10 Mammoth CPU Coolers: Size Does Matter

XXL Coolers Are Becoming A Must-have

The LGA775 socket has been on the market for some time now - enough time for the manufacturers to develop efficient and quiet coolers for this socket. We decided it was time for us to take inventory and determine which coolers for the platform are good. Nearly all manufacturers produce coolers for more than one socket by now, which means that these coolers work for Athlon 64 Sockets 939 and 754, and in some cases can still be used for Socket A and Socket 478 as well.

When we started looking, one thing became obvious right away: almost all manufacturers have bid farewell to the Intel reference design. When we conducted our last cooler test 5 Cool P4 Coolers Protect Your P4 From Heatstroke , each cooler looked like the next. This time, the coolers exhibited substantial diversity, which frankly, is a sight for sore eyes.

As mentioned earlier, the other major trend is towards larger and larger coolers. Often enough, when it comes to coolers, size seems to trump all sense of reason. Some coolers are so large that they beg the question of whether the case will fit after they are installed. Along with compatibility lists for motherboards, similar lists for cases might soon become necessary!