Intel Stock 3.06GHz Copper/Aluminum Heatsink Review

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Intel have gone through many different revisions of the stock socket 478 heatsink, and with the release of the 3.06GHz chip things have evolved drastically. Where there once was an extruded aluminum cooler, we now have have a high aspect ratio thin fin heatsink with massive copper base plate.

Being Intel, we already know that the heatsink is going to be very quiet, but how does it stack up against other after market heatsinks? Not only that, if you have this heatsink in your computer, is there any point of 'upgrading' to something else? These are just a few of the questions we hope to be able to answer in this review of the stock Intel 3.06GHz copper/aluminum heatsink.

The most striking thing about the stock Intel 3.06GHz heatsink is how it's made. Assembled from one 9mm copper base and many thin aluminum fins, the process used is called swaging. The aluminum fins are installed in slits cut into the copper, and then a machine is used to compress the copper on either side of the fin to hold it in place.

	Heatsink Specsheet: Model: N/A HS Material: Aluminum, copper base Fan: 4500 RPM, 12V, 0.37A Fan Dim: 20x70x70mm FHS Dimensions: 63x96x70mm Made by: Intel Sold By: www.intel.com

Done correctly, a swaged joint provides a good thermal interface and a solid mechanical joint. After all, the worst situation would be individual aluminum fins coming loose. Such a situation could indicate that the interface between the copper and aluminum was mechanically poor, and hence a poor conductor for heat energy.

The aluminum fins vary in thickness from 0.4mm to 1.0mm thick and are swaged into the copper to a depth of about 2mm. With a fin height of 34mm, the pure aluminum provides a high aspect ratio fin that would otherwise be very difficult to extrude.

Produced via the swaging method, we have direct contact between the copper base metal and the aluminum fins. Other heatsinks along the lines of the stock Intel 3.06GHz model have attempted to simply add a large copper base to the bottom of an extruded aluminum fin pattern. At least in this case, there is one less thermal interface to worry about; seeing as the base and fins are integral to how well a heatsink performs.