360° View - DeepCool IceEdge 400XT Heatsink Information on Frostytech's test methodology is available here.
DeepCool's IceEdge 400XT heatsink ships with a rubberized 92mm PWM fan. Additional wire fan brackets are supplied to attach a second fan on the rear of the heatsink. The 127mm tall cooler has four 6mm diameter copper heatpipes connecting a hefty copper base plate to 91mm worth of aluminum cooling fin. Each aluminum fin measures 0.4mm thick and is spaced 1.8mm from the next. The bottom-most fin is elevated 33mm above the base for motherboard clearance.
The 6mm diameter copper heat pipes are soldered to the copper base plate and press-fit through the aluminum fins 63.5mm apart. The copper base plate is capped with a 16mm high extruded aluminum heatsink that provides support for the mounting brackets. Each springy wire fan clip which has two small tabs to make fan removal easier in the confines of a computer case, which is always nice.
The raw copper base of the IceEdge 400XT measures 31x40mm in size and is 3-6mm thick. Looking at the top of the heatsink, a plate has been added to hide the heatpipes and provide a more streamlined appearance.

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 copper base plate of DeepCool's IceEdge 400XT heatsink has been machined flat and polished to remove tooling marks and leave a smooth surface. Surface roughness is approximately ~8 microinches which is excellent. The base is flat in both axis - a pleasant surprise in this day and age when so many CPU coolers have convex bases. Nice to see DeepCool improve their manufacturing standards!

Up next, heatsink sound level comparisons....