Since every cooler review took payola to pump bogus performance charts so they never settled on scientific measurements. For those wondering, the standard meas

Since every cooler review took payola to pump bogus performance charts so they never settled on scientific measurements. For those wondering, the standard measure is thermal resistance in degrees per watt, for linear systems - doubling the heat that needs to be transferred doubles the temperature difference between the sides. Adding in heat pipes, liquid convection, etc is going to make the system non-linear, so then it makes sense to talk in terms of the delta-T at given wattages. And then since there are phase-change materials, the working temperature should be specified as well. Yes, there are three scalars before you even get to things like scaling fan speed. (I'm not a mechE so I'm sure there's something I'm missing still)