EK Water Blocks, Ljubljana based premium water cooling gear manufacturer, is excited to introduce a new line of EK Kits. Gaming Series kits or in short G Kits are a great choice for every liquid cooling beginner and users want to take advantage of their 5.25" bays.

The G kits are EK's fifth lineup of kits, joining the existing Slim, Liquid, Performance and Xtreme Series. Gaming kits come in three different versions, where the size of the radiator and number of fans is the only difference between them. As with all other EK kits, G series kits are named after the radiator size that comes with each kit. Hance, EK-KIT G240, EK-KIT G280 and EK-KIT G360.

One of Zalman's latest creations is a refresh on its CNPS9900 CPU cooler, the CNPS9900 MAX. While identical to the CNPS9900 base model (copper) in many ways, the MAX sports a black+graphite look, making use of nickel-plated copper. The design involved two loops of copper fins to which heat is conducted by heat pipes, while air is circulated by a 120 mm FDB bearing fan that spins between 800~1200 rpm, with a noise output of 18~43 dBA. The cooler measures 94 (L) x 131 (W) x 152 (H) mm, weighing 730 g. It supports all current CPU sockets out of the box, including LGA-1366, LGA-1156, AM3, and LGA-775. A tube of ZM-STG2 thermal compound is bundled with it. There's no word on the pricing yet.

Intel has come up with a new design for its Fan Heat-sink Assembly (FHSA) it bundles with some (presumably dual-core) boxed socket LGA-775 processors. The new design aims at making it slightly more cost-effective by reducing the metal content, and trying to compensate with a more turbulent airflow design. While the forked aluminum fins in the old design project spirally from the base, in the new design they project radially. The CPU contact base is slightly smaller, and leveled to the fins. Changes as listed by Intel are as follows:

• A slightly smaller impeller (fan speed is increased because of this but noise output stays the same)
• Fan shroud hub diameter increased (from 34mm to 40mm) due to modifications to fan electronics
• Heatsink fins will be straight (as opposed to curved as they are now)
• The heatsink will be a bit more compact (height decreased from 18.9 mm to 18.47mm)

The new FHSA should be bundled with the latest stocks of Intel processors in the LGA 775 package. They should just about keep the processors running within recommended temperatures at stock clock speeds.

EKL brand Alpenföhn unveiled its newest CPU cooler, the Matterhorn. This cooler measures 138 x 100 x 158 mm, and weighs 1067 g (2.35 lbs). The construction is similar to that of several coolers in its category. A pre-lapped copper base draws heat from the CPU. From this, six heatpipes pass, conducting heat to a block of aluminum fins. The fins have notches that help heat dissipation over the air being blown by an attached Föhn120 Wing Boost 120 mm fan, which spins at 500 to 1500 rpm, with a max noise output of 24.8 dBA. The Matterhorn supports most current CPU sockets including LGA-1366, LGA-1156, LGA-775, AM3, AM2(+). Its price and availability are yet to be known.

Koolance rolled out its newest CPU water-block, the CPU-360. The new block boasts of broad compatibility with all current CPU socket types, an advanced microfin cold plate with 0.25mm fins, 0.30 mm channels, and an optimized flow path. The cold plate is complemented with a brass top, all metal surfaces have nickel plating to minimize corrosion. The block measures 4.9" x 4.9" x 0.6" (12.5cm x 12.5cm x 1.5xcm), and weighs 411 g (14.5 oz). While the package excludes nozzles, it includes all the retention material needed for Intel sockets LGA-775, LGA-1156, LGA-1366, and AMD sockets AM3/AM2+/AM2. The CPU-360 is listed on Koolance website at US $84.99.

Thermaltake seems to have finished development of its new high-end CPU cooler, the Thermaltake Frio. Designs of this cooler surfaced as early as in June this year, originally slating it for Computex 2009. After some development delay, it has finally taken shape with the disctinct black+red color scheme the company's Level 10 case comes with. The design consists of a CPU contact block from which five seemingly 8 mm heatpipes arise, conveying heat to a dense aluminum fin array which has largely rectangular fins. The array is cooled a 120 mm fan. There is provision to install one on either sides, that rotates at speeds between 1200 - 2500 rpm. The cooler supports all current CPU sockets, including LGA-1366, LGA-1156, LGA-775, AM3/AM2+. The cooler is now slated for CES 2010.

ZOTAC GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi (GF9300-I-E) delivers three SATA 3.0 Gb/s ports with support for RAID 0, 1, 0+1 and 5, wake on USB support, greater range of overclocking options and enhancements to the GeForce 9300 graphics processor.

