Are thin fins better than thick?

Given the recent explosion of thin-fin this and thin-fin that you'd expect thin-fin heatsinks to be the only ones that work. To some degree this is right, the higher the fin density the larger the surface area which which to 'exhaust' waste heat into the environment.

The more waste heat you can exhaust in a given period of time, the better the heatsink generally is. Now this isn't set in stone by any means, as there are many, many other variables that can wreak havoc on these basic cooling ideas. In any case, while looking at the top of the Akasa 238 one thing becomes pretty clear, at least to us.

The fins are ~0.7mm thick and spaced about 1.0mm apart. Each and every fin is also flat on the top, where the initial leading edge of the airflow meets the fins. Given the way air likes to flow, the closely spaced aluminum fins would seem to resist a lot of the airflow destined cool the very same fins. If the exhaust from the fan is having a difficult time getting in between the fins, the heatsink is going to have a harder time keeping everything comfy and cool.

If I had the time, I would be really tempted to bevel the tip of each fin to decrease its' initial air resistance and then test the heatsink once more. I have a good hunch that a simple little tweak like this might improve performance by a few degrees at the least.