360° View - Thermaltake V1 Heatsink Information on Frostytech's test methodology is available here.
The 110mm fan is not PWM compatible, but rather uses a 3-pin motherboard fan header. A small potentiometer allows you to adjust fan speed manually. Since the edges of the impeller are exposed you really have to be careful about the power cables getting caught in the fan and stopping it (this happened to us during testing). The base is shown with the socket 775 brackets installed. The copper base measures 36x36mm in size, surface finish is excellent.
From the side we can see the four 6mm diameter copper heatpipes snaking their way from the base of the V1 heatsink to the 116mm tall fan-shaped cooling fins. Each copper fin measures 0.2mm thick and is spaced ~4mm at the outside edge. The fins expand from a thickness of 10 to 28mm in width. Since the base of the V1 heatsink tapers inward, there is plenty of clearance for items located close to the CPU socket.
The 6mm diameter copper heatpipes intersect the copper fan-shaped cooling fins about half way, and 3/4 of the way up. All fin-to-heatpipe joints are soldered. The copper base plate that makes contact with the CPU is 2mm thick.

Base Finish and Flatness

Flipping a heatsink over to inspect the business end is often a simple indicator of overall cooler quality. More practically speaking, a heatsink is in many ways only as effective as the contact it makes with the processor - the flatter and smoother the better. Base finish is one of the criteria that Frostytech measure in the course of evaluating heatsinks, and it involves two distinct aspects. Surface Finish is the first; this is calculated with the aid of Surface Roughness Comparator that has a cross section of common machine surface finishes and their numerical surface roughness equivalents in microinches. The second is Surface Flatness. This is tested with an engineers straight edge or proven flat surface, in two axis.

The base of the Thermaltake V1 heatsink is surprisingly well finished. The copper surface has been machined flat, leaving a surface roughness of ~4 microinches. The copper pad is 36x36mm in size and perfectly flat in both axis.

Next, let's see how this heatsink handles the heat compared to a selection of the best AMD, and then Intel heatsinks!