The CPU cooler, while not class-leading, did fairly well because the design features five heat pipes. Not once did the CPU get anywhere near its thermal throttle point with temperatures hitting 74°C in gaming. Even heavy loads only resulted in temperatures peaking at 81°C. FPU loads didn't produce as much heat here since the CPU down-clocked to 4.3 GHz even with temperature headroom available. Noise levels with this particular cooler were not a problem either as it was quiet most of the time. That said, fan RPM tends to spike once in a while right as the CPU is put under heavy load, but will quickly correct itself. Even with that minor quibble, it can be eliminated by setting a custom fan profile in the BIOS. Noise output of the entire system maxed out at 44 dBA with intense load. Typically, gaming, Photoshop, web browsing, etc., had the system stay below 40 dBA. As for the graphics card, it stayed below 70°C in all gaming tests and could not be heard over the CPU cooler.