Vantec VP4-7245 Aeroflow 2 Pentium4 Heatsink Review
This is the first Vantec heatsink review
of the year, and we're getting close to the second half of
2004; Vantec have obviously been spending too much time working on accessories, and not enough
on heatsinks. So, can a company which produced Tornado fans, blinking things, vibration absorbing gels, and fan controllers still prove it has
what it takes to earn your shopping dollar?
Well, Vantec have certainly thrown a lot into the new Aeroflow2 series of heatsink. The
VP47245 Pentium 4 version makes uses a pretty cutting edge aluminum extrusion, with an embedded copper core to aid thermal
conductivity along the way up from the core. Vantec's entire socket 478 heatsink weighs in at 472grams, and
interestingly enough, gets by with just a 70mm fan; odd since 80mm fans are the
standard these days.
We'll be paying special attention to the heatsink thermal test results,
because as you know Vantec also have a socket A version of this exact same
heatsink (VA4-7245) on the market. With the differences in core surface areas,
it is difficult to design a heatsink which works best on the AMD AthlonXP and
Intel Pentium4 platform - one processor ultimately has to suffer for the
performance of the other.
I'm usually a little hesitant of heatsinks which attempt
to satisfy both cooling requirements with alternate versions of the same basic
package... but we'll see before passing judgement.
A year or
two back, Thermal Integration delivered what was then a pretty revolutionary heatsink design -
the socket A Thermoengine - while the company never made inroads into the North American
markets other than that one heatsink, many others have taken up similar designs
while striving to innovate in the cut throat world of extruded aluminum
heatsinks.
Vantec have taking the Aeroflow2 VP4-7245 heatsink and
given it a couple life saving features, the first of which are the
many thin aluminum fins. Extruding high aspect ratio fins (where the fin length
is many times the base width) is difficult, but can be quite invaluable
thermally.
Secondly, the Aeroflow2 packs
in a 25mm diameter copper core which sits directly on the core of the Pentium4
processor. Since copper has a greater thermal conductivity, heat is absorbed and
transferred to the surrounding aluminum heatsink much quicker than if the
Aeroflow 2 were solid aluminum.
78%
