Eumax EU01 Copper Heatsink Review
The EU01 is a low profile copper
socket A heatsink with a single stiff clip. Built up from a 5mm thick copper base with over 30 thin copper fins surround the
10mm thick fan, the EU01 looks as though it might have some surprises in store for us. With potential applications ranging from small form factor PC's to even possibly entry level 1U servers, the EU01 is an interesting combination of
small size and highly conductive materials.
As the Eumax EU01 is composed of two separate sets of components - a copper base and many thin copper fins - the thermal interface between
these two components is very important.
Some of the questions we routinely consider when examining this type of heatsink are if the fins are butted up to the base, swaged into groves cut in the copper, or soldered with the help of a small fold to increase the mating surface area. While the latter is typically the most common method we see from Taiwanese manufacturers, Eumax have simply soldered the copper
fins in place with a butt joint.
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| Heatsink Specsheet: |
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- Model Name: EU01
- Fan Specs: 5300RPM, 12V, 0.30A.
- Fan Dim: 10x60x60mm
- Heatsink Dim: 28x65x81mm
- HS Material: Copper, aluminum
- Mfg by: Eumax
Sold By: www.eumax.com
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That type of construction can be perfectly
good, but when you have a butt joint measuring just 0.2mm thick problems can
occur. If the copper fins are not properly cleaned, if the flux is not
applied well enough, or if the solder doesn't flow well the resulting thermal
joint can be poor. Even worse, the mechanical bond between the copper fin and
the copper base can fail.
The sample we received from Eumax arrived
with one loose fin - having apparently shaken itself loose because of a poor solder joint.
This failure occurred even before we installed
the heatsink, but what if the fin had just come loose after the heatsink had
been installed in a system? Images of a copper heatsink fin laying loose on the
rear of an expensive videocard are the stuff of nightmares, and don't bode well
for the
little Eumax EU01.
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