Thermal Integration TI-A8641L Heatsink Review

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Looking over the Thermal Integration TI-A8641L it is easy to draw parallels with Zalman's flower shaped heatsinks. Both heatsinks use punched out sheet metal bolted together to form one entire heatsink - a process which is both economical, and rather ingenuitive. Zalman have certainly cornered the market with their style of bolted-together heatsinks, but I can also see Thermal Integration's becoming a driving force in the more economically sensitive mainstream users segment.

The TI-A8641L is a socket A AthlonXP heatsink which weighs in at approx. 470 grams. The small heatsink is under 60mm tall, and is made from several dozen aluminum and copper fins which have been cut from a sheets about 0.3mm thick. Bolted together, the fins come together to form a cohesive heatsink. The copper fins are located directly over the core of the processor to aide in thermal transmission, and mounted above all of this is a 70mm fan.

	Heatsink Specsheet: Model: TI-A8641L HS Material: Copper and aluminum Fins Fan: 3800RPM, 12V, 0.4A Fan Dim: 15x70x70mm FHS Dimensions: 80x72x60mm Weight: 470g Made by: T.I.T.I. Sold By: www.thermal-integration.com

Not only are there full size aluminum and copper fins in the construction of this heatsink, but between heat fin is a copper spacer 1mm thick. The copper base that these spacers form measures 10mm thick, and helps to ensure heat energy is transmitted laterally to the outer fins.

Two relatively small screws and some steel brackets hold the fins of this heatsink in place. Were the screws to loosen, the heatsink would come undone and the processor below would ultimately fail.