Written By:
Date Posted: June 12, 2002

Conclusion

    What though can we conclude about this massive heatsink?  We can see that this heatsink performs very well, tying the best heatsink so far, the CAK-II 38 from Global Win.  It seems that this heatsink keeps up Alpha's tradition of creating the best heatsink for the rest to try to copy/beat performance wise.

    To what does it owe this performance?  Most of the performance can be traced to the heatsink size itself, as it offers a basic surface area about 77% larger than many 60mm heatsinks.  The fan volume of the slower fans is very quiet, but not silent, though with the quieter fan it could very well cool an XP 2000+ without overheating.   The copper inlay also helps performance, compared to an aluminum only heatsink.

    The mounting of the heatsink is both a good and bad thing.  The mounting using the holes around the socket, allow for a better and sturdier mount, putting less pressure on the CPU core, thus lowering the possibility of cracking the core and giving yourself an expensive keychain.  The poor points of this mounting design is that you have to take the board out to put the heatsink on or take the heatsink off, which is only annoying if you are upgrading CPU's fairly regularly.

    Aesthetically, the heatsink looks average, with the shroud giving it a little more 'class'.  The basic design is very professional and clean with the base being very polished and free of any thermal pad.  The height of the heatsink with the fan installed can stop you from being able to take the slide out motherboard tray out of a Inwin Q500, but unlike the Dragon Orb 3 which has the same problem, the fan can easily be taken off and put back on.

    The absence of any fan on top of the heatsink has both pros and cons.  The lack of fan allows for you to add any speed fan, from the slow Antec Stealth Fan to the screaming loud 68-80CFM Delta fans.  The problem with this is that you have to pay extra for the fan, above and beyond the cost of the heatsink.

    The only other low point is the price, this heatsink isn't cheap at about $35+ US for the heatsink only.  The price with a fan would be about $50 before shipping, which approximately $15 more than the CAK-II, while performing the same in these tests.  The PAL-8045 though, has plenty of fan headroom as the fastest fan testedhas 30CFM less airflow than the fastest fan of its class, while the CAK-II is already the fastest fan in its class.

Good Points

• Very good Performance even with quiet fans
• Quiet fans
• Stable mounting design
• Uses 80mm fans

Bad Points

• High price
• No Fan as standard
• Installation is slightly harder

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