The Thermaltake Big Typhoon is known for being one of the top-performing air coolers out there. Now Thermaltake has released a smaller, lighter cooler called the Mini Typhoon which is is supposed to offer the best features of the Big Typhoon at a fraction of the cost. Can six heatpipes and a 92mm fan keep your CPU cool?

Pentagram has been a leading supplier of communication products for the european market in the last years. Now they are entering the CPU heatsink business with a load of new products. The NXC 100-Cu heatsink uses the proven "flower" design in an all-copper approach. The cooler supports all current CPU sockets and comes with an easy to use fan controller.

Japanese heatsink manufacturer Scythe has engineered a nice heatsink with the Samurai Z. It includes mounting accessories for Socket 478, 775, 754, 939 and 940. On all these platforms installation is very easy and can be performed without any tools. While the cooler can not offer the cooling performance of behemoth coolers, it can keep up well with the heat load of our test setup. In addition to that it is remarkably quiet.

Artic Cooling is famous for their video card coolers, but they offer more. The Freezer 64 Pro is the latest addition to their CPU coolers. Clever routing of airflow cools the motherboard voltage circuitry. Another good idea is that the fan is mounted on rubber posts which absorb any vibration caused by the fan. During our testing we learn that the Freezer 64 Pro can not only deliver solid cooling performance but does so without creating a lot of noise.

Under-hyped or Overrated? The Zalman CNPS 9500 LED is Zalman's newest addition to their top of the line air coolers. This full-copper heatsink comes with a fan controller so you can optimize for performance or fan noise. In our testing it even beats a watercooling kit and proves that it is well worth your money. Watch as we put it to the test on the Pentium 4 Prescott 561 at 180 Watt TDP.

When you ask hardcore overclockers about companies who have the best extreme cooling gear, you can bet that Asetek is among the first mentioned. Their Vapochill Extreme Cooling Units are legendary, but come with a hefty price tag. The average user is not willing to pay that much, so Asetek has engineered the Vapochill Micro series. While the principle is the same as the Vapochill, do not expect to reach sub-zero temperatures with the Vapochill Micro, it essentially is a heatpipe cooler, just with some very clever ideas. Asetek's experience in designing high-performance cooling units sure has helped here.

Thermaltake has recently released the Golden Orb II. Now they have the Blue Orb II. This cooler is a good deal bigger than its golden brother, which results in seriously improved cooling performance. Also the fan seems to have been improved - cools better, but not much louder.

Quite some time ago Thermaltake produced the Golden Orb CPU Cooler. Now the successor Golden Orb II is released for Socket939 and LGA775. It features a huge heatsink with a nice looking gold-fin design and two blue LEDs which light up the cooler during operation. Is it as cool as it looks?