The package is of clear plastic with cardboard packing, allowing you to see the main unit. You immediately notice the length of the Deep Impact; this is no small cooler. Opening the package you find that the fan and other extra's are concealed in the bottom and top parts of the cardboard packing, safely tucked away.

The extras include the fan, 4 screws, a syringe of Stars silver thermal paste and the 1 page English instructions. This means that some assembly is required but it isn't anything difficult, just simply screwing the fan into place.

The unit is surprisingly not as heavy as it looks thanks mainly to the fact that this is a copper insert attaching to the tube core (with the tube being filled with the compound for heat transfer), with the surrounding material being aluminium. The sample we have here includes a blue shroud on one side, which lifts the fan away from the fins and guides it through the HSF.

The shroud is branded with the Aerocool logo in relief on both sides and attached to the top most fin structure with 2 screws. I would have preferred to see the shroud attached to the bottom as well as the top, and whilst it isn't a problem per say, it would have just been more reassuring.

You can clearly see the Supertube running through the centre and protruding slightly from the top. The overall shape is square'ish from the top with the corners of the fins rounded as a safety precaution. The bottom part of the unit is the same as some other HSF's in that the tube makes contact with the CPU die via a copper insert, and surrounding this is an aluminium base.

The base is smooth to the naked fingertip and appears to be flat and even, but you can plainly see the machine marks. A little lapping would probably do some good, and it wouldn't take much to bring it to a mirror finish. As you may have noticed from the picture, yes, you can remove the surrounding aluminium although it would serve no practical purpose.

The clip for this cooler when I first saw it was a pretty big let down. That's not to say it didn't work properly or anything, but I was surprised to see it hanging free from the sink. Now when I say hanging free I mean it was possible to mount this sink in the 4 compass point directions because the clip was not attached physically to the base at all.

Now responses to problems such as these are for me a good indication of the companies ideals. I wasn't happy with the clip (amongst others) and therefore neither were Aerocool. They went back and revised the clipping mechanism. The new clip is still not physically attached to the cooler, but it can no longer be twisted around and turned about; movement is limited. Also Aerocool have seen fit to include a finger bar to use when attaching the clip. I would have personally liked to have seen a longer length on this to aid in leverage but it does work well enough.

The overall looks of the unit are unique to say the least. It isn't a work of art, but it does give you an instant impression of meaning business, with a sort of radiator look to it. It will certainly draw attention that's for sure, but it is in no way designed to look good, this cooler is designed with application use in mind above all else. It's tall, very tall, being twice the height of your standard HSF and this is something you will have to keep in mind before buying.

One thing that did worry me before I received the Deep Impact was that the height coupled with the weight would be too much for the Zif socket lugs, but it is actually lighter than it appears and only worried me marginally. I wouldn't personally be happy putting this in a case that would get moved around a lot, but I'm not worried it would fall off/break off in a stationary case. Ok, let's move on and put the Deep Impact to the test.