In our meetings with heatsink manufacturers at Computex 2008 in Taiwan Frostytech received more than a few behind closed doors product previews. We saw dozens of fantastic heatsink prototypes of all shapes and materials, but one trend ran through the trade show floor like no other. The technique of leaving heatpipes exposed at the base of a heatsink. It's really not new to the field of thermal solutions, but it is relatively new to CPU heatsinks.

In this review Frostytech is evaluating Nexus' HOC-9000 heatsink, a medium height lower noise cooler for Intel socket 775 and AMD socket 754/939/940/AM2+ processors. The HOC-9000 stands 128mm tall and features one low speed 120mm PWM fan held in place with flexible rubber posts. The cooler weighs upwards of 550grams, uses four 8mm diameter copper heatpipes and comes with a couple stickers you can plaster to the side to 'customize' it. Retail price is in the neighborhood of $49.

Nexus HOC-9000 Heatsink

HEATSINK SPECSHEET Manufacturer: Nexus Model No.: HOC-9000 Materials: Aluminum fins, nickel plated copper heatpipes, aluminum base. Fan Mfg: Nexus AD1212DX-A7BGL Fan Spec: 800-1500RPM, 12V, 0.13A Fan Dim: 25x120x120mm Heatsink & Fan Dim: 128x149x150mm Weight: 550 grams Includes: LGA775 and K8 socket mounting hardware, fan power adaptors, stickers Compatible with Sockets: 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+, LGA775 Est. Pricing: $49USD ($49CDN)

Some large stickers are supplied so you can customize the appearance of the Nexus HOC-9000 heatsink. They can be stuck onto the black sides of the cooler, for our tests we left them off.

FrostyTech's Test Methodologies are outlined in detail here if you care to know what equipment is used, and the parameters under which the tests are conducted. Now let's move forward and take a closer look at this heatsink, its acoustic characteristics, and of course its performance in the thermal tests!