As motherboard technology progresses throughout the years, we find that the speed of information transfer between components becomes much faster than it used to be. The negative side of this is when information is transferred at a faster rate, more thermal heat is emitted from that electronic device. This is no exception to a motherboard northbridge. The northbridge is the electronic component that controls all functions between processor, memory (sans Athlon 64 memory controller), and graphics.

To help combat this problem, manufacturers of our aftermarket heatsinks for processors are inventing ways to help cool this vital component of our motherboards. Noctua has presented us with their NC-U6 northbridge cooler, and I am going to see if this cooler performs as well as it looks.