Weight of the cooler should be a key factor in the mind of enthusiasts when looking for a third-party solution that's intended to protect one of the most expensive components in a system.
It's important to know how well a cooler carries out its many roles - from keeping the CPU at a good working temperature to ensuring that the entire system doesn't overheat.
But weight, and its possible consequences, have to be factored in, too.
For some enthusiasts, breaching the 1kg barrier is a big deal and we understand just why. Okay, it's only an arbitrary figure but just how much heavier are coolers going to become.
A few years ago, 750g was a big deal. Now that we've crossed the 1kg threshold, what ever will come next?
We've looked at a wide variety of coolers, some aimed at the mass-market, others providing far more specific solutions and tending, as a result, to be considerably weightier. Here is a run-down of the five lightest coolers in our review and that's followed by a graph showing the weight of all candidates.
5th place - Thermaltake Ruby Orb
While the cooling performance of the Thermaltake Ruby Orb didn't really cut the mustard, it is pretty light. At 95g over the recommended limit for the LGA 775 socket, it takes fifth place.
4th place - Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
This third-party stalwart picks up fourth spot in the weight department, coming in 70g over the recommended specification at 520g. Okay, the performance of the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro isn't as impressive as its low weight but the product carries a seriously cheap price-tag and does do what it says on the tin.
3rd place - Akasa Evo 120 V2
Surprisingly, the Akasa Evo 120 V2 manages 3rd place in the weight-table and, at just 518g, it's only 68g over the recommended limit.
2nd place - Gigabyte G-Power Pro
Although it weighs just 430g, the G-Power Pro managed to turn in a very decent performance. Clearly, you don't need to go over the top to improve on the stock Intel Cooler.
1st place - Intel Stock Cooler
Given that the Intel stock cooler comes in well below the 450g recommended limit, a further first place, to accompany the one for fitment time, was never in doubt. Of course, it was no match for its bigger competitors on the thermals but it did still manage to keep things under control.
Here is the full list of weights for each of the 27 configurations in this group test:
