A plastic fan guard protects fingers and stray objects from the moderately paced 4000RPM fan below. Chances are good you'll get slightly better air flow by removing this for a wire fan grill. The fan draws power through a standard 3-pin motherboard fan header, and supports RPM monitoring.

Heatsink Top:
The Vantec Aeroflow2 is remarkably pretty with the fan removed - the symmetric appearance almost has the look of retro-modern artwork. While it may look cool, our question revolves around just how well this heatsink actually cools. The 25mm diameter copper core is in the area of 30mm tall, just short of the full height of the aluminum section of the heatsink. Each aluminum fin measures 0.5mm thick at the tip, and 1.0mm thick at the base. The fins are spaced ~1.0mm apart, and their length varies from just 1mm to 31mm long. The splines coming out from the center of the heatsink are about 3mm thick on average.

Side A:
The steel fan shroud holds the fan in place, about 4mm above the aluminum fins of the heatsink. On either side are little folds for the clips to fit into, and hold the entire heatsink in place on the socket. The Aeroflow 2 stands about 73mm tall, meaning it should fit in most compact cases without issue.

Side B:
The aluminum fins appear to slope into the heatsink, but this is simply the way the body has been extruded. The splines which come off at an angle are there to bite into the exhaust air from the fan, and improve cooling. Other companies have taken to curving the fins for the same effect.

The base appears virtually identical to the top of the Aeroflow2, except for the fact that copper core is just about flush with the surrounding aluminum. The copper section which comes in contact with the processor is very flat, and quite smooth. There are two small 1mm deep recess cuts on the outer 13mm of fin on either long edge of the heatsink.