Article by: Joe Anderson (Hardware Reviewer)
Edited By: Nathan Glentworth (Owner / Head Editor)
Product was submitted by: Evercool
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PRODUCT COMPOSITION
The plastic clamshell box is easy to open, as these things go, and keeps this little cooler safe and sound until it reaches the end user. But, as they say, it's what's inside that counts.
Opening the box is not as difficult as I feared and the HPL lifts right out of the packaging ready to be installed. The installation guide is a single sheet affair and the mounting hardware consists of steel clips for the supported sockets, chrome screws, brass bolts (referred to as “blots” in the instructions) some thermal paste and some insulating washers. No backplates are provided but this mounting solution still requires access to the backside of the motherboard and a Philips screwdriver for cooler installation. AMD users will need to sacrifice the OEM retention bracket and backplate.
PRODUCT PICTORIAL AND WALKTHROUGH
As you can see, the HPL isn't much bigger than the OEM Intel unit. In fact it's just a bit shorter. The four copper 6mm heatpipes and aluminum fins depend on the 80mm fan, turning at up to 4000 RPM, to cool the processor. At top speed, the HPL could get noisy, but we'll see. Notice that the fins have a crosshatch stamping, presumably to create turbulent flow inside the fin array to enhance cooling. The 80mm fan is secured to the cooler with two wire spring clips and the fantail terminates in the expected 4-pin PWM connector.
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