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Swiftech MC462-A Rev1 Heatsink Review
Swiftech MC462-A Rev1 Heatsink Review
  88%   
Abstract: The SwiftTech MC462-A Rev1. It's a 38.5x76x77mm aluminum pin and 9mm thick copper base - monster of a heatsink.

 Manufacturer  Category  Published  Author 
Swiftech   Cooling / Heatsinks   May 09, 2001   Max Page  

Home > Reviews > Page: Assembling Heatsink for Installation

The four screws used to hold the fan on the heatsink attach directly to the copper base but they only have 2.5mm worth of copper to screw into. The screws are just long enough to screw in to the pre-tapped holes, but unless you are even when you screw on the fan, one screw always seems to be just out of reach. The trick, it would seem, is to get all the screws started in the copper before tightening any of them.

The concern we see is that installation of the heatsink requires the fan to be removed first, then the heatsink screwed in to the motherboard mounts. It is possible to over tighten the screws and strip the threads from the thin copper edges. It's a small thing, but stripped screw holes are a pain, and copper is soft enough that this could be a problem if the heatsink is repeatedly moved.

Installation
The installation of the MC462-A is so designed to ensure proper thermal contact with the processor, and secondly, so that no damage can possibly come to your motherboard or to the processor itself. Remember the MC462-A Rev1 weighs in at 760 grams. Looking at SwiftTech's