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.