Frostytech is back with a new heatsink review - this time it's a cheap and powerful tower heatsink from Zaward called the Vapor 120.

Zaward's Vapor 120 heatsink is another in a long list of thermal solutions to feature an exposed heatpipe mounting base. The concept is simple, but we've discussed it many times on Frostytech so let's jump ahead to the Vapor 120's truly unique attribute - fin dimples. To be specific, punctured spherical dimples.

"Zalman's CNPS10X Performa heatsink is standard in most other respects, especially to anyone familiar with the CNPS10X-series. It's equipped with a 120mm PWM fan that ranges in speed from 900RPM to 1350RPM with the RC24P PWM-resistor attached, 2000RPM under full power. The 153mm tall CNPS10X Performa weighs in at 748 grams and installs onto Intel socket 775/1156 and 1366 processors. AMD CPU support is equally broad - socket 754/939/940 right through to socket AM2/AM2+/AM3 chips."

Zalman's CNPS10X Quiet heatsink is equipped with a 120mm fan that ranges in speed from 1400RPM to 700RPM, which in real world terms means that noise levels are moderate to whisper quiet. As a low noise heatsink the CNPS10X Quiet maintains good thermal levels on Frosty's AMD/Intel test platforms, and at full tilt it qualifies as a performance heatsink.

Price performance, noise performance and weight performance are GlacialTech's three principle design philosophies, which GlacialStars also offers at a very affordable price point.

The GlacialStars range of light weight CPU coolers , Case Fan, Cooling pad and other components are very conducive for the environment because of the low noise and high performance.

With GlacialStars components, the consumer PCs can be low in weight but high in performance. Normally, the component vendors do not take much care of the mainstream to entry level products because of the low margin but they forget that this market offers the largest volume. Especially, they do not take care of the noise and weight of the entry-level products, which makes the PC a bit bulky and noisy. Taking this aspect into consideration, GlacialStars' objective is to offer the consumers a better experience.

Compatible with Intel and AMD CPU systems, GlacialStars series products are designed especially for creative features and solid products.

From the makers of the wavy BARAM heatsink comes the Thermolab BADA; a 136mm tall mid-tower heatsink that fills in the performance cooling void where taller coolers can't go. Height you see, can quickly throw a wrench into PC plans when the cooler doesn't fit in the case.

Thermolab's BADA heatsink is equipped with one 95mm PWM fan mounted to the heatsinks' raw aluminum fins via sturdy rubber vibration absorbing posts. Interestingly for a commercial heatsink, Thermolab are pre-lapping the base of the BADA to ensure the three 6mm diameter exposed copper heatpipes are flat, smooth, and ideal for mounting onto the processor.

Frostytech have tested a new heatsink which comes in #1 on both of their test charts.... looks like a new record holder in the world of heatsinks has been crowned - and it isn't made by Thermaltake, Coolermaster or and of those "well known" companies.

"Let's get right to the point, 3Rsystem's Iceage 120 Boss II heatsink is currently one of the Top 5 heatsinks tested on Frostytech. Key to the success of this Korean-made heatsink on both AMD and Intel synthetic test platforms are five 8mm diameter exposed base heatpipes and a unique "X" pattern that places the heatpipes in the path of high velocity air from the coolers' 120mm fan. On top of that, the Iceage 120 Boss II heatsink utilizes dimpled surface fins which are intended to disrupt boundary layer laminar airflow."

Frostytech have written up a new Arctic Cooling heatsink, and it's interesting to see how hot this cooler gets at its slowest fan speed.

"The Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 Pro is just such heatsink: ideal for mainstream CPUs that don't exceed 90W TDP.... so long as the fan speed stays at 2000RPM. Frostytech pushed the test scenario a little further than that of course. Arctic Cooling's Alpine 64 Pro is a mainstream extruded aluminum heatsink that features the companies signature suspended low noise fan. The design minimizes turbulence and the noise created by air moving over the edges of a traditional fan frame, by removing as much of the fan frame as possible."

"Today however the focus is on another technology which has seen broad adoption: exposed heatpipe bases. Like natural evolution, this thermal design technique took hold and displaced heavy copper heatspreaders about two years ago. The result is a market filled with exposed heatpipe base CPU coolers, mostly in tower form. The DeepCool's IceWing 5 Pro is however a 'suspended heatsink', which is good because it lowers total height to a moderate 131mm."

Once you get past the dark nickel plated aluminum fins that overlap on multiple levels, resembling some sort of future-fantastic piece of hardware from the Dark Knight, what really makes the Xigmatek Thor's Hammer heatsink tick are its stacked heatpipes. Yes, stacked heatpipes.

"Standing 157mm tall, Xigmatek's Thor's Hammer heatsink tips the scales at 800 grams and has a rather boxy footprint of 120 x 116mm. It accomodates one or two 120mm fans that mount to the fins with special rubber vibration absorbing posts. No fans are supplied with the Xigmatek S126384 heatsink, allowing users to pick a high speed 120mm fan or ultra quiet model of their liking"

"At the heart of the Thermaltake ISGC-200 heatsink is a glossy white impeller that vaguely resembles the petals of a daisy. The tips of the fan blades have a little notch taken out, supposedly this reduces noise by 3% too. The ISGC-200 heatsink itself stands 140mm tall, weighs 470 grams and accommodates one 92mm PWM fan that spins at 600~1600 RPM."

"The Coolermaster Hyper N520 heatsink is geared for lower-noise cooling requirements. The cooler stands 142mmmm tall, is 118mm wide and accommodates two 92mm fans that spin at 1800RPM each. The heatsink weighs 688grams and is compatible with Intel Socket 775, 771, 1366 (Socket T/J/B respectively) and the entire family of AMD Socket 939/AM2+ processors."

"Thanks to a fast 120mm fan that moves more air per minute than comparably built heatsinks, the Sunbeamtech Core-Contact Freezer has remained a dominant force on Frostytech's Top 5 Heatsinks chart for several months now. In this review however, Frostytech is testing the 92mm edition of the Core-Contact Freezer. It doesn't stray too far from the mold, offering a compact footprint for those times when a 120mm fan is just too darn big."

"In this review Frostytech is testing the new Titan TTC-NK85TZ Fenrir heatsink, a good CPU cooler from a manufacturer which has had a spotty past. If you can find the Titan TTC-NK85TZ Fenrir you'll find it equivalent to models like the Sunbeam Core-contact freezer. Like many tower heatsinks, the TTC-NK85TZ Fenrir heatsink has four exposed 8mm diameter direct contact heatpipes at the base. These allow heat to be efficiently conducted from the CPU to the aluminum fins without passing first through a secondary heat spreader where voids can impeed thermal conduction."

"Frostytech first saw Zalman's CNPS9900 LED heatsink at Computex Taipei this past year, today we've finally got it on the test bench! The heatsink was appropriately set to release in tandem with socket 1366 Intel Core i7 processors and is thus fully socket 775/1366 compatible."

"Coolage's Frozen Orb Z924 HDC heatsink makes use of the trendy "heatpipe direct contact" technique, except this time we're looking at a modified thermal design Coolage originally manufactured with a copper base plate. That heatsink was the Freezer Orb F0-Z924AL. Can a heatsink be retooled into an effective exposed heatpipe base CPU cooler if it wasn't originally designed as such? That's just one of the questions Frostytech will seek to answer in this review."