Summer is definitely not on the black list for overclocking fans. Even though you can’t tweak sunshine, tan and vacation time, but these earthly pleasures are surely not alien to overclockers. However, we can’t deny that the summer heat that set in these days does have certain negative effect on overclocked system components including CPUs.

Some overclockers even have to lower their speeds for the sake of higher system stability, according to a few posts in the forums. And for everyone else higher air temperature is just another great opportunity to check out the stability of their overclocked systems in more severe conditions.

The two air-cooling systems for processors we are going to discuss today will be the tools to help you fight these conditions. Please allow me to introduce the CPU coolers from XIGMATEK and APACK.

XIGMATEK Achilles S1284 (CAC-SXHH4-U02)

Package and Accessories

The box of the new XIGMATEK Achilles S1284 cooler boasts extremely original design. The cooler is encapsulated in a clear plastic box with large cardboard inserts inside. One of them is decorated with an ancient shield image:

This is part of the Trojan War theme implied in the cooler’s name: Achilles is the undefeated mythic hero whose only weak spot was his… heel. In fact, it turned out pretty symbolic, as you will see later on :)

You can see the cooler through the clear plastic package without even removing it from the box. It is interesting that the cooler heatsink is packaged upside down, this way drawing the potential customer’s attention to its major distinguishing feature – heatpipe direct touch technology in the cooler base. There are detailed technical specifications of the cooler on the reverse side of the box alongside with the list of compatible processor types.

At the bottom of the package there is a small plastic bag with accessories including the following items:

• Retention swing-clip for AMD K8 and K10 processors;
• Two retention brackets with plastic clips for LGA 775 processors;
• Four silicon shock-absorbing spindles;
• Power cable with an adapter for the PSU Molex connectors;
• Two retention screws for LGA 775;
• A 1g pack of Stars thermal compound;
• Assembly and installation guide in several languages.