I.C.E Technology

Introduced with the Shuttle SS40, the heatpipe returns again for the SS51. From what I've read, the heatpipe mostly addresses the noise issue as you no longer need a fan on top of your CPU heatsink. To best explain how this works, we'll look at it in steps&

1) Primary heatsink absorbs the heat
2) Heatpipes conduct heat away from CPU heatsink
3) Heatpipes are cooled by rear fan

The heatsink itself is a low profile aluminum heatsink with a copper base. It comes shipped preinstalled in the retention bracket. I'm not sure if it's the shipping, but our base was scratched pretty badly. I hope Shuttle would consider putting some kind of a protective film or tape in the future, but this was a bit of a disappointment.

The next couple of pictures are of the heatpipe itself. The heatpipe is surrounded by thin fins to help distribute the heat, which is in turned cooled down by a Sunon fan. The fan itself is of the speed control variety, but works in conjunction with the BIOS. You can set at which temperature(s) should the fan speed up. At its lowest settings, it was fairly quiet, but at the higher speeds, the noise is quite noticeable.

The clip is a snap to install, and applies a good amount of pressure on the heatsink. It does require two hands to put on and/or take off, but no tools are required. The fan shroud requires the removal of 4 thumb screws, and total assembly time of the cooling is about a couple minutes.

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