Since rearing its head in 2008 cooling company Prolimatech has delivered a number of products that have been embraced by the enthusiast community. Products such as the original Megahalems were an instant hit, while the more recently released Armageddon is proving to be just as popular. Both products were goliaths, measuring around 16cm tall and weighing almost 800 grams, despite being manufactured largely from aluminum.

However over the past two years Prolimatech has not just been working to conquer the CPU cooling market but also the VGA cooling market, with their MK-13. Although not quite as successful as their CPU coolers, the MK-13 did prove to be a powerful and flexible VGA cooler.

Almost four months has passed since we checked out the Armageddon and we were starting to wonder what might be next from Prolimatech. Well wonder no more, because the company's latest creation is here. While you might have been expecting another massive CPU cooler or perhaps even a new oversized VGA cooler, the latest Prolimatech is anything but massive.

Rather, their latest creation is a low-profile CPU cooler which has been dubbed Samuel 17 (named after the Old Testament chapter with the David and Goliath story). Without going into detail about that story, it seems like Prolimatech are trying to say that the Samuel 17 should not be underestimated for its small stature, as it can perform like some of the big boys.

That said, with an expected retail value of $42 US, few are going to take the Prolimatech Samuel 17 price too lightly. Other popular low-profile heatsinks, such as the Scythe Shuriken which comes with a quality 100mm fan, costs just $30 US, while its bigger brother the “Big Shuriken” costs just $35 US. There are also the more typical run of the mill type low-profile coolers, such as the Arctic-Cooling Freezer 7 LP and Thermaltake Slim X3, which cost a whisker over $20 US.

However it appears Prolimatech have their targets set on bigger fish, such as the Thermalright AXP-140 low-profile heatsink which costs a whopping $55 US without a fan. When compared to the AXP-140 the new Samuel 17 does not seem all that expensive, but how do they compare in terms of performance? Well that is a question we plan to answer shortly…

Possibly the biggest problem we have had with the majority of low-profile coolers is the fan. This is because most only feature tiny 60mm fans or smaller, that are just 10mm thick. Although the Samuel 17, like all Prolimatech heatsinks, does not come with a fan, it can support huge 120mm fans which is impressive. Ideally users are going to want to configure the Samuel 17 with a 120 x 12mm fan such as the Scythe Slip Stream 120 mm Slim, which we will be testing with.

Not only does this fan move quite a lot of air, but when paired with the compact Samuel 17 it does so over quite a large surface area. Using six individual 6mm thick copper heatpipes to extract heat from the base, the heatsink features 36 aluminum fins.

The heat is extracted from the processor using a copper base plate which measures 35mm x 35mm x 5mm. The copper base plate is connected to a much larger aluminum plate which features mounting holes for unique brackets that allow the Samuel 17 to be installed on Intel LGA775/1156/1366 and AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3 platforms.

Installing the Samuel 17 is relatively easy, though keep in mind that motherboard removal is required unless you have a case such as the Cooler Master HAF 932, which features a large hole in the motherboard tray providing access to the back of the motherboard. If you are installing the Samuel 17 on a motherboard yet to be installed into a case, then we believe that this heatsink can be safely installed within 5 minutes.

In fact, the method used by Prolimatech is actually very intelligent, and it allows for very quick and easy installation on all platforms. The same installation method is used for both AMD and Intel platforms, as the user simply needs to attach the brackets to suit their socket.

Once the user has selected the correct mounting brackets they need to be attached to the base of the heatsink using four supplied screws. Once this step has been completed the heatsink is ready to be installed. There are four spring loaded screws which feature rubber washers to avoid contact with the underside of the motherboard. These screws are designed to fasten the Prolimatech Samuel 17 over the CPU socket.

There are two more sets of screws, each comprising of four, which are used to secure a 120mm fan to the Samuel 17. There is a low-profile set for 12mm fans and a standard set for 25mm fans. Since we are using the Slip Stream 120mm Slim, the low-profile 12mm screws were used.

