Thermaltake Silent Boost A1889-01 Copper Heatsink Review
The premise
behind the Silent Boost heatsink series
is quiet cooling. The unique fans Thermaltake use, relate directly to
the modified fans developed a couple years ago by Andy Lemont. Mr. Lemont discovered
that horizontal slits in the fan casing could help to decrease fan noise
by several orders of magnitude, and worked for short time promoting a heatsink
adapted to this technique.
FrostyTech was there when the first commercial heatsinks based on
this principle were released, and took part in the review of the Millennium Thermal Glaciator Copper Heatsink in the
summer of 2001, but nothing much became of it
in the end. Fast
forward a couple of years, and we are again face to face with a mix of some
interesting tech, some common cooling methodologies, and large aspirations on
the part of Thermaltake. Enter the Thermaltake
Silent Boost for the AthlonXP.
Quiet heatsinks have soared
in popularity as manufacturers have been forced to develop more efficient designs which
cool better, quietly. There is now no reason why you should have to
associate a quiet heatsink with under whelming thermal performance.
The fan frame features a series of four 1.5mm x 32mm slits cut from what
would normally be a solid surface. The slits allow air to be drawn in by the
impeller at different locations, with the end result being a slightly
lower pitch of sound from the 2450RPM fan.
Below the fan rests the 41 sets of very thin copper fins which are soldered
to a 6mm thick copper base. The copper fins are attached to one another by means
of small folded tabs placed in different locations.
This is a pretty standard
construction method that has been in use by many heatsink companies for a
several years with good results. The folded fin assemblies allow the
manufacturer to build thin-fin, high aspect ration fin assemblies that A. would
not be possible with typical extrusions, and B. would not otherwise be possible
in copper to the same quality of fin-to-fin spacing.
85%
