Dynatron Model-R 1U Cu Microfin Heatsink Review

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The market for 1U servers is increasing rapidly these days as data centers increasingly move away from the bulky 3U and 5U servers that were once the staple of websites. It only makes sense for the supply of 1U server heatsinks to move with equal momentum.

To fulfill the requirements of cooling server processors in such an extremely constrained environment, a few companies - most notably Alpha - have introduced low profile heatsinks designed specifically for 1U servers. These new class of high performance heatsinks are small compared to their desktop brethren, but have a much larger workload to deal with.

As selection goes, the options for cooling 1U servers are still small compared with the huge variety of heatsinks designed for desktops with AMD or Intel processors. However, with the introduction of the Dynatron Model-R (DC1206BMR) that list has at least grown by one.

Based on Dynatrons' signature high-density Microfin technology, the Model-R sports a high fin pitch and solid copper construction. With its sixty 0.35mm thick fins spaced 1.0mm apart, the 24mm tall Model-R closely resembles the Model-O. However, to comply with the requirements of cooling a 1U server processor, the Model-R uses fins of only 7.0mm in height - an extraordinarily thin profile for a server if you really think about it.

Designed for: 1U Servers running: AMD Socket A processors up to 1.3GHz. Intel FC-PGA socket 370 processors to 1.26GHz.

Heatsink Data: Model: DC1206BMR Fan: Top Motor, 5300RPM, 24CFM, 12V, 0.20A Fan Dim: 10x60x60mm Heatsink Dim: 24x63x63mm HS Material: C1020 Copper Fin Count: 60 fins Weight: 220 gram Mfg by: Dynatron Cost: $30-40 Sold By: Dynatron

The Microfins are small

Microfins are a technology employed by Dynatron for constructing fully-finned heatsinks from a solid piece of aluminum or copper by means of a skiving action. Essentially, a knife blade cuts into the surface of the heatsink base material to draw up fins of about 0.35mm in thickness. While this is not a unique to Dynatron entirely (AVC uses similar technology on one of their coolers), the Model-R does support the tightest fin pitch we have seen to date.

As each Microfin is formed, the side that is in direct contact with the blade remains quite shinny while the opposite becomes rough. The stresses and motion of a sliver of copper being drawn up from the flat plate cause distortion on the crystalline level and this causes the rough surface.

Rough Side	Smooth Side

Hopefully you can see from the above set of images that the heatsink is indeed a single-piece, with no interface between the fins and the base whatsoever.

The shape and form of the fins on the Model-R are the best that we have seen from all of the other Dynatron heatsinks we have looked at. I guess the higher the fin gets the more likely it is to suffer from some amount of height.