So given the option, which would we choose? Well, as always it comes down to the specifics of what you're after. If silence is golden to you, then we'd point you firmly in the direction of the Noctua NH-U12P. It's practically silent if you use the voltage step down adapters, yet packs excellent cooling into the bargain, although you do pay a premium for what is a deservingly premium product.

If you're after pure performance and lower temperatures, then the Thermalright Ultra eXtreme 120 is still the undisputed champion of air cooling. Knocking a full 5°C off the next closest competition, it's still a fantastic cooler, and even more attractive now you can pick up a kit including a LGA 1366 mount and bundled 120mm cooling for a little over £50. If you absolutely must get the absolute maximum cooling from your CPU then the TRUE is still the cooler to get.

But the best cooler on test is undoubtedly the Akasa Nero. Cool, quiet and most importantly reasonably priced, it's the only cooler we tested today that doesn't charge the earth for cooling LGA 1366, or any other recent CPU for that matter, very well indeed. It's easily one of the best value CPU coolers on the market today, and comes very highly recommended - If we were spending our own money, the Nero is the heatsink we'd get.