Before starting our tests we were not expecting much from TMG IA1: we thought it would perform worst than its "big brother", Thermaltake BigTyp 14Pro. Its fancy design seemed to us just a cosmetic feature. Its looks and ease of installation, however, made us to like it.

But when duty time arrived, it really impressed us: TMG IA1 performs better than BigTyp 14Pro and Akasa Nero, cooling our CPU almost like Cooler Master V10.

With its fan in low speed it was very quiet and even then its performance was excellent in our tests. We only didn't like the fan speed potentiometer, with its short wires requiring you to put your hand in the computer "guts" when you need to adjust fan speed. A fan with automatic speed control (by the motherboard PWM pin) could be a better choice.

Another potential problem with this cooler is the absence of socket 1366 clips. Probably Thermaltake will sell these brackets, but if you have a Core i7 processor or intend to buy one soon maybe looking for another cooler is a good idea.

Because of its great looks, nice price and excellent performance, we are giving Thermaltake TMG IA1 the Hardware Secrets Golden Award seal.