Introduction

Arctic Cooling is a company that needs no introduction. They have been around the aftermarket component game since 2001. Not only does AC provide cooler and thermal compounds, they also carry a full lineup of components to house, cool and power your favorite pieces of hardware. With dozens of selections for cooling, I feel AC should have a good handle on things at this point as a company.

First off, we are going to take a look at the Alpine 11 Pro. This is a low wattage, small footprint (similar to stock) CPU cooler, designed to keep CPUs at a respectable temperature with limited room needed to do so. This very well may be something that you buyers are looking for in your next HTPC build. In a couple of pages we will find out just how well the Alpine 11 Pro stands up to other smaller fan coolers.

Secondly, I was also sent a sample of MX-3 thermal compound to run through our gambit of testing. Now, I am a huge fan of MX-2 and it performs admirably for the price. Now I get to see the new "big dog" in the AC line with their MX-3 and put it head to head against many of the more known brands of compound and greases to see just what Arctic Cooling is offering buyers this time around. Time now to jump into the specifications and get onto the task at hand! Let's see just what the Alpine 11 Pro and MX-3 have in store.