system Windows XP with all the latest updates installed
• Software: OCCT v2.0.1 & CoreTemp 0.99.3
• Thermal Paste: Tuniq TX-2
• Idle time: ~30min
• Load time: ~30min
• RPM speed controllable via SmartFan BIOS or via external hardware controller

We produced the highest possible temperature using the OCCT v2.0.1 software with a custom 30mins (mixed) operation:

We left both cores of our Intel Core i7-920 running at full load for ~30 minutes. The temperatures were logged using the CoreTemp 0.99.3 and the software itself. We took two measurements with our CPU running at stock speed and with then under overclocking:

• Intel Core i7-920 @ 2.66GHz
• Vcore: 1.1000V
• Other BIOS values: Auto

• Intel Core i7-920 @ 3.60GHz
• Vcore: 1.26250V
• DDR3 Voltage: 1.66V
• Other BIOS values: Auto

The sound measurements were logged using the Precision Gold N09AQ Environment Meter. All the measurements were taken at a 30cm distance from the cpu cooler, with its fan spinning at full speed. For all the coolers appearing in the comparison charts we used the thermal compound, the Tuniq TX-2. As a last note, we remind you that these measurements may slightly differ from any possible measurements you may have, even if you are using the same testing configuration.

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15. Measurements

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We start with the temperature measurements with our system (Intel Core i7-920) running at stock voltage - which is already producing enough heat. We have gathered the results for all the coolers of this roundup in the following graphs. For the first graph, the coolers we tested today are colored in green. In cases where a cooler supports the PMW function, we have taken two measurements with the fan(s) spinning at their minimum RPM and their maximum RPM.

As it was expected, the AC Freezer LP11 cannot competed with the rest coolers of the test as this small heatsink has been designed for HTPC systems. The surprise here was the performance of the AC Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2, which was not as high as we expected. Galcialtech's Igloo 5751 ranks somewhere in the middle of the performance list, offering a decent cooling efficiency, while the Freezer 13, Freezer Extreme Rev.2, a single fan Alaska and the the Glacialtech Siberia are well-positioned to the rank and efficiently lowered the temperature of our CPU to around 47~48 degrees Celsius. This is also the performance you should expect from the capable Skythe Rasetsu with its single fan spinning at low speeds, as well as from the double-fan Thermaltake Jing coolers.

It is also obvious that in order to have a more efficient cooling you 'd better chose a model among the Scythe Rasetsu (High Speed RPM), the great Skythe Ninja 3 , the Prolimatech SuperMega - even with a single fan installed as well as a 2-fan configuration for the Glacialtech Alaska. All these coolers kept the temperature of our test CPu down to 45 degrees C.

The stock speed of the Core-i7 920 is not very demanding for the Scythe Ninja 3 (High RPM) and the Prolimatech SuperMega (dual-fan), as these two heatsinks are listed at the top-three coolers we have tested so far.

The next step is to overclock the CPU to 3.60GHz. Here are the results for each cooler:

Overclocking the Core-i7 920 to 3.6 GHz make things harder for all the coolers. According to the above graph, the best performance among the coolers of this roundup comes from a dual-fan Prolimatech SuperMega cooler, the Titan Fenrin EVO as well as the Scythe Ninja 3 (High RPM).

Noise levels are illustrated below:

And of course, here are the retail prices for each cooler:

Price wise, the Scythe Rasetsu is a great deal for its performance, as well as the Scythe Ninja 3. The Arctic Cooling Freezer Extreme Rev2 could be a little bit cheaper, while the Thermaltake Jing is a little bit pricey but definitely worth's the extra spend as it comes with 2 fans. A Prolimatech's Super Mega would cost you a lot more but that's the deal when it comes with strong and efficient coolers.

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16. Summary

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Let's summarize which cpu coolers we tested in this roundup:

• Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro 7: A budget ($33) but not very capable cooler. It supports Intel LGA1366/1156/775 and AMD Socket AM3/AM2+/AM2/939 and can be easily installed, as long as you pay some attention to the manual. It is also very quiet even at full RPM, although its performance is highly dependant on the selected RPM, and dropping the fan speed results to a fall in the cooling performance. The cooler could not cope with our overclocked Core i7 920 CPU and performed close to Intel's stock cooling solution. Backed by a long warranty.

