As you can see, there are some pretty heavy hitters here. Our test bench consisted of an Abit KT7-100 housed in and Antec SX830 with 2x80mm fans housed in the optional mounting brackets. Also providing ambient heat in this test was a Voodoo 3, Linksys NIC and a Sound Blaster Live MP3. The temps were recorded using Motherboard Monitor 4.18 and we also tested Motherboard Monitor 5 in this roundup for consistency. Ambient temperatures were taken with my modified CP-Vue from Radio Shack.
Lets go over the basics of heatsink installation and then get to how they performed.
The main thing to think about is keeping one hand pressed on the center of the heatsink pressing down, keeping the heatsink level while you attach the heatsink clips. I always apply the putty and place the heatsink on the top of the CPU core first, I then move it around slightly to even the paste out and get a thin layer, which leads to better thermal transfer. Then, with one hand I hold the heatsink centered and level on the core and the pads while I attach one clip. After that, I switch hands. I still hold the heatsink level but now with the other hand while I struggle to get the other clip down and attached firmly.