Tom's Hardware Guide Processors: 10 Mammouth CPU Coolers: Size Does Matter - Conclusion

Tom's Hardware Guide Processors: 10 Mammouth CPU Coolers: Size Does Matter - Conclusion:

Conclusion

The Vanessa (L-Type) by Titan stands out, for its particularly good cooling capacity and extravagant design features. The Sonic Tower by Thermaltake also boasts an impressive cooling capacity, and if passive operation isn't feasible, an optional 120 mm fan can be added, albeit at an additional cost.

If you don't have a lot of space in your computer, the CNPS7700 Cu from Zalman is a good option, offering good cooling capacity with minimal noise emission at a reasonable price. Athlon XP users would do well to go for NorthQ's NQ 3312 model: it can be installed even on Socket A motherboards without retention module holes.

The losers in this test were the Vortex TX from Cooler Master and the StarIce from Asus. In both cases, either the cooling capacity was too low or the noise level was too high.