Blizzard S370-L Copper Heatsink Review

---

Angled Fan Orientation (AFO) is something we've been experimenting with on and off for a while now. This cooling technique has remained in the background for the most part, and until now we have never seen a commercial adaptation of it. This cooler, the Blizzard S370-L, is the first heatsink we have seen so far to adopt the AFO technique. Coupled with its' solid copper construction this promises to make the S370-L one very unique heatsink.

Why angle the fan on a heatsink you wonder? Well, for the most part angling the fan improves the performance capability of the heatsink by a few degrees, or in some cases, by many degrees. As most fans have a dead spot directly under the motor, angling can help to alleviate what would otherwise be a region of stale air. In the cases we've tested in the past, the fan was angled on the order of about 20-30 degrees. The S370-L on the other hand uses a very shallow angle of about 5 degrees.

Designed for: Intel FC-PGA processors; AMD K6, K7 chips

Blizzard S370-L Model: S370-L Assembled plates of copper. Shicoh 'Icefan' Fan Fan Dim: 10x60x60mm, 12V, 0.15A, 4200RPM HS Dimensions: 32x63x55mm Base is polished flat Price: $65 USD Sold by: Blizzard Heatsinks

First Impressions:

It may not immediately be obvious that the entire heatsink is slanted 5 degrees, but if you look carefully at this image it should be fairly obvious. As we said before the angling of the fan helps to reduce the effect of the dead spot which exists below the fans' motor. Considering that the fan has a motor of almost 30mm in diameter the reduction of any dead spots is a good thing. By angling the fan the heatsink also moves the leading edge of the fastest moving air closer to the center of the unit. With faster moving air closer to the hotter region of the metal the moderately powered fan works more efficiently, and the warmed air is removed more smoothly.

Weight can often be a big problem with copper heatsinks. I remember reading somewhere that AMD specifies a heatsink should weigh no more than about 300 grams. The restriction is in place so that when an AMD-equipped computer is being shipped there is no chance of a heavy heatsink coming loose and subsequently rattling around the inside of a computer. Copper, by its' very nature is heavy, and next to silver, is king in terms of thermal conductivity. Silver would be the ideal material for ultra efficient heatsinks, but it's cost prohibitive.

Copper offers the next best solution, at a fraction of the cost. Aluminum is a far third as far as thermal conductivity goes (not including gold), but makes up for those downsides with less cost, and lighter weights. From a manufacturing perspective, aluminum is also much easier to work with.

Never the less copper has its' place in high-performance cooling devices, and will always surpass aluminum in thermal conductivity.

Getting back to the heatsink, a close up of the joint between the fins and the base illustrates that the soldering is thorough and complete. Air spaces in the space between the fins and the base would effectively cripple a good chunk of the heatsinks ability to transfer the heat from the base plate to the fins where it is dispersed into the surrounding air.

Let's move forward and take a closer look at this heatsink from a few different angles...