 

• Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 : An improved version of the Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro 7, stronger under overclocking and still a low budget solution. The cooler's 92mm PWM controlled fan is quiet and will performed pretty well, contributing to a nice performance for its category even under overclocking. The installation is a breeze and does not require any complex procedures, components, or even rear access to the motherboard. However, the structure of the mounting mechanism is a little bit elegant. Although it is not a top performer when compared to high end heatsinks, it offers a great value for money.

 

• Arctic Cooling Freezer Extreme Rev 2: A huge in size product designed for mainstream users. Thanks to the use of push-pins and pre-applied thermal paste, the installation process couldn't’t be simpler so the Freezer Xtreme.  Although there is no provision for adding further fans or even replacing the original fan with a different model, the cooler's fan is extremely quiet. Although it is larger than the Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 , it performed equally under stock CPU clocks and also a little bit less efficiently under overclocking. Still a good performer, it is a little bit overpriced for its performance, and the Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 should be considered as a better deal.

 

• Arctic Cooling Freezer LP 11: A low-profile CPU cooler designed for very slim or HTPC cases. It features a 92mm PWM controlled fan that is very quiet in operation, . The mounting included with this cooler was a very simple. Although we tested it on a demanding CPU, it could shave a few degrees off of your CPU temperatures under load for a rather mild investment.

 

• Glacialtech Alaska: With the MSRP of $50 the GlacialTech Alaska is in the upper midrange cooling price point. It is also performing in that range as well, even under overclocking. The reaches the performance of more expensive solutions by adding a second fan. We would like to see a more quiet fan, especially when spinning at full speed. Backed by an 1-year warranty only.

 

• Glacialtech Igloo 5751: An affordable CPU cooler positioned at the lower midrange performance ranking. Compatible with Intel /AMD sockets, it can be installed easily using standard procedures. It generally operates quietly and will perform decently at stock speeds. Under overclocking the cooler is better than a stock solution and its performance is generally higher than to what you should expect from a $35 solution.

• Glacialtech Siberia: A very good heatsink offering moderately quiet cooling. Standing less than 125mm tall, it fit in small cases. Its performance was good even under overclocking scenarios, and priced at $44, the heatsink ranks well in the mainstream segment.

 

• Prolimatech Super Mega: A high-end and very capable cooler designed for enthusiasts but also retails at a hefty price. Out of the box, this cooler is only compatible with Intel 775/1156/1366 processors, however a separate mounting bracket should become available for the more recent AMD sockets. No fan is bundled with the package so you 'll have to supply the fans on your own, adding to the overall cost. The cooler is very efficient and will keep your CPU's temperature down, no matter if you have overclocked it. It will further offer a top performance if you add a second fan. A great heatsink for serious overclockers that have no problem spending more money on their PC components.

• Scythe Ninja 3: A great and properly-priced cooler for mainstream users. Offering a good balance in-between noise and performance, Scythe Ninja 3 delivered a cooling efficiency on par with performance to enthusiast class cooling. It can be easily installed and will have plenty of reserve for your overclocks.

 

• Scythe Rasetsu: A light, efficient performance-class heatsink that is moderately loud with its fan at default speed. It can be easily installed and will offer the performance of a Scythe Ninja 3 when its fan is set to high RPM, although it will cost you a little less.

 

• Thermaltake Jing: A stylish, well-built and decent cooler that will offer a mid-range performance. Silent enough, it comes with a great bundle and can be easily installed to your system. However, its price is higher than what we would like to see for this kind of performance.

 

• Titan Fenrir Evo: The Titan Fenrir EVO offers all of the high performance of its predecessor (Fenrin), but the changes made consist of a cosmetic adjustment and a new fan. The cooler is a good performer under overclocking , its fan spins quietly and it retails for about $45. A good deal if you need to upgrade from an existing Fenrir.

Although the majority of the coolers of this test performed pretty well, some of them worth a little bit more attention - each of them for a different reason. So we decided to reward them accordingly: