AeroCool HT-102

HT-102
$54.99
AeroCool
www.aerocool.us
Compatibility: AMD A/754; Intel 478/LGA775
CPUs: 4

AeroCool’s all-copper heatsink is huge and blocky, but at 92mm, the cooling fan is one of the smallest in this roundup. The fan is an eye-catcher, thanks to four built-in blue LEDs, but AeroCool missed an opportunity here to make the heatsink truly flashy. The blue acrylic case that surrounds the heatsink fins (and secures the fan to the heatsink) would look stunning with some built-in LEDs.

If you have tall DIMMs, such as the Corsair Dominator memory that we plugged into our test system, you’ll find that you need to remove the memory before you attach the fan to the heatsink. You can install the heatsink itself without removing the memory, but the DIMMs will block the screwdriver when you attach the fan. Overall, this is a strong heatsink that offers solid performance for the price, whether you’re overclocking or not.

Asus Silent Knight

Silent Knight
$59.99
Asus
usa.asus.com
Compatibility: AMD 939/940/AM2; Intel LGA775
CPUs: 4

If you’re looking for a complete fan/heatsink package that offers great overclocking and has a little bling, this is the heatsink for you. The copper fins and unusual shape give the Silent Knight plenty of attitude, and the 92mm blue LED in the fan in the center of the device adds just a touch of light.

As with the Thermaltake V1, the Silent Knight pulls air through half of the fins and then pushes the air through the other half. Heatpipes lift the fins well off the copper base so that the air flows directly toward your exhaust fan. We found that setting up the heatsink is easy enough, thanks to a bracket latch that you can press with your thumb. We’re glad that the installation is easy, because the thick instruction book devotes only four pages to English instructions and tiny diagrams.

The Silent Knight is as cool as its name. It provided low temps under load and let us overclock the processor to just under the Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme’s top clock speed. Our test system produced some great benchmark scores with the heatsink attached, including a 3DMark06 score of 12647. What makes this system a really good deal is its price for the performance.

Cooler Master GeminII

GeminII
$39.99
Cooler Master
www.coolermaster-usa.com
Compatibility: AMD 754/939/AM2; Intel LGA775
CPUs: 3.5

If looks are as important to you as performance, have we got the heatsink for you. The GeminII isn’t the best performer in this bunch, but it is far and away the best-looking heatsink—and that’s before you mount the LED fans of your choice. Unlike many new heatsinks, which generally stand their fans vertically to shuffle the hot air toward your PC’s exhaust fan, the GeminII requires two horizontal 120mm fans. That’s right, two giant fans, stretching from the rear of your case right up to the back of your optical drives.

Cooler Master sent us two LED Silent Fan TLF-S12-EB fans that have blue LEDs. We attached them to the heatsink’s rails and then slid them into position so they didn’t touch any other components (not surprisingly, there was very little wiggle room). Next, we fired up our PC and spent some time admiring the bright-blue pouring out the side panel window. Did we mention that this heatsink looks good?

Each of the TLF-S12-EBs spins at only 1,200rpm, but they offer air flow of 42.7 CFM apiece. Oddly, the test PC provided a lower 3DMark06 score than we expected but scored well in F.E.A.R., overclocked fine, and handled Prime95 without incident. If you go to LAN parties and don’t mind removing the heatsink whenever you need to yank out the RAM, you’ll have some serious fun with the GeminII.

Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme

Ultra-120 eXtreme
$59.95
Thermalright
www.thermalright.com
Compatibility: AMD AM2; Intel LGA775
CPUs: 4.5

You can’t judge a heatsink by its metal, apparently. When the engineering sample of the Ultra-120 eXtreme (which should be available by the time you read this) hit our desk, we immediately noticed that it had aluminum fins. Copper is widely accepted as the better heatsink material, but this particular heatsink handles heat better than any of the copper beasts in this roundup.

We suspect that the Ultra-120 eXtreme owes much of its cooling ability to its six horseshoe-shaped heatpipes. The heatsink has a great mounting setup that includes a backplate, a collapsible bracket, and four spring-loaded screws. Thanks to this setup and the heatsink’s slim body, we were able to install the heatsink easily and quickly.

Once you’ve installed the heatsink, you’ll need to use the included wire brackets to attach a fan. Here, we ran into an interesting problem: We wanted to install Silverstone’s high-powered FM121, but the heatsink bracket didn’t support the fan. (Hint: if your fan attaches via long screws rather than the traditional short, fat screws, it won’t support the Ultra-120 eXtreme.) Instead, we opted for Cooler Master’s TLF-S12-EB, which worked out well. The Ultra-120 eXtreme proceeded to provide the best temperatures and the highest overclock in this roundup.

Thermaltake V1

V1
$62
Thermaltake
www.thermaltakeusa.com
Compatibility: AMD 754/939/AM2; Intel LGA775
CPUs: 4

Those of us who like the push-clips that secure Intel stock coolers will like the Thermaltake V1’s installation setup. You can snap the four push clips into the motherboard holes with your thumb and without installing a backplate. That’s helpful if you’re replacing a heatsink that has a similar attachment method; you won’t need to remove the motherboard when you swap heatsinks. The heatsink installs quickly and sits firmly on the processor.