"ZOTAC was the world's first manufacturer to provide users with high-performance mini-ITX platforms with PCI Express 2.0 x16 expansion that made no compromises for performance. Our latest ZOTAC GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi, GF9300-I-E, takes our award winning formula of combining performance with a small form factor and supercharges it to make the world's fastest mini-ITX platform available," said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International.

Noctua today officially presented its long-awaited NH-D14 premium CPU cooler. Combining a massive six heatpipe dual radiator design with an exquisite NF-P14/NF-P12 dual fan configuration, the NH-D14 is built to further improve the renowned quiet cooling performance of Noctua's award-winning NH-U12P series.

"Our NH-U12P coolers are widely regarded as one of the best solutions on the market, so it makes us especially proud that we can offer a further substantial improvement in quiet cooling performance with the new NH-D14", explains Mag. Roland Mossig, Noctua CEO. "The NH-D14 in Ultra-Low-Noise mode actually outperforms the NH-U12P at full fan speed, so we're confident that this cooler will appeal to overclockers and silent enthusiasts alike."

Close to an year after Danamics released its so-perceived revolutionary LM10 liquid-metal CPU cooler, which was shelved a mere two months after its launch, the company is back with its successor. The new Danamics LMX looks bigger, meaner, and more compatible. The principle involves circulating liquid metal through heatpipes in an aluminum fin array. The liquid metal is circulated using an electromagnetic pump, though the unit has a shielded magnetic field that does not interfere with components outside it. The flowing liquid metal disperses heat to parts of the cooler better, resulting in higher cooling performance compared to other forms of air-cooling.

The unit measures 158.2×170.5×90 mm, weighing 1180 g. The heatsink fins are made of nickel-plated aluminum. Two 120 mm fans strapped on to either sides, are made by SilenX. This completely monolithic cooler has snap-on assembly, meaning it's as easy to install as almost any other air-cooler. It supports Intel sockets LGA-1366, LGA-775, and AMD AM3/AM2(+). It is priced at 159 EUR, significantly lower than its predecessor which went for 280 EUR. A flash animation of how the cooler works, among other details, can be accessed here.

There was a time when for the Intel platform, you could choose between motherboards based on chipsets from four or more vendors. With the weakening and discontinuation of chipset development for the Intel platform from the likes of VIA, and SiS, and NVIDIA facing a technical and legal blockade with further development of Intel chipsets with the latest Intel processors having integrated memory controllers and the Quickpath Interconnect system interface, consumer choice is reduced to platform core logic coming only from Intel, while motherboard vendors are able to use additives such as the NVIDIA nForce 200 PCI-Express bridge chip, or even the latest LucidLogix Hydra controller, among additional SATA, SAS and Ethernet controllers, to enhance the motherboards' feature-set beyond what the chipset can provide.

Following NVIDIA making the right noises about the future of its chipset division and development of chipsets that drive Socket LGA-1156 processors, it is becoming increasingly clear that its development has hit a possible legal or technical hurdle. Until those issues are ironed out completely, NVIDIA will not invest in further development of that chipset. In a statement, NVIDIA expressed its official position of its chipset division, and where things stand specific to the products it makes. Speaking of which, NVIDIA's chipset division currently sells chipsets for Intel's FSB-driven processors, AMD's latest processors, and the ION platform, which forms the foundation of a more capable ULPC platform based on the Intel Atom processor.

PC water-cooling specialists Swiftech presented its newest CPU water block, the Apogee XT. A result of extensive competitive testing, the Apogee XT comes across as a completely redesigned block that goes beyond redesigning the retention mechanism alone. The block is made entirely of copper and brass, and has a brass housing with black chrome plating. The cold plate surface is topographically mapped to provide an optimized TIM contact with socket LGA 771, 775, 1156 and 1366 compatible processors. The inlet plate which is at the center of the block, is detachable. It supports high flow 1/4" BSPP x 1/2" fittings. Supporting Intel sockets LGA-1366, LGA-1156, and LGA-775, the Apogee XT water block sells for US $79.99.

Traditionally, a specialists in aluminum/copper fin 'ring' type CPU coolers, Zalman maintained a performance leadership till aluminum fin tower type CPU coolers took over as the better performing design. Zalman was forced to keep up with the trend, which it did with the introduction of its CNPS-10X series coolers, namely CNPS-10X Quiet, and CNPS-10X Extreme. The third one in the series, which Zalman recently made available to European stores, is the CNPS-10X Flex. This is basically a tower-type heatsink that uses a block of 56 aluminum fins (some of which are anodized black), to which heat is conveyed by five copper heat-pipes. While it does not include a fan of its own, it gives you the flexibility of using your own 120 mm fan, and allows for two fans in all. The retention module supplied supports all current CPU sockets, including LGA-1366, LGA-1156, LGA-775, and AM3/AM2+/AM2. Priced at €40, it is €10 cheaper than the CNPS-10X Quiet, enough price difference to allow you to buy a decent-quality 120 mm fan of your choice, be it performance-oriented, or quiet.

