Now for the performance - this is a small cooler made to fit in small spaces. So it is not reasonable to expect the performance to be on par with coolers that are twice the size, let alone the ones that are so big they have their own zip code. And that is what the thermal testing showed. When the CPU was under a load, the cooler struggled to keep up even when the Pure Wings 2® 120mm PWM fan was running at full speed. This was without the additional stress of an overclock. However, I would expect that the majority of systems that would benefit from this cooler would not be subjected to full loads, especially not for extended periods of time. If you are benchmarking your enthusiast level system, chances are you are going to have an expensive, monster cooler sitting on your CPU, so I don't want to sound negative about the Shadow Rock LP. Given the intended application, I believe this cooler would be just fine for what I would consider normal use. And in a small case, your cooling options are usually limited, and that is where the Shadow Rock LP shines.