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INSIDE THE BOX
Now we pull the heatsink and the ‘goodies’ out to see what we have to work with. Here we have semi-assembled the back plate with the screws and bolts (bottom center) to illustrate the back plate configuration. There is a separate bag for the Socket 2011 bolts, and instructions. The other two bags are for AMD and Intel components. Also included is a handy tube of Thermal Grease TIM. In order to present the review in the light that the kit is intended to function, we did use this TIM for the installation.
There is also an included fan, and this is the key to any noise targets. This 120MM fan is indeed very quiet, partly due to 3rd generation fluid dynamic bearings. The sub-1600 RPM fan does provide some surprising performance at 32-86 CFM, and an impressive 8-24 DBA. This fan can also be substituted for more powerful fans, if the need arises. There is also mounting equipment for another fan to be mounted to the rear of the heatsink for a push/pull configuration.
The bracket on the lower right of the picture above is easily attached with two screws to the contact plate of the heatsink. This is going to provide the top portion of the mounting system.
One thing that jumps right out at us is the exposed 6mm heatpipes on the CPU connection surface. This is an important consideration as this allows direct heat transfer from the heatpipes to the fins above. A vast array of coolers out there that do not utilize this technology, which is unfortunate. These types of coolers usually offer the very best performance.
A very innovative approach for maximum performance that has been taken is in the design of the top of the contact surface itself. These metal protrusions will allow for extra heat transfer from the base of the cooler to maximize cooling potential. This is a very unique approach and definitely benefits the user with that extra bit of heat transfer that can shave off a few extra degrees.
Another of the keys to the great performance is the “wavy” appearance of the frontal configuration of the fins. This provides the airflow the least amount of turbulence at the most important point, when the air is actually flowing into the device. Coolers with straight lines of fins actually develop air turbulence at the front of the fins, which considerably alters the airflow into the fin area. This is an emerging technique in cooler technology that has provided great performance benefits.
Yet another key consideration that we can observe from the picture below is the ‘pockmarked’ appearance of the fins themselves. There are in fact divots that are manufactured into the surface of every single fin.
This technique is much like the dimples that you can observe on a typical golf ball. These small dimples in the surface actually create less resistance for the air that is traveling over the surface, thus speeding up the airflow and lowering turbulence as the air travels through the fin area.
Concise professional review as always Paul.
A few questions. Would it be possible to turn the heat sink 90 degrees so that the warm air would exit through the rear case fan, or is there a clearance issue on that eVGA board? I can’t be sure if there is a clearance problem, or not, from the angle of the photo.
Second, if turning it 90 degrees would create a clearance problem, wouldn’t a person be better off to flip the fan around so that the warm air pulled from the heat sink would exhaust through the top of the case?
As it is now, the warm air from the heat sink would be blown directly into the graphics cards. The last thing high performance graphics cards need these days is warm air.
you make an excellent point about the graphics cards hammeister! I do use watercooling on my cards, so that wasn’t taken into much consideration for my personal usage, but it should be for illustrating to other users their desired setups.
There would be absolutely no clearance issue at all if it is placed either way with this board. One could even have the air exhaust to the top, as the fan can go either direction, on either side of the heatsink.
The only constraint would be the first RAM slot if using ram with extra long fins, but most ram would be fine. this would also only manifest itself in the configuration shown.
Thanks for your input hammy, i will take that into consideration on my next heatsink review. Any feedback is appreciated and will only help to make future reviews even better 🙂
Hi, im thinking about buying this cooler and putting it on my fatality z77 professional-m. but im very concerned about if it will fit with my 4 corsair vengeance RAM sticks. i wanna run it with 2 fans (1on each side ofc) blowing out of the back of the case. i know, you would have to test it to answer this questuion but pls give me your estimate about this. that would be great.
I have another question, did you this push/pull (2fans), and exhaust hot air from the back of the case. And maybe by any chance do you know is the fan manufacturer, it seem quit nice fan, to be able to put so 86CFM and be quiet at the same time !