Cooling specialist Xigmatek announced its latest CPU cooler, the Balder SD1283. The Balder maintains a design similar to most other tower coolers. The design consists of a base from which three heat pipes of 8 mm diameter making direct contact with the CPU, convey heat to a dense array of aluminum alloy fins. The CPU base has a mirror finish to ensure better surface contact.

The main unit measures 120(W) x 50(D) x 159(H) mm, and weighs 700 g with fan. The 120 mm fan spins at speeds between 1000 ~ 2200 rpm, with a maximum noise output of 28 dBA. The Xigmatek Balder supports all current sockets, including LGA-1366, LGA-1156, LGA-775, and AM3/AM2+/AM2. The package includes a bolt-thru kit for the LGA sockets, and enough rubber rivets to let you attach two fans. It is priced at 32.90 EUR.

Cooling solutions OEM Akasa's newest offering is the AK-968 X4 CPU cooler. This value offering is designed to oust your stock CPU cooler for better performance at a low price. Measuring 135 (H) x 109 (W) x 90 (D) mm, and weighing 458 g, the AK-968 X4 resembles similar coolers in its category such as the Arctic Freezer 7 Pro. Its design involves a copper base plate from which three u-shaped copper heatpipes pass, conveying heat to an aluminum fin array, which is actively cooled by a 92 mm PWM-controlled fan that spins at speeds between 600 ~ 2500 rpm pushing up to 47.7 CFM of air, with a noise output of 17.0 ~ 29.5 dBA. It supports all current desktop CPU sockets, including Intel LGA-1366, LGA-1156, LGA-775, AMD s939, and AM3/AM2/AM2+. It is currently listed for £20 at a popular British etailer.

Tuniq introduced its newest CPU cooler, the Tuniq Propeller 120. This release follows the launch of the Tower 120 Extreme. Measuring 128(L) × 127.5(W) × 145(H) mm, and weighing at 590 g without the 120 mm fan, The cooler sports an unconventional design. From the CPU base pass four 8 mm nickel-plated copper heat-pipes that make direct contact with the CPU. The two ends of these heat-pipes pass through two blocks of aluminum fins. The fins are somewhat triangular in shape and are pitted for added surface area.

The bundled 120 mm MFDB fan comes with a fan-speed control knob, and spins at speeds between 1000~2000 rpm, pushing up to 90.65 CFM of air, with noise levels of 16~20 dBA ± 10%. The fan blows air onto the motherboard, passively cooling other components. The Propeller 120 also packs a tube of the company's newest Tuniq TX3 thermal compound. Supported sockets include LGA-1366, LGA-775, and AM3/AM2+/AM2. It comes in two variants, CR-PRO120-BK with black colored fins, and a blue LED-lit fan, and CR-PRO120-SV with normal (chrome) fins and an opaque black fan. The Propeller 120 should start selling this October.

The term 'Hybrid' these days probably relates most to hybrid cars. DFI has taken the concept of two machines - a high-power one, and an energy-efficient one, to a whole new level with its Hybrid P45-ION-T2A2 socket LGA 775 motherboard. This motherboard literally packs two motherboards sharing a PCB: one P45+ICH10R based socket LGA-775 system, and another portion holding an Intel Atom processor powered by NVIDIA ION chipset. Each has its own memory and storage subsystems, and share the machine's IO (input devices and display) in a somewhat KVM-style. So even as the major system is busy playing games, transcoding media, or running other power-hungry tasks, the minor system is quietly running the downloads, playing music, etc. When the major system is not needed, the minor system provides enough juice for media consumption and internet browsing, and general productivity at a really low energy footprint. A pretty neat concept. DFI's engineers describe it further in this YouTube video.

