CONCLUSION

   Up until recently compact top-down CPU coolers like the AXP-200 or the L9i were the way to go if you had a very small HTPC system but with the arrival of the Macho 90 and the NH-U9S that seems to have changed. Things get even better if your case has very high airflow levels like the one in our tests (although that's a midi tower with front, rear, top and left side panel fans) since solutions like the Macho 90 will have no problem going up against single 120mm AIO liquid models. The only downside such models have is that they simply can't do much when paired with high-end CPUs and although the NH-U9S did relatively well when tested with our Core i7 3930k let's not forget that our 900D has a total of 12 fans in it and you can feel the airflow even from outside the tower. That being said we can't deny the facts and so both the Macho 90 which we reviewed here today and the NH-U9S should outperform 9 out of 10 top-down CPU coolers in the market today and with far less noise levels.

   Thermalright just released the Macho 90 (was announced today actually) but it's already available inside the EU for just 29.99Euros (PC-Cooling.de) a price tag which is roughly half the one of the NH-U9S. Unfortunately we don't have a direct comparison between these two coolers but judging by the cooling efficiency of the NH-U9S when used with the Core i7 3930k we think its performance could be slightly better. With that out of the way if you own a mATX/mITX system and you want a small CPU Cooler that can perform better than a top-down model and you don't really want to spend much in the process then the Macho 90 by Thermalright is the one for the job and that's why it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Small Size (no clearance issues)
- Very Good Performance (for its size)
- Noise Levels
- Dual Fan Solution
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Current Availability