We like the V’s design. Two V-shaped sets of fins sandwich a 110mm blue LED fan. The fan has a max speed rating of 2,000rpm (though the mobo sensors reported that it ran at about 2,100rpm), and it has a tiny fan controller that easily slips through an open space in your I/O slot so you can slow the fan or crank it up without opening the case. That said, this feature is almost unnecessary—the fan isn’t very loud when at max speed.

The V1 kicked off our testing with a bang, providing some of the lowest under-load temps we saw during the testing process. Although the test system couldn’t quite hit 3.4GHz (it topped out at 3.35GHz and insisted on a Vcore voltage of 1.5V), the heatsink provided great cooling. The test system also scored well in 3DMark06 with the V1 attached. Don’t overlook this solid heatsink.

Zalman CNPS9700 LED

CNPS9700 LED
$79.95
Zalman
www.zalmanusa.com
Compatibility: AMD 754/939/940/AM2
CPUs: 4

Zalman’s elegant heatsink designs are well-known, so it’s no surprise to see that the CNPS9700 LED’s power is masked by its delicate features. The heatsink is a fan of super-thin copper fins that creates a doughnut shape around the 110mm blue LED fan. Unlike the other heatsinks, which force air through their fins, the CNPS9700 LED sits at the back of the heatsink and pulls air through the fins, then forces it toward the PC’s exhaust fan.

We expected this setup to make for a particularly silent heatsink, but thanks to the 2,800rpm fan, we were able to hear the heatsink loud and clear during testing. It’s not loud enough to distract you when you play games or listen to music, but if you want to work in a quiet room, you’ll want to use a fan controller. Our review unit’s box listed the FAN MATE 2 Fan Speed Controller as an included component, but the device was not in the box.

Noise issues aside, the heatsink performs well and installs easily. A bracket uses four screws to secure the backplate, and a metal bridge screws into the bracket to hold the base of the heatsink in place. Once you’ve secured this bridge to the bracket, the heatsink is rock-solid.

If you tend to root for the underdog, this roundup is your kind of happy story. We took one look at Thermalright’s aluminum heatsink and figured it would make a great, geeky paperweight. Instead, it provided the best cooling and best benchmark scores, all with a fan that spins at a less-than-thrilling 1,200rpm. Of course, there are several great buys here, including the Asus Silent Knight, which has more copper surface than you can shake a stick at. Overall, now’s a great time to treat yourself to a cooling upgrade.

Scythe Katana 2

Katana 2
$32
Scythe
www.scythe-usa.com
Compatibility: AMD 754/939/940/AM2; Intel LGA755
CPUs: 3

The first thing we noticed about the Scythe Katana 2 is that it doesn’t have an LED fan. We don’t have any problems with some system bling, but the Katana 2’s noticeable lack of lights made it a breath of fresh (but, sadly, very hot) air in this super-shiny roundup.

The blocky Katana 2 has a copper base, but the rest of the heatsink is aluminum, which accounts for the low price tag. The fins angle downward, which means the air will also wash over some components, such as the I/O panel, on the way out of the system. Thanks to the heatsink’s thumb clips, you can attach it without removing the mobo. If you don’t want to blow the air toward the back of the computer, you can easily install the heatsink so that it blows in a different direction.

The Katana 2 provided some of the highest under-load temps in the roundup, and our system couldn’t even make the baseline overclock of 3.2GHz (it crashed at anything beyond 3.1GHz). That’s not a terrible performance—after all, we’re pushing a 130W processor beyond its default settings—but it didn’t compare to most of this roundup’s competitors.

SilverStone Nitrogen NT06-Lite

Nitrogen NT06-Lite
$49.99
SilverStone
www.silverstonetek.com
Compatibility: AMD 754/939/940/AM2; Intel 478/LGA775
CPUs: 2.5

If you’ve already checked out the Nitrogen NT06-Lite’s performance in this article’s chart, you’re probably just about ready to skip over this heatsink. But there’s more to this heatsink than the numbers, and we suspect you’ll be more interested in it once you learn about its dual purpose.

It’s true, the heatsink couldn’t top 2.8GHz, which is the same overclock that Intel’s stock cooler provided. But if you buy a nonretail CPU and need a heatsink (and if you don’t plan to OC the processor), the NT06-Lite may fit the bill. It has a low profile, which makes it a solid choice for cramped systems. The heatsink doesn’t include a fan by default, so SilverStone sent us its 120mm FM121 ($13.99), which offers a max airflow of 110.03CFM and speed of 2,400rpm.

The heatsink can also operate without a fan if you put it into Silverstone’s SUGO SFF series cases. The heatsink sits directly below the PSU fan, which makes it a great component for someone using this SFF case (the second part of its dual purpose). That said, it’s not a serious overclocker.

by Joshua Gulick

View the chart that accompanies this article.
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