GlacialTech today launched its mid-range F101 CPU cooler. Unveiled back at Computex, the F101 extends support for all new sockets, while not leaving out any current ones. Its design makes use of two dissimilar-sized aluminum fin blocks that just about cover a 120 mm fan. Heat is conveyed to these using five heatpipes. The cooler measures 143 x 86 x 148 mm (L x W x H), and weighs 750 g (~1.66 lbs). It comes in two variants - F101 Silent and F101 PWM - depending on the kind of fan bundled. The former packs a 1100 ±200 rpm fan that pushes about 40 CFM of air with a noise output of 21 dBA, while the latter packs a more powerful 800~1700 rpm PWM-controlled fan, that depending on its speed, can push up to 70 CFM of air being as loud as 32 dBA. Both carry a tube of IceTherm thermal compound. As mentioned before, it supports all current CPU sockets including LGA-1366, LGA-1156, LGA-775, AM3, and AM2(+). Pricing is not known, though expect fairly acceptable prices.

Intel's newest quad-core socket LGA-775 processor, the Core 2 Quad Q9505 (s-spec: SLGYY) adds to the series of upper-mainstream Core 2 Quad processors based on the Yorkfield cores. With a clock speed of 2.83 GHz and a bus speed of 1333 MHz, it matches Core 2 Quad Q9550. The difference here is the L2 cache amount. Q9505 features 2x 3 MB of L2 cache. It supports every other feature in the series, including Intel VT support. Started selling in Japan, the Core 2 Quad Q9505 is priced at JPY 22,770 there, while it's expected to be priced at around US $210.

Although a large chunk of products based on the new sockets LGA-1156 and LGA-1366 arrive in 2010, effectively pushing LGA-775 out of the extreme, performance, and upper mainstream segments, Intel will continue launching new low-end LGA-775 processors in an effort to digest inventories of motherboards and memory compatible to that socket. The company's grassroot processor brand Celeron will be updated with the E3000 series, consisting of dual-core processors based on the Wolfdale-1M core. The 45 nm based core offers the essential features for basic computing, while running cool and priced low.

Two quarters ahead of its expected launch, sources in the Chinese media unearthed Celeron E3900, perhaps the last SKU in the E3000 series. Slated for Q1 2010, the Celeron E3900 runs at 3.40 GHz (200 MHz x 17), with an FSB speed of 800 MHz. It has a shared L2 cache size of 1 MB, and supports the most common instruction sets including SSE3, SSSE3, and x86-64, although SSE4.1 and Intel-VT isn't part of it. The latest company roadmap of the essential and value segments show that the company looks as far as Q3 2010 with its Celeron and Core 2 Duo brand products, with existing number schemes. In essence, retailers in Q3 2010 shouldn't have stock problems selling you these processors.

NVIDIA's SLI multi-GPU technology served as the biggest selling point of nForce series chipsets, as it was exclusive to it. With the advent of LGA-1366 processors and the Intel X58 chipset, NVIDIA allowed the Intel chipset to support the technology, as it soon became clear that it isn't going to be easy for NVIDIA to come up with an LGA-1366 chipset. Users of the older LGA-775 however still have the option of buying nForce 700 series based motherboards to use SLI, and hence no real attempt was made to ensure the technology is available to Intel chipsets. Until now.

A member of Expreview's Chinese enthusiast community has successfully enabled SLI on an Intel chipset based LGA-775 motherboard, the first feat of its kind since much older attempts on i975 platforms using much older GeForce hardware. Firewings_[CCG] successfully ran SLI of GeForce 8600 GT and GeForce GTX 260 cards on his Intel X38+ICH9R chipset based ASUS Maximus Formula motherboard. The feat is headed by software he modified, details of which will surface soon. The mod was validated by Expreview staff, who used the software to run GeForce GTX 260 SLI on a more recent P45+ICH10R based Maximus II Formula motherboard. "By installing the software that Firewings [CCG] provides us, we managed to enable SLI configuration in Directory Services Restore Mode. Due to some 'small problems' according to Firewings [CCG], the SLI configuration can't be realized in normal mode for now, but he says this will be fixed soon," commented Expreview. With SLI enabled, the multi-GPU setup was able offer performance scaling that proves the mod works.

Tuniq today announced its newest CPU cooler, the Tower 120 Extreme. With this release Tuniq introduced what it calls a radical design change, that increases heat dissipation surface area, and brings about turbulence that helps cooling. To do so, each aluminum fin has "wave-design" edges on two sides. Every neighbouring fin has an alternating wave-pattern, that helps provide turbulence. A 120 mm, PWM-controlled, LED-lit fan is nested inside the fin block, that circulates air. Five nickel-plated copper heatpipes convey heat to the fins, which make direct contact to the CPU at the block.

