360° View - Thermaltake Frio Extreme Heatsink Information on Frostytech's test methodology is available here.
Both 140mm PWM fans on the Frio Extreme are powered by separate 4-pin fan connectors. Speed ranges from 1800-1200RPM. The heatsink stands 161mm tall and about 150mm wide. Both fans mount directly to the aluminum fin stacks with wire clips. The translucent blue fan impellers are not illuminated.
Each aluminum fin on the 1230gram Frio Extreme heatsink measures 0.4mm thick and is spaced ~1.5mm apart. The aluminum fin stacks measure 110mm tall, 145mm wide and 43-35mm deep. The six 6mm diameter heat pipes are lined up in a row, 12mm apart. The heatpipes are soldered the base, but only swaged to the aluminum fins. Clearance under the bottom fin is 42mm. Total base thickness is 10mm.
The nickel plated copper base plate of the Frio Extreme heatsink measures 40x42mm in size. All six 6mm diameter copper heatpipes are soldered in place to ensure good thermal conductivity with the 2.3-5.0mm thick heatspreader. From the top we can see a 15mm plenum in front of the second fan. The springy wire fan clips can be installed on either side of the fins, so it's easy to change up the fans.

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 the Thermaltake Frio Extreme heatsink is very smooth due to the nickel-plating process. Surface roughness of the mirror finished base is better than 8 microinches, which is excellent. Compared to an engineers straight edge, the base is slightly convex in one axis and generally flat in the opposite.

Next up, acoustic noise measurements and then it's on to AMD/Intel synthetic thermal test results.