
The gigahertz battles waged by the two processor makers AMD and Intel are glad tidings for users: they have never had access to so much (excess) power for such relatively low prices.
Of course there's a hitch to it all - riding in the wake of clock speed increase is a jump in electrical power consumption, or rather, the power loss of the gigahertz bolides. And, while manufacturers try to keep down power loss by constantly miniaturizing the processor structures (smaller transistors switch at lower voltages, which means they dissipate less power), they continue to cram ever more transistors onto rapidly shrinking surfaces. As a result, the specific power dissipation of today's processors has mushroomed. And that has raised the bar for CPU coolers, too.

Specific power dissipation of different AMD cores.
AMD has ventured down the correct path with its latest progeny, the Athlon XP with a Thoroughbred "B" core. The surface area of the die was expanded 5% to 84 mm2, which put its power loss several steps below that of its predecessor (as measured by clock increase). But if you compare the CPU die to a 100 watt light bulb, its specific thermal power is still fiery: while a heat lamp generates a wimpy 0.95 watts/m² (5% efficiency, surface area around 100 cm²), the latest Athlon XP2600+ churns out some 81 watts/cm². So the moral of the story is that many a little makes a lot - in this case, a lot of heat that desperately needs to be dissipated. Unless, of course, you enjoy seeing your processor disintegrate in a flash of smoke.
- A Round-up Of 55 Coolers For AMD Processors
- The Theory Behind The Dream Cooler
- Don't Lay It On Too Thick: The Tight Grease
- One By One - 55 Coolers On The Blocks
- Not Much Room Around The CPU: ALPHA FC-PAL15
- Plagiarism? ARKUA 6228 And 7528
- ARKUA 7528
- Evolution Of The Coolers: 112BN0, 112BJ0, 112BJ0-1 And 112C80
- Larger And Under A Hood: AVC 112BJ0
- More Powerful Fan: AVC 112BJ0-1
- Quieter But Heavier: AVC 112C80
- Nomen Est Omen: Brown International V8 Heatsink
- CoolerMaster
- Big, Heavy And High-quality: CoolerMaster HCC-003
- The Mighty Roaring Cube: CoolerMaster HCC-002
- Hot Pipes For High Speeds: CoolerMaster HHC-001
- A Cooler, Too: ElanVital FSCUG9C-6
- Evercool
- Looking Sharp: Evercool ND15-715
- A Dazzler: Evercool CUD-725
- Cooling For Next To Nothing: Foxconn
- Slow And Stealthy: GlacialTech Igloo2310
- Too Pretty To Hide: GlacialTech Igloo2400
- Ultra-silent: Global Win CAK - II 58
- Much Ado About Nothing: Global Win CAK - II 38
- Fan Tower: Global Win TAK68
- Italian Moments: Neolec Venezia TB
- The Thrill Is Gone: Neolec Vento
- A Dime A Dozen: Pent Alpha APSK0155
- Just Your Ordinary Cooler: Pent Alpha APSK0156
- Quiet And Flat: Spire 5P53B3
- Fraternal Triplets: Spire 5E34B3-H, Spire 5E34B3 And Spire 5E32B3
- II: Spire 5E34B3
- III: Spire 5E34B3-H
- AMD Under The Rocks: Spire 5T060B1H3R, Spire 5T061B1H3T And Spire 5T208B1H3T
- BigRock: Spire 5T060B1H3R
- SuperRock: Spire 5T208B1H3T
- Roaring Cooler Monsters For Overclockers: Swiftech MC462 And MCX462
- Evolution Vs. Revolution: Swiftech MCX462
- Little Bro I: Swiftech MCX370-0A
- "Little" Twin Bro II: Swiftech MCX C370
- Compact And Quiet Standard Cooler: Taisol CEK747092
- Easy Upgrading : Taisol CGK760092 And CGK760092B
- Weighty Double Decker: Thermaltake Dragon Orb 3
- Quiet Standard Fan: ThermoSonic V60-4210/Thermoengine
- The Eye-Catcher: Titan TTC-MT1AB
- Failure Sets Off Alarm: Titan TTC-D5 TB
- Standard Fare: TITAN TTC-D4 TB
- Valuable? Not Really: Tornado WIN-7528
- Loud But Powerful, Part I: TRIG T40-1-62538 And TRIG T40-3-62538
- TRIG T40-3-62538
- Loud But Powerful, Part II: TRIG T40-6-62538 And TRIG T40-7-62538
- TRIG T40-7-62538
- Plain But Effective: VANTEC FCE-6030D
- Bigger And Heavier: VANTEC FCE-62540D
- Copper Isn't Always Good: VANTEC CCK-6035D
- Quiet But Uncool: Verax P14
- Noisy Or Quiet: From 38 To 67 DB(A)
- Hot Or Cold: The Die Temperatures
- 55 Coolers At A Glance
- Conclusion