Thermaltake's ISGC-400 is a lower noise low profile heatsink suitable for media PC or other compact chassis. The aluminum cooling fins on the ISGC-400 are widely spaced to allow air from the single 120mm fan to pass through easily, so a high speed fan isn't needed. Six 6mm diameter copper heatpipes ensure good thermal conduction from the base to the saw-toothed fins and a small manual fan speed controller attached to the fan power cable allows fan speed to be adjusted from 800-1300RPM for situations which demand the least noise possible.

The Thermaltake ISGC-400 heatsink comes with fan that has beautiful glossy white fan blades shaped like the fins of a whale. The fan motor used Hydro Dynamic Bearings to decrease noise and improve lifespan (MTBF 50,000 hours), always a nice touch.

The 615gram ISGC-400 will fit in low profile computer systems where tower heatsinks cannot tread, at 102mm in height this includes 3U-sized PC cases. The heatsink installs onto Intel socket 775/1366 and AMD socket AM2/AM3 processors and should run about $34 USD/CDN.

Thermaltake ISGC-400 Heatsink

heatsink specsheet manufacturer: thermaltake model no.: isgc-4000 materials: aluminum fins, copper heatpipes, aluminum base with copper baseplate fan mfg: thermaltake ttb122512ls fan spec: 800-1300rpm, 12v, 0.33a fan airflow: 58cfm fan dim: 25x120x120mm heatsink & fan dim: 102x126x151mm weight: 615 grams includes: multi-socket socket mounting hardware, thermal compound, instructions Compatible with Sockets: AMD - AM2/AM2+/AM3 Intel - LGA775/1366 Pricing: $34USD ($34CDN)

Mounting brackets for the Thermaltake ISGC-400 screw into a large extruded aluminum heatsink soldered to the opposite side of the line of heatpipes at the base. The bottom of the heatsink that makes contact with the processor is actually a 2mm thin copper plate, rather than the more complicated exposed heatpipe type. If the heatpipes are doing their job properly, this heatsink at the bottom of the ISGC-400 shouldn't ever get very hot. I suppose owing to the top-down airflow it does add additional useful cooling surface area however.

Mounting Hardware and Brackets

Thermaltake's ISGC-400 heatsink heatsink is compatible with Intel socket 775/1366 and AMD socket AM2/AM2+/AM3 processors. Heatsink installation requires access to the rear of the motherboard to install small nuts, as the overhang of the large 120mm aluminum cooling fin array makes tool access difficult. Intel LGA1156 processors are not supported. The ISGC-400 heatsink accomodates one 120mm fan, held in place with wire fan mounting clips.

The installation hardware isn't the easiest to use, but does hold the heatsink firmly in place once installed. Getting at the CPU afterward is likely to be a bit of a pain though.

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 stamped copper base plate has a polished finish, surface roughness is approximately 8 microinches, which is considered good. The base is perfectly flat in both axis.

FrostyTech's Test Methodologies are outlined in detail here if you care to know what equipment is used, and the parameters under which the tests are conducted. Now let's move forward and take a closer look at this heatsink, its acoustic characteristics, and of course its performance in the thermal tests!