AVC 112AM1 Copper Skive Heatsink Review

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We always try our best to review heatsinks on their merits alone. This means we generally don't form an opinion about a particular cooler until the temperature results are in. Only then do we take into account the performance with more rudimentary aspects like noise production, overall build quality, materials and heatsink design. We've seen time and time again that the more complicated a heatsink gets is no guarantee of skyrocketing performance.

For the most part, heatsink manufacturers are very accepting of less than glowing results - after all, not all heatsinks can be top performers. Some heatsinks will forever be relegated to the mid-level or OEM class - and this is not necessarily a bad thing. When a heatsink turns out to be a very good performer our review usually gets linked to, along with several others, providing the consumer with a broad range of third-party references. In our opinion, reviews are one of the best ways to provide consumers with unbiased opinions on a product, and this is something that the hardware community is built upon.

The downside to a positive review can come when a manufacturer takes it upon themselves to copy the article, edit it, and remove proper credit without any permission from the publisher. This happened to us most recently when Titan Corp (www.titan-cd.com) took our review of the TTC-D5TBA, edited it and posted it on their servers without permission. It was only by chance that we stumbled across this infringement which was ultimately removed.

While none of this has anything to do with the AVC 112AM1, or AVC, it is something you as a comsumer should be aware of. While reviews on the publishers website (FrostyTech for example) are as they were intended to be read, once a review is moved to the manufacturers server all control over integrity is lost.

Now back to the review at hand...

The Skive process has been gaining in popularity amongst heatsink manufacturers because it offers a quick way to produce a finished heatsink. No soldering or brazing is required to keep the fins in place because the fins are part of the same material that makes up the base plate. In the most refined versions of Skive heatsinks high fin pitches are commonplace, and fin thickness hovers around 0.3mm.

The clear fan, and copper fins give the 112AM1 a distinctive look, apart from the typical black fan and aluminum heatsinks that so proliferate the marketplace.

	Heatsink Specsheet: Model: 112AM1 Fan: AVC, 5400RPM, 12V, 0.19A. Fan Dim: 11x60x60mm Heatsink Dim: 36x60x60mm HS Material: Copper Mfg by: Asia Vital Corp (AVC) Cost: ~$25 Sold By: www.avc.com.tw www.canarep.com www.thermo-link.com

The 112AM1 is a rather short heatsink fitting into a 60mm footprint with somewhat thick fins. The base plate is not very thick and in general the heatsink is cooled by a small 60mm fan. Noise is not an issue, but is overheating one? Well the short answer is no, but to see just how well the AVC 112AM1 does perform you'll have to read on a bit further.