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The Heatsink
Thermalright has forged quite a hefty heatsink out
of pure copper. As you can see from the side, this
heatsink is made out of one U-shaped slab of copper
extending the width of the heatsink, which contacts
the processor's core or heatspreader. 
Image is clickable for a larger picture
The U is tapered inwards at the top so as to direct
airflow outwards from the center of the heatsink to
the fins. Soldered onto this is a series of thin pure-copper
fins, 35 to be exact, bent and clipped together in
strategic locations to increase strength.
The fins have matching edges on either end for housing
either a 60mm, 70mm, or 80mm fan. Holes have been
drilled through the sides of the heatsink, in four
different places on each side, for fan clips to be
installed in. This way the same pair of 80mm clips
may be used with a 15mm, 25mm, or 38mm tall fan, instead
of providing three sets of clips for each fan dimension.
The finish on this heatsink is superb; however, I
have seen better. By holding the heatsink against
any sort of bright reflection you will notice thin
circular grooves, commonplace in high-end machine
finishes. A sheet of 10,000 grit mirror finish sandpaper
and a few minutes of elbow grease should do the trick
if you're really, really concerned about getting every
last tenth of a degree closer to your ambient temp.
Thermalright protects the base of the heatsink with
a sticker. "Warning! Remove before installation."
Note how the heatsink is very narrow in the base and
will possibly crush an AMD core without those 3M adhesive
pads. The narrow base also means air will flow directly
across the fins and will create minimal turbulence
underneath the fan. Airflow will move quickly and
quietly across the most vital points on the heatsink
without allowing hot air to mingle.
The heatsink is quite narrow, in fact, a large portion
of the airflow is lost on the two sides when utilizing
an 80mm fan.
Thermalright definitely wants to make sure all fins
are securely soldered to the main piece. There's nothing
wrong with a little extra solder!
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