Introduction

Nexus has sent us a couple of coolers in this category of compact cooling solutions before, namely the Nexus XiR 3500 copper and the XiR 2300 aluminum coolers. Nexus is based off the concept that there is a real need to lower the ambient noise of a PC to make it more enjoyable to be around. This philosophy stands to serve them well as more users are putting HTPC's in rooms where noise just isn't wanted, let alone the idea of giving the ears of everyday users a break.

Here we have the Nexus FLC-3000 universal cooler. The idea behind the FLC-3000 is not a totally new idea, really an adaptation of their previous design. This time Nexus has taken the XiR 2300 and changed a few things around to address some issues. They have set the bend of the heat pipes closer to the base and used shorter heat pipes. This doesn't allow the cooler to lie over completely as the previous ones did. What it does do is a two-fold benefit in theory. For one, it gets the fan closer to the base holding the SkiveTEK® heat sink which should improve its cooling ability. And the angle in which the cooler sits allows for a directional breeze to flow across the motherboard to help cool vital components.

Having the results already from the FLC-3000's previous versions to compare to, I would expect this cooler to do well. It is time to get to business. Let's take a good look at what the Nexus FLC-3000 offers us.