The Akasa Blue Aurora has consistently impressed us throughout the review, and we were actually quite surprised at just what an excellent cooler it is -- Akasa is not generally harped about across online communities as the best thing since sliced bread. In fact, we've genuinely struggled to find anything really wrong with it and between this and the 965, we would actively encourage people to reconsider the constant recommendations of old.

If you pushed us, we'd say that perhaps mounting the fan mount onto the cooler could be a little easier, although a quick trip to the manual remedies this. The lack of AM2 support is perhaps a shame but it simply means you don't pay for what you don't need. Overall, the Blue Aurora ticks all the required boxes in every department.

There are always going to be those looking for maximum performance on air who will opt for the Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme, or those looking for truly silent performance who will pick something from Noctua. These are ultra-premium coolers with price tags to match, and will always have a place at the top end of the market. However, for those looking for the sweet spot of compromise between the two at a price that won't dent your bank balance too much, the Blue Aurora offers a high quality and extremely well priced heatsink for the rest of us.