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Back in the days, when AMD's Athlon 64 ruled the enthusiast
market and single core processors were still the norm, South Korean-based
computer cooling manufacturer Zalman manufactured some of the most popular
CPU heatsink/fans around. Their signature flower design, in conjunction with
a very generous use of copper, demonstrated groundbreaking performance across
the board at every review website. When I bought my first -- and to be
honest, only -- Zalman cooler from a popular online retailer to go with my
Athlon 64 for the purpose of replacing my loud-but-not-so-proud (Literally;
no puns intended haha) stock heatsink, I was amazed by how large it was
compared to the one that came with my processor. Soon, engineers realized
that, by combining elements such as mounting the 120mm fans sideways on tall
heatsinks, implementing heatpipe arrays, as well as creative uses of
different materials for durability, weight, and performance took CPU cooling
performance to entirely new heights. Of which some notable examples include
famed heatsinks such as the Scythe Infinity, Noctua NH-U12P, and Thermalright
Ultra 120. Stop there for a moment. Just when you thought those heatsinks
were large enough, I have something here on hand today that would simply
dwarf all of its predecessors. Let's welcome the Noctua NH-D14: A
wonderfully, amazingly, comically, and almost ridiculously, large
heatsink/fan that is pretty much a combination of two heatsinks into one for
the latest and greatest in CPU cooling.
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