Golly goose (beat that for first words to a hardware review)! If i think back, a lot has changed since I last reviewed a CPU cooler - AMD no longer has the enthusiast in the palm of it's hand (though this may soon change with Agena), and we are entering the age of multi-core goodness. Another significant change to this area includes the introduction of programs like Core Temp, which allow the temperature monitoring of each individual CPU core with great accuracy.

Yes, things have changed... but alas, things have changed here too! We've fully revamped the review procedure for CPU coolers from old, and brought it bang up-to-date by introducing some nifty gizmo's to help do this right, including an Omega HHSL-1 sound level meter to let you know how noisy each cooler is with the use of hard and indisputable data, oh, and a digital thermometer to measure ambient temps so we can get accurate delta T results.

We'll also be using the aforementioned Core Temp to measure the CPU temperature readings as i personally feel more comfortable with this programs temp readings than any other available with the exception of TAT, and i decided not to use this so that AMD results can be gathered in the future (TAT is Intel software). Because this method makes a big change to temperature results (they are much higher than usual) its worth going into a little detail, and to get the ball rolling, here's some words taken from the Core Temp website:

" The temperature readings are very accurate as the data is collected from a Digital Thermal Sensor (or DTS) which is located in each individual processing core, near the hottest part. This sensor is digital, which means it doesn't rely on an external circuit located on the motherboard to report temperature, its value is stored in a special register in the processor so any software can access and read it. This eliminates any inaccuracy that can be caused by external motherboard circuits and sensors and then different types of programs trying to read those sensors ".

Internal core temperature readings are far hotter in nature than other methods such as the thermal diode sensors found in the IHS or temperature probes placed under the CPU socket. A core reading of 70c is quite acceptable, whereas with IHS or probe readings the general consensus for years amongst overclockers has been to keep CPU temperatures below 50~55c. Core readings throw this idea out of the window, it's time to get used to seeing 70c temp readings without needing a change of pants! Generally it is widely accepted that core readings are about 20c higher than the alternatives. When using core readings, anything under 70c is OK.

So to summarize, We will be using Core Temp for temp readings, an Omega HHSL-1 sound level meter for noise measurement, an Omega HH501 digital thermometer (0.1% accuracy) for ambient temps, and an X6800 both at stock and overclocked.