Overclockers and performance enthusiasts share the same desire to cool their processor with the best possible hardware solution. Benchmark Reviews first tested the cooling performance on the Intel Core i7 platform in the Best CPU Cooler Performance LGA1366 - Q1 2009 article, which discovered the now-famous Prolimatech Megahalems CPU Cooler. With such a dominant hold on cooling performance, the CPU cooler industry has been slow to respond with even better products. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests a new collection of products in the Best CPU Cooler Performance LGA1366 Q2 - 2009.

Prior to our 33-Way Thermal Compound Comparison article published back in March 2008, there had not been another project of its size available online. So when Benchmark Reviews revealed our test results, it was a surprise to find that many overclockers had been ill-informed by marketing hype and misleading enthusiast opinions. Benchmark Reviews later published several other complimentary articles for performance hardware enthusiasts, offering an instructional guide on Thermal Paste Application Methods and testing for the Best CPU Cooler Performance. As the author to both of those articles, I have discovered that the most critical factors pertaining to thermal cooling performance seems to be overlooked. In this massive follow-up article, which was built from entirely new project data taking over one year of research to publish, our collection of test material has grown to include every product we could acquire from the marketplace. Benchmark Reviews has received advice of industry experts, manufacturers, and elite overclockers to bring you this comprehensive 80-Way Thermal Interface Material cooling performance comparison benchmark test.

With nearly twenty different LGA1366 kits tested in our Best CPU Cooler Performance LGA1366 - Q1 2009 article, one particular product stood out as an up-and-coming favorite. The Prolimatech Megahalems is a CPU cooler build from scratch using over twenty years of industry design experience and engineering. While the Prolimatech name is new to most enthusiasts, the look is not. Based on the successful Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme CPU cooler, Magahalems incorporates all-new engineering to correct weaknesses in the aging TRUE design. The result is astonishing, and the thermal cooling performance Benchmark Reviews received in testing was proof evident that you don't need HDT technology to be the best.

Throughout all of 2008, I made it my mission to test every high-performance CPU cooler that Benchmark Reviews received. The Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad processors did their part to separate the cream of the crop from our large collection of LGA775 coolers. In our previous Best CPU Cooler Performance article, Benchmark Reviews retired the LGA775 platform from its testing duties and made room for the up-and-coming LGA1366 socket. It didn't take long to collect several CPU coolers designed for the Intel Core i7 CPU & X58 platform. This Best CPU Cooler Performance LGA1366 - Q1 2009 article focuses on a wide selection of performance-cooling products for overclockers. It's a mistake to think that any LGA775 cooler can do just as well with the new LGA1366/Core i7 platform; primarily because the size and location of processor cores has changed.

Overclockers are always looking for the best CPU cooler made, and Benchmark Reviews has taken a new approach to determining this for them in every Cooling article we publish. Most enthusiasts are already very familiar with the Vendetta 2, TRUE, and HDT-S1283, but the landscape is going to change with the Xigmatek Thor's Hammer S126384 CPU cooler. Benchmark Reviews compares the top coolers using the Yate Loon D12SH-12 and Kaze SlipStream 120 on an overclocked and over-volted Intel Core i7-920 Processor.

From my experience, 2008 has been a very good year for CPU coolers. We've tested the OCZ Vendetta 2 to perform as well or better than coolers twice its price, and we've discovered that the Thermaltake V14 Pro can deliver top cooling performance while looking good. But heading into 2009 we must bid farewell to the LGA775 platform, which has been the home to many of our most popular products, and welcome in the new LGA1366 socket for the Intel Core i7 CPU & X58 platform. This Best CPU Cooler Performance - Q4 2008 article will be the last foreseeable socket T series round-up from Benchmark Reviews, unless something really big changes the landscape.

Thermaltake, famed of their variety in air cooler selection, has just released their best performing CPU cooler: V14Pro. Claiming to have reached the highest cooling performance ever, the new V14Pro comes with the giant size 140mm fan, 6 copper heatpipes, and 98 extended copper fins. In this performance comparison, Benchmark Reviews tests the Thermaltake V14 Pro CPU cooler CL-P0471 against the best products available today.

When it comes down to it, consumers that shop for aftermarket cooling products only want one thing: the very best their money can buy. It makes perfect sense, too. Since so many products flood the market every day, it all comes down to price and performance. Based on this principal, 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.