Design and Functionality
The cooler heatsink is a typical tower heatsink consisting of an aluminum plate array sitting on four copper heatpipes:
There are 46 plates in the heatsink array, each about ~0.35mm thin, which is a little thicker than the heatsinks of this type would normally have (~0.25mm). The plates are spaced out 2mm from one another.
XIGMATEK Achilles S1284 measures 120 x 85 x 159mm and weighs 660g (with the fan).
The sides of the heatsink are partially covered with the plate edges bent downwards:
I have to say that they are made in a very interesting manner, as angled ledges. You can clearly see it on the top view shot:
As a rule, covered heatsink sides encourage more efficient use of the air flow from the cooler fan and improve the overall cooler efficiency.
On the same photograph you can see that the heatpipes are spread out in the heatsink array with a shift. It allows not only making the heatsink smaller, but also distributing the heat over the heatsink plates more evenly than in case of lined up heatpipes:
As you may have already noticed there are four heatpipes, each 8mm in diameter. The heatpipes are covered with a thin layer of nickel alloy:
The cooler base is covered with protective film that has to be removed before installation:
