The OCZ Gladiator Max is not an impressive product in terms of performance. The cooler performed decently and replacing your Intel stock cooler with it definitely makes sense considering its low retail price, which is its obvious advantage against the competition.

The cooler is well-balanced to offer performance and low noise levels even under demanding cooling conditions.

Of course, its retail package does not include many goodies and OCZ is offering the essential, keeping the retail price down.

The Gladiator Max can be easily installed without needing to remove the motherboard from the pc case. The printed manual had easy-to-understand instructions and in few minutes you will have everything ready.

So we have to do here with a properly priced CPU cooler and a good candidate solution for your overclocked PC system, especially if the noise coming out your PC case is already disturbing you.

Retail package
Design
Motherboard compatibility
Installation time
Copper Base quality

Pros:

+ Works with both AMD/Intel platforms
+ Includes thermal paste
+ Will fit in most midi cases
+ Very good compatibility due to high placed of the aluminum fins
+ Aluminum fins are not sharp
+ Good performance in noise level tests

Cons:

- Included 120mm rotating fan doesn't help the product get a high rank in thermal tests
- Too bad we can't a second 120mm fan and further increase performance