X-bit labs

Heatpipe Direct Touch: XIGMATEK HDT-S963 Processor Cooler Review (page 2)

Category: Coolers

by Sergey Lepilov

[ 07/25/2007 | 04:38 PM ]

Design

And here comes the XIGMATEK HDT-S963 cooler itself:

The overall design shape and looks may seem pretty common for our regular readers, we have already come across tower design like that before.

The cooler features a heatsink of 42 aluminum fins, each about 0.3mm thick. The fin array sits on three copper heatpipes with 6mm diameter:

There is a small aluminum pad at the bottom of the cooler that hold all three heatpipes together and serves as a retention base. The heatsink is very lightweight, as the cooler dimensions are only 92x50x134mm and its total weight is only 410g.

The cooler width may suggest that it is cooled with a 92mm fan, and it would be absolutely true and correct:

The heatsink design doesn’t allow installing a second fan for air outtake, because the fan retention groove is available only on one side of the heatsink:

By the way, the fan is fastened with four rubber pins that are inserted in-between the heatsink fins:

This type of retention allows not only to eliminate all vibrations from the rotating fan, but also to reduce the level of generated noise. It is also very easy to replace the fan with a new one in case it breaks down.