It is often difficult, however, to satisfy enthusiasts' needs; a blend of performance, aesthetics, and price is the trifecta of consumer satisfaction. Finding a product that satisfies these criteria is rather rare, particularly in the case of Core i7 1366 coolers, which seem to struggle in at least one category, either offering disappointing cooling performance, or costing a small fortune if they do cool well.

Performance is King as we say around here, and today may be the day a new king is crowned for Core i7 air coolers. We've been amassing a boatload of heatsinks for our upcoming 1366 cooler roundup, and without tipping our hand, we do think today's review may be a sign of things to come. Today we're testing the Xigmatek S-1283V Dark Knight, which offers Heatpipe Direct Touch (HDT) technology, a newer trend in tower-style heatsinks, and promises some efficient cooling numbers. It is Socket 1366-capable, looks stunning in nickel-coated black, and is available at an extremely attractive price. Two of the Big Three Criteria in air cooling seem to addressed, so let's look at its performance and see if it can knock down the third one.

Our thanks go to our friends at Xigmatek for supplying the review sample.

The Xigmatek Group of companies was founded in 1997 with offices in Taipei and London. The Xigmatek range includes CPU coolers including heatpipe coolers, low profile heatsinks and high efficiency coolers for the specialist market. We believe in style and substance. Xigmatek cooler components not only meet the advanced needs, they are typically design engineered for specific processors in partnership with major processor manufacturers early on in the design production cycle. Product quality is the first principle, we do not compromise Xigmatek products. It is our policy to support our customers in every way and provide a superb level of service based on personal communication.