CV Chill 188-pin Heatsink Review

The pin design has been used by companies like Swiftech to make really efficient heatsinks for everyday cooling and the most demanding overclockers on the planet. It is no surprise that when we looked at the CV Chill 188-pin heatsink we had equally high expectations of how it would perform.

There are a few differences between the CV chill and the heatsinks that have been surfacing from the likes of Vantec and Millennium Thermal Solutions lately and that is the all aluminum construction. While aluminum is not as thermally conductive as copper it still offers some very good performance characteristics. And hey, the CV Chill has a nice thick aluminum base, 188 aluminum pins and a speedy Delta fan; what more could anyone ask for?

Designed for: Socket A, Socket 370, Socket 462.

Heatsink Specs: HS Model: CV Chill Fan: Delta AFB0612EH Fan Spec: 6800RPM, 12V, 0.48A, 2 ball bearing Fan Dim: 25x60x60mm HS Dim: 68x64x64mm HS Material: Assembled Aluminum parts Comes with Athlon and PIII copper shims, pass through adapter cable. Mfg by: Cool Innovations Cost: ~$76.00CDN Sold By: E-Compuvision.com

In addition to the heatsink, a set of copper shims are also included - one for an Athlon or Duron and the other of for a FC-PGA Pentium III / Celeron processor. Both shims are very good quality, punched out from copper plate.

The CV Chill has 188 aluminum pins embedded into a 12.5mm thick aluminum base. The Delta fan sits on top of the pins and is held in place by four screws. Each of the pins is beveled at the top to minimize air resistance. The aluminum pins measure 30mm tall and 3mm in diameter. The CV Chill is manufactured by a Canadian company called Cool Innovations that specializes in pin-based heatsinks. The same pin designs have found their way to a number heatsink retailers under various names. There are no visible gaps between the base of the pins and the aluminum, which is good to see. The interface between the pins and the aluminum base is one of the most important areas of the cooler. If the interface was not tight, heat would have a difficult time moving from the base to the pins to be removed to the surrounding environment.