The cooler measures 131(L) x 112.31(W) x 150.7(H), and weighs in at 775 g without the fan (around 850 g with it). The fan spins at speeds between 1000~2000 rpm, pushing up to 90.65 CFM of air, with a maximum noise output of 20 dBA. Out of the five heatpipes, three are 8 mm in thickness, and two 6 mm ones. The package includes a 1g tube of Tuniq's recently announced TX-3 thermal compound. In Tuniq's own tests, the Tower 120 Extreme emerged at least 10% more efficient at cooling than its predecessor, the Tower 120. It is compatible with most current CPU sockets, including LGA-1366, LGA-775, and AM3/AM2+/AM2. Expect it to be priced close to that of the Tower 120 when it hits stores soon.

Some of Arctic Cooling's biggest claims to fame are the Freezer series CPU coolers that offered good levels of cooling performance for mainstream prices. The company then had Intel and AMD specific versions of the cooler in the form of Freezer 7 Pro (Intel) and Freezer64 Pro (AMD). In a move to unify the two designs as far as CPU socket compatibility goes, Arctic Cooling released the Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2, which sports support for both Intel and AMD sockets.

Measuring 104 L x 58 W x 126.5 H mm and weighing 520 g, the Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 has essentially the same design of the predecessors, except for its retention mechanism that holds various different kinds of sockets, including Intel LGA-1366, LGA-1156, LGA-775, AMD AM3/AM2+/AM2. The cooler has a 92 mm 45 CFM PWM-controlled fan that cools a 42-fin aluminum fin array to which three copper heat-pipes convey heat from a copper CPU block. The cooler has a cake of the MX-2 thermal compound pre-applied. The Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 is priced at US $28.90 or 20.90 Euro.

AOpen is ready with its LGA-775 ION ITX platform. The AOpen nMCP7AUt-V resembles most Atom-ION motherboards, but supports an LGA-775 (up to 95W TDP) Pentium, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad processor with its 2+1 phase power circuit. The ION chipset packs a GeForce 9400M class mGPU. AOpen overclocked this a little, 580/1500 MHz (core/shader, versus 580/1400 MHz reference). The chipset supports GeForce Boost, which allows a low-end discrete GeForce GPU to work in tandem with it, and save power. The chipset is actively cooled by a fan-heatsink. The board holds two SO-DIMM slots for dual-channel DDR2 800/667 MHz memory, commonly available as laptop memory.

The lone expansion slot is a PCI-Express 2.0 x16. Storage is care of three SATA II ports, with RAID 0,1,5, and JBOD modes. The GeForce mGPU connects to its display through DVI-D and HDMI connectors. Audio is care of a high-grade Realtek ALC889 HD audio CODEC. Apart from the 8 USB 2.0 ports on the rear-panel, four more are provided through internal headers. The AOpen nMCP7AUt-V is selling in Japan for 18,770 JPY (US $198).

Zalman rolled out its newest CPU cooler, the CNPS9900A LED. This cooler is near-identical to the CNPS9900 LED, with the same dimensions of 94(L) x 131(W) x 152(H) mm, weight of 730 g (1.61 lbs), and an all-copper heat dissipation components design. The differences between the two are that CNPS9900A LED packs a Zalman RC33P resistor cable, and a tube of Zalman's ZM-STG2 thermal compound.

The construction involves a copper CPU contact base from which three heatpipes dissipate heat two two circular copper fin rings on either sides of a blue LED-lit 120 mm fan. Without the RC33P cable, the fan spins at 1000 rpm ~ 2000 rpm, with noise levels of 19.5 dBA ~ 38.0 dBA. But when the RC33P is installed, the speeds and noise outputs are reduced, at 800 rpm ~ 1300 rpm, with noise levels between 18 dBA ~ 28.5 dBA. The ZM-STG2 thermal compound has a thermal conductivity of 4.1 W/mK. 3.5 g of this compound is supplied in a tube. The CNPS9900A LED is compatible with all major sockets including Intel LGA-775, LGA-1156, LGA-1366, and AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3, 939/940, 754. It is expected to be priced at US $64.

DFI made a new addition to its popular LAN Party Blood Iron lineup, which offers overclocker-friendly features on a budget. The Blood Iron G41-T33 is the first micro-ATX model in the series, and uses the Intel G41 + ICH10 chipset. The board remains minimalistic, taking care of only the essentials as far as components go. The LGA-775 socket is powered by a 3-phase circuit. There are two DDR2 DIMM slots, with support for dual-channel DDR2-1066 memory. The G41 northbridge packs an Intel GMA X4500 IGP. Expansion is care of one PCI-E x16, a PCI-E x1, and two PCI slots. The southbridge provides four SATA II ports internally. 6-channel audio and gigabit Ethernet make for the rest of this product. The LAN Party G41-T33 is expected to retail for around US $90.