INTRODUCTION

   People who are looking to get the best possible cooling efficiency for their CPUs rarely ever pay attention to noise levels and that makes sense especially for gamers and enthusiasts (even professionals who deal with video editing and 3D animation) since most of the time their graphics cards mask all other noises while in use (sometimes even while idle). There are always those however who are not interested in the best possible cooling performance and place low noise levels above all else. We're mostly talking about people who have their systems in their living rooms or bedrooms and so we all understand just how important is for them to have a silent system. Lucky for all of them Thermalright has been paying attention and has also been spending quite a bit in developing the best passive CPU coolers in the market like the Macho Zero and the latest Le Grand Macho which we have here with us today.

   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.

   The Le Grand Macho is basically a pumped up (larger) version of the award winning Macho Zero which we reviewed just over a year ago so that alone should speak volumes about its build quality and "potential" cooling efficiency. If that by any chance however is not enough for you then with a thermal design power (TDP) of 300W when used with a 140mm fan according to Thermalright the Le Grand Macho can easily outperform any CPU air cooler in the market. Thermalright also improved the zero-clearance feature so whereas the Macho Zero had 45.1mm between the lowest fin and the mainboard tray the Le Grand Macho has 46mm and although this may not seem as much still it should allow memory modules to fit easier and also have a small breathing space between their top and the fins. So the time has come for us to see what Thermalright has been up to lately with their brand new Le Grand Macho passive CPU cooler.