Overall installing the Samuel 17 on any of the supported AMD or Intel platforms is extremely quick and easy, providing you have rear access to the CPU socket. Installing the fan is even easier and can be comfortably done with the heatsink already installed into a low-profile system.

When testing the coolers we remount them onto the CPU three times and record the idle/load data. Each time the thermal paste is wiped clean from both the CPU and the heatsinks base. The best result is displayed rather than the average of all the recorded data.

The heatsinks that come with their own fan are naturally tested with that particular fan. The heatsinks that do not come with a fan are all tested with the same fan. That fan being the Scythe Slip Stream 120mm Slim (SY1212SL12H) which operates at 2000 RPM and costs roughly $13 US.

Because we record the temperatures using EVEREST Ultimate Edition, the same version is used every time, with the same motherboard using the exact same BIOS revision. Furthermore, the same Intel Core i5 750 processor clocked at the standard 2.66GHz was also used each time. Also please note that all tests have been conducted using horizontal motherboard orientation, positioned flat in a traditional desktop or small form factor computer case.

Note: Please be aware that the photos featured throughout the review were taken for illustration purposes only and were not necessarily taken with the hardware used for testing.

Hardware - Intel Core i5 750 - x3 2GB G.Skill DDR3 PC3-12800 (CAS 8-8-8-20) - Seagate 500GB 7200-RPM (Serial ATA300) - Radeon HD 5870 (1GB) - Asrock P55 Extreme (Intel P55) Software - Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit) - ATI Catalyst 10.6

At idle the Prolimatech Samuel 17 performed very well, as it operated within a degree of the larger and more expensive Thermalright AXP-140 RT. Moreover the Samuel 17 outperformed the Scythe Big Shuriken by a degree, while it was a 6 degree improvement on the Core i5 750 box cooler.

Under full load the Prolimatech Samuel 17 still performed very well, with a stress temp of 59 degrees, making it 8 degrees cooler than the Core i5 750 box cooler. Although this meant that the Samuel 17 was 4 degrees warmer than the Thermalright AXP-140 RT, it did still manage to outperform the Scythe and Arctic-Cooling low-profile coolers.

Prolimatech has been able to effectively shrink down their award winning designs, into something that will cater for the low-profile market. The Samuel 17 is in impressive little product as it manages to incorporate many of the design aspects found on much more expensive and much bigger heatsinks.

The six 6mm thick copper heatpipes proved invaluable in this design, extracting the heat from the base and dispersing it through a series of aluminum fins. Making the design all that more effective is the 120mm fan support, which not only provides the CPU heatsink with a great deal of air-flow, but also surrounding components such as the motherboard and memory.

This is a very important aspect of the Samuel 17, as not all low profile coolers do such a great job of supplying other critical components with air-flow. Another important aspect of the Samuel 17 is its universal design, which provides support for the latest AMD and Intel platforms, further improving the flexibility of the Samuel 17.

The Samuel 17 is one of the best low-profile CPU coolers that we have come across, though having said that it is also one of the most expensive. The Arctic-Cooling Freezer 7 LP which costs roughly half as much at $23 US, also comes with a fan and according to our findings was just 3 degrees warmer under load. That said, the Freezer 7 LP does not cool the surrounding components quite as well, while it lacks the platform compatibility of the Samuel 17.

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Overall we were pleased with the performance gains that the Prolimatech Samuel 17 achieved when compared to the standard cooler that comes with the Core i5 750 processor. Although the gains were not as huge as we are used to seeing when testing larger tower coolers, it is important to note that the Samuel 17 is no bigger than the standard low-profile Intel box cooler.

Those able to justify spending over $50 US on a high performance low-profile heatsink and fan combo will not be disappointed with what the Samuel 17 has to offer. At the end of the day, the Samuel 17 did allow the Core i5 750 processor to operate cooler and quieter, which is the aim of the game, and therefore we are giving it our performance award.