ZEROtherm is a company probably best known for creating buzz surrounding their butterfly cooler design not long ago. Capitalizing on that success, they've expanded their product lineup and continue to push ahead with designs that have evolved and improved from that initial antecedent; a butterfly effect, as it were. Most recently, they have two CPU coolers for the Intel Core i5/i7 platforms: the Nirvana 120 PWM and the Core 92 heatsinks. Both strive to achieve improved cooling for your CPU but each go about it in a very different manner. Today we'll examine those differences, as well as the results, in an attempt to judge their success.

The Nirvana certainly looks very unique, and the smaller Core 92
is attractive, but what about performance? Can they keep a couple of Socket 1156 and 1366 chips cool? Can they handle overclocked Core i5 and i7 monster CPUs? Let's find out.

Thanks go to our friends at ZEROtherm for supplying the review samples.

ZEROtherm is engineered for the objective of decreasing noise into the “ZERO” range while effectively addressing thermal issues. ZEROtherm products are optimized cooling solutions to reduce both noise and heat. Our core thermal packaging technology (including heat pipe technology and micro electro mechanical technology) is the basis for all ZEROtherm products. We seek to exceed consumer expectations by developing, designing, and producing “best-of-breed” solutions from our extensive technological and engineering capabilities.