Conclusion

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The Vanessa (L-Type) by Titan stands out, for its particularly good cooling capacity and extravagant design features. The Sonic Tower by Thermaltake also boasts an impressive cooling capacity, and if passive operation isn't feasible, an optional 120 mm fan can be added, albeit at an additional cost.

If you don't have a lot of space in your computer, the CNPS7700 Cu from Zalman is a good option, offering good cooling capacity with minimal noise emission at a reasonable price. Athlon XP users would do well to go for NorthQ's NQ 3312 model: it can be installed even on Socket A motherboards without retention module holes.

The losers in this test were the Vortex TX from Cooler Master and the StarIce from Asus. In both cases, either the cooling capacity was too low or the noise level was too high.

Manuf. Asus Cooler Master NorthQ NorthQ Titan
Product Star Ice Vortex TX NQ-3312 NQ-3313 Vanessa L-Type
Website asus.com coolermaster.com northq.com northq.com titan-cd.com
Compatibility
Socket LGA775 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Socket 478 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Socket 939/754 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Socket A (462) Yes (retention holes needed) Yes (retention holes needed) Yes Yes Yes
Performance
Thermal Resistance 0.39 K/W 0.39 K/W 0.27 K/W 0.37 K/W 0.28 K/W
Temperature Intel Pentium 570 66 °C 74 °C 58 °C 66 °C 52 °C
Noise Level (Low Speed) 47.9 dB(A) 34.0 dB(A) 33.4 dB(A) 33.4 dB(A) 33.9 dB(A)
Noise Level (Full Speed) 62.8 dB(A) 36.7 dB(A) 43.8 dB(A) 43.8 dB(A) 37.0 dB(A)
Accessories
Fan Controller Included Regulator PWM (Intel LGA775) Included Regulator Included Regulator Included Regulator
Manuf. Thermaltake Thermaltake Tuniq Zalman Zalman
Product Big Typhoon Sonic Tower Tower 120 CNPS7700
-Cu
CNPS7700
-AlCu
Website thermaltake.com thermaltake.com tuniq.com zalmanusa.com zalmanusa.com
Compatibility
Socket LGA775 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Socket 478 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Socket 939/754 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Socket A (462) Yes (retention holes needed) Yes (retention holes needed) No No No
Performance
Thermal Resistance 0.30 K/W 0.26 K/W 0.34 K/W 0.25 K/W 0.33 K/W
Temperature Intel Pentium 570 57 °C N/A (passive cooling) 54 °C 56 °C 63 °C
Noise Level (Low Speed) 35.5 dB(A) N/A (passive cooling) 34.4 dB(A) 31.9 dB(A) 31.8 dB(A)
Noise Level (Full Speed) 35.5 dB(A) N/A (passive cooling) 48.8 dB(A) 38.7 dB(A) 38.7 dB(A)
Accessories
Fan Controller None N/A (passive cooling) Included Regulator Included Regulator Included Regulator

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