AVC 117160 Socket 478 Heatsink Review

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Every retail Intel Pentium 4 Socket 478 processor comes with a big, heavy, Intel approved heatsink. The market of socket 478 heatsinks is thus quite a bit smaller than that of the socket heatsink market, but it is equally important to consumers.

AVC have shown us previously that they can innovate, and make rather cool heatsinks, but the 117160 is just a straight extrusion. With tall sender and tapered fins the 117160 isn't much to look at, but it does come with some rather handy accessories that can help keep your motherboard in good shape.

Along with the stainless steel mounting clips which actually fit overtop of the 117160, and the Heatsink Retension Mechanism (HSRM) AVC have included what we'll call a PCB backplane support. AVC call it the "X-Pad". Basically, it is an "X" shaped piece of metal that fits behind the PCB. The HSRM screws into this device which supports the tension of the heatsink and stops the PCB from bending too much. If you have the chance, mount the regular Intel socket 478 heatsink onto a motherboard outside of the case and take notice of how much it bends the PCB. Pretty bendable eh?

	Heatsink Specsheet: Model: 117160 Fan: AVC, 5400RPM, 12V, 0.2A. Fan Dim: 15x70x70mm Heatsink Dim: 83x55x69mm HS Material: Extruded Aluminum Mfg by: Asia Vital Corp (AVC) Comes with: HSRM, clips, PCB backplane support. Cost: ~$38 Sold By: www.avc.com.tw www.canarep.com www.thermo-link.com

The X-Pad as AVC call it is a really good bit of kit to include with a socket 478 heatsink, and best part is, since the socket is universal, if you ever decide to move to a different heatsink you can still use this support for the PCB. The only downside to installing this HSRM in an existing system is that you will need to fully remove the motherboard from the case.

The device then drops into the mounting holes with its 4mm grommets, and the HSRM is screwed into place the include machine screws. The 117160 comes with preapplied white thermal compound and all that the user need to is remove the protective plastic covering and drop it in place.

A set of two stainless steel spring clip then clip into the HSRM and come over top of the 117160 on either side of the fan and clip in. The stainless steel clips are spring tensioned so that the heatsink is always under pressure. Overall the installation is very straight forward and removing the heatsink isn't a hassle at all.