The heatsinks' large 110mm diameter translucent blue fan is illuminated with four very bright blue LEDs from below, giving a vibrant look to the whole package that users with case windows may appreciate. The fan itself has vented side slits to reduce turbulence, and decrease overall fan noise.

The Gigabyte G-Power Pro has the appearance of a low noise heatsink, but that isn't entirely the situation. Noise levels from the 1700-3200RPM fan vary from 50-72 dBA according to our sound measurements. When compared to Gigabyte's past entries into the heatsink field (ie. 3D-Cooler, 3D-Rocket, and NeonCooler), the G-Power Pro is among the best performing K8 heatsinks at its slowest fan speed. However, it is also the loudest with the fan at full RPM.

The Gigabyte G-Power Pro heatsink comes with three sets of clips to tackle K7, K8, P4, and LGA775 processors. It also has a fan speed controller to wrangle in its loud fan.

Elevated Heat Exchanger and Heatpipes

The design of the G-Power Pro heatsink is interesting for a couple reasons, largely because the heatpipes have been used so effectively. The copper block which mounts to the processor is small, and of just enough mass to spread the heat laterally to each of the four heatpipes. The base block is covered by a stainless steel plate for the mounting kit, so downward airflow has little effect on it.

The four 6mm diameter nickel plated heatpipes are all exactly the same length, and intersects the 60 or so stacked aluminum fins at an even spacing. Heat energy is dispersed over the entire surface of the radiator equally, rather than just to the outer edges where airflow tends to be highest. The heatpipes use sintered powder wicks, so the cooler can be installed in any orientation.

Additionally, the aluminum fins have been nickel plated so that the two surfaces can be soldered together, improving thermal conductivity between the joints. On top of that, a stubby 2mm deep plenum has been left between the tips of the fins, which have a knife-edged profile, and the 92mm fan above. The knife-edge fin tip profile is something we've actually suggested to Zalman in the past, as it decreases airflow resistance in an impingement situation. The opposite side of each die-punched aluminum fin has the standard 90 degree profile.

The exhaust airflow from the Gigabyte G-Power Pro heatsink serves one further purpose by cooling adjacent components by he CPU socket as it is expelled. FrostyTech's Test Methodology is outlined in detail here if you would like to know about the parameters under which this heatsink will be evaluated. Now let's take a closer look at the Gigabyte G-Power Pro heatsink, its acoustic characteristics, and thermal test results!