October 08 2009



Overclockers and performance enthusiasts both share the same desire to cool their processor with the best possible hardware solution, but they each have different needs. The Benchmark Reviews test lab is rife with cooling products, ranging from silent low-profile to full-size tower coolers. The purpose of this series is to measure products for the best cooling performance in both stock and overclocked forms. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests a new collection of LGA1366 coolers against a set of battle-proven products like the Prolimatech Megahalems, Xigmatek Thor's Hammer, and Thermalright TRUE, in search of the Best CPU Cooler Performance LGA1366 Q3 - 2009. Unlike the last quarterly report, there's a new name for enthusiasts and overclockers to remember in this roundup.

When it comes down to it, those consumers shopping for aftermarket cooling products only want one thing out of them: the very best cooling performance possible. Short of dangerous dry ice and liquid nitrogen (LN) cooling, air cooling has become the most popular means to control overclocked processor temperatures. Since new products flood the market almost weekly, it usually all comes down to price and performance. Based on this principle, Benchmark Reviews searches out the latest CPU coolers and tests them under real-world overclocked conditions. Want to know which cooling products stand-out? This quarterly update to our Best CPU Cooler Performance series will separate the good from the bad... but we also find those products that are truly exceptional and deserving of your high-power hardware projects.

Benchmark Reviews strives to offer the overclocker and hardware enthusiast community solid evidence reflecting the true performance of computer products through rigorous testing and evaluation. I personally understand that many of the readers who visit Benchmark Reviews have been involved with other community websites for several years, and therefore take our test results personally. So now that our test process has been reworked, we have collected the most complete source of benchmark results possible and gathered in a controlled environment. The purpose of this sixth article from our quarterly series is to document performance and declare the best CPU coolers available for the LGA1366 socket as of Q3 2009.

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