INTRODUCTION

   Well CES is once again over and all that really remains is to see just how many of the prototypes presented there will actually make it to manufacture at least without serious compromises (either in features, performance or quality). Overall during this year’s CES we saw the introduction of a lot more impressive and innovative products than we did last year so that fact alone is more than enough for me to consider the entire show as a huge success. In any case some of you may recall us testing the latest NH-L9i low-profile CPU Cooler by Noctua a few weeks back with very good results (for its size always). Well it seems that very small low-profile CPU Coolers aimed mostly towards ITX/HTPC owners are really popular nowadays since we received many emails asking from us to test the latest AXP-100 low-profile CPU Cooler released just days ago by our friends over at Thermalright (and we did).

   Thermalright is an elite design house that manufactures cooling products for computer components for the best quality and performance your money can buy. In 2002, AMD released its first generation Thunderbird CPU and since then we have been there every step of the way to counter high voltage and high heat with innovative design and highly acclaimed cooling solutions not only for AMD but for Intel as well. One of early well known solutions was the SK-6. With many positive and rave reviews under its belt Thermalright bolted to the top as the heat sink manufacturer mostly preferred by Overclockers and enthusiasts around the World. To this day, innovation never left our vocabulary as we keep coming up with leading edge designs staying ahead of the competition.

   Just like the NH-L9 series the AXP-100 may be a solution which should easily put to shame the stock Intel/AMD HSFs but that doesn't mean that it can go up against larger CPU Coolers and so naturally only people with really small PC Cases should ever consider using it. Surprisingly however Thermalright has given the AXP-100 full CPU compatibility so even people with high end Intel Core i7 CPUs (3930k/3960k/3970k) can use it (of course i really can't seem to come up with a single reason as to why they should and even if they did the AXP-100 would have a really hard time keeping them within the recommended temperature levels). Regardless however supporting virtually every CPU model by both Intel and AMD was a good move by Thermalright and so once again today we had to call upon to our friend with his Core i7-3770k to see just how it compares with the NH-L9i by Noctua and the results were quite impressive (although as you can see quite expected).