Today's second cpu cooler roundup, left us with very good impressions related to the fact that several new models performed pretty well, while they are remaining affordable for the user. Let's summarize which cpu coolers we tested at this roundup:

• Coolermaster Hyper 212: A very impressive design from Coolermaster with no obvious problems and very good performance in almost all tests. Serious overclockers should pair this design with an extra fan to get perfect results.
• CooLink Silentator: More or less it offers what Noctua NH-U12F has given and maybe even better, probably due to the use of a different rotating fan. The installation process does take much time, but when paired with two fans it gives you very good results.
• Evercool Buffalo: A simple design with a very affordable price that performed averagely in the overclocking tests. If you are looking for a cheap solution to upgrade your existing Intel stock cpu cooler, this would be your choice.
• Evercool PT12-9525EA: A simple design, mostly for OEM use. It performed slight better than what Intel stock delivers - we would choose the Buffalo mode instead.
• GlacialTech Igloo 5750: An interesting design and approach from Glacialtech that comes in two packages, either for power or silent users. The performance was in most cases better than Evercool Buffalo (at least the PWM version).
• Noctua NH-U12P: A supposedly improved version of the NH-U12F with a certainly better fan included but the overall performance slightly "worse" than what we had seen with NH-U12F. The price is the same, so possible Noctua NH-U12P buyers won't be disappointed.
• Spire Fourier: A cpu cooler that troubled us with its installation difficulty, mainly due to its design. We hope that the problems we saw were motherboard specific and not widely spread...
• Spire StarFlow: A simple cpu cooler for OEM use that managed to perform better than Intel's stock cooler. However when things got really hot (under overclocking) it failed to impress us.
• ThermalRight SI-128SE: An impressive cpu cooler that comes in a not very fancy retail box, but its benchmark numbers do present the truth. This can be a swiss knife cooler, either for performance or silence, when paired with the corresponding rotating fan. When used a Noctua NF-P12 fan, it simply blown away all competition in the noise tests. It easily competed with other top-performers in this roundup but it;s price is rather high.

Pricewise, this is the situation:

Depending your budget you can choose what is more affordable for you. From our point of view, the CoolerMaster Hyper 212 is well-priced at $40 and if that number sounds high, check out the Evercool Buffalo at just $20 coupled with a very good performance.

Top CPU Coolers March 2008	Award
Thermalright SI-128SE
Evercool Buffalo/ GlacialTech Igloo 5750

We would like to thank the following companies for their support and help in order to complete this roundup:

• CoolerMaster
• CooLink
• Evercool
• GlacialTech
• Noctua
• Spire
• Thermalright