The progress made in the design and implementation of CPU coolers over the last few years has been little short of amazing. While both Intel and AMD provide perfectly adequate coolers with their boxed retail CPUs, enthusiasts will want to consider a third-party CPU cooler for their rigs from both performance and styling standpoints. Overclocking your CPU mandates something better than the stock cooler, and if you've a windowed case, looks don't hurt either. Cooler Master was founded to produce advanced cooling products, and in this review Benchmark Reviews looks at the latest in their line of "V" coolers, the Cooler Master V6GT (model RR-V6GT-22PK-R1).

The factor many car buyers consider most important, studies have shown, is styling- whether the person being asked will admit it or not. Practicality, performance, and even price are secondary considerations. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does point out how important styling is in many people's purchase decisions. Especially in a crowded marketplace, styling can help distinguish one product from its competitors. Thermaltake's new Frio CLP0564 CPU Cooler makes a bold styling statement, but can it back it up with performance? Benchmark Reviews puts this cooler through the paces with an overclocked and overvolted Core i7-920 processor to find out.

The stock cooler included with retail-packaged CPUs represents the manufacturer's best efforts to provide a cooler that will keep the processor within its temperature limits at stock clock speeds, all for the lowest cost. But if you want to overclock your system, you're going to need an aftermarket cooler. The ideal cooler would be inexpensive, quiet, easy to install, and keep your CPU icy cold under all loads and conditions. But of course, in the real world it's always a balancing act among these various parameters. CoolIT Systems' new ECO A.L.C. ECO-R120 CPU cooler aims to balance these requirements by offering an easy-to-install sealed liquid cooling system for your CPU. Using both stock and high-speed fans, Benchmark Reviews compares it to the top air coolers and the Corsair H50 liquid cooling system on an overclocked and overvolted Intel Core i7-920 processor.

The aftermarket heatsink industry is very competitive, and manufacturers often release several product designs before finally scoring a win with enthusiasts and overclockers. The Megahalems was ProlimaTech's first run at CPU-cooler's, and a very sucessful one at that. Earning our Editor's Choice Award and countless accolades from other websites, ProlimaTech has built high expectations with their follow-up products. The ProlimaTech Armageddon is one such cooling solution with a legacy to fill, and with six heatpipes and enough finsink area for two 140mm fans it seems a reasonable possability. Benchmark Reviews recently tested the ProlimaTech Armageddon heatsink in our Best CPU Cooler Performance series, on an overclocked Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition processor against several other top CPU coolers.

Overclockers demand only the best performance from their computer hardware, which is why the aftermarket heatsink industry is thriving with competition. Using both the overclocked 140W AMD Phenom-II X4-965 BE and six-core Gulftown Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition processors, Benchmark Reviews tests several new thermal solutions for our Best CPU Cooler Performance Intel/AMD Q1-2010 article. Notable entries include the ProlimaTech Armageddon, Cogage Arrow, Noctua NH-D14, Thermalright Venomous-X, and Zalman CNPS10X-Performa.

ProlimaTech holds the crown for best CPU cooler here at Benchmark Reviews with the Megahalems. They have also surprised a lot of review websites with their PK1 thermal compound. All of these things are a massive feat for a company that was founded just 2 years ago. It comes as no surprise that ProlimaTech have now ventured into another field within the PC enthusiast market: VGA cooling. Introducing the MK-13 VGA cooler, ProlimaTech's first entry into what is a steadily growing market, Weighing in at 555g it's no baby, and has six heatpipes to transfer heat to the uniquely designed heatsink fins. The ProlimaTech MK-13 comes with nearly universal compatibility and future proofing for video cards. Many consider Thermalright to hold the crown here, but I get the feeling that ProlimaTech won't settle for second best. Join me as Benchmark Reviews examines and tests the ProlimaTech MK-13.

AMD Phenom II Black Edition CPU's have been a popular choice for enthusiasts and budget-conscious overclockers lately, and Benchmark Reviews decided it was time to focus on AMD in one of our Best CPU Cooler Performance series. In this preview article, Benchmark Reviews tests several CPU coolers on the AM3 socket for the AMD Phenom-II platform. An overclocked AMD Phenom II X4 965 "Black Edition" processor was used (original 140W version), and given a heart-warming 1.55 volts to the vCore so it could reach 4000MHz (4GHz) stable. The heat produced at 1.55V caused at least one product to earn high marks in our tests, while another fell so far below respectible performance that it pains us to expose it.

Too much attention is paid to the CPU when we discuss aftermarket coolers, maybe because removing the VGA cooler can void the warranty on some graphics cards, or maybe because we take for granted the cooler placed on video cards by the vendor. Unfortunately the truth is that most stock VGA coolers don't perform very well. So now we need a solution - The Xigmatek BiFrost VD1065 - Xigmatek's first 5-piece 6mm Heatpipe Direct Touch VGA cooler product. It occupies two expansion slots, but at the same time gives extreme performance. Ximatek adds two powerful 100mm Fans to accomplish the "Perfect Product", and plate it with black nickel and utilise two transparent fans so as to become one of the spotlights in your PC-System. With the marketing speak out of the way, we'll move on to what it takes to make or break this product - real world testing. We all know H.D.T. works well for multi-core processors with heat spreaders, join Benchmark Reviews as we test the Xigmatek Bifrost and see what it can do for your exposed GPU die.