by Ramil Tranquilino
Manufactured by: Thermosonic
Intro
Nowadays, when you say socket heatsink, I'm sure you'll have a long
list of choices to make. Gone are the days when you just choose between
3-4 heatsink manufacturers for your aftermarket HSF. There wasn't much
option then.
With the ever growing popularity of overclocking emerged a new era of heatsink technology. Different designs, sizes, weight, materials came into existence. Some huge and noisy, some unique and aestethically attractive.
Having tested and used a lot of these heatsinks, I came to the conclusion that not all that is big is good, not all that is attractive is great, and not all is about performance. You may have a great performing HSF but the noise will drive you crazy. You may have a good HSF tht wouldn't fit in some other board. Or a heatsink that will require brute strenght and force just to get it installed. Taking it off is another thing.
So what's a good heatsink to me? It should be a performer that doesn't
drive you nuts with the noise. It should also be great looking and at the
same time, easy to install. A heatsink that would fit most motherboard.
Now, is that asking too much?
The ThermoEngine
I have to admit the name alone sounds very masculine. Like if
someone asks you what your HSF is, you can answer it with a deep loud voice
and say ThermoEngine! Not some FGH-69 sort of thing. I know
it doesn't make sense. hehe. Anyway one has to agree with me that the looks
and the designis very eyecatching and unique. The ThermoEngine sports
a fin design that stems off from the central core of the heatsink.
It's base connects to the CPU via the central core with the serrated fins. They placed a sort of thermal pad(phase-change) in the contact surface of the heatsink's core. The effectivity of this pad will be obvious in the benchmarks later on. It's got a semi-shrouded fan to go with. Quite a thin looking fan. The fan is rated at 5100 rpm and gives 16.3 CFM @ 35.7 dBA.
That's a pen side by side with the ThermoEngine
fan
Here's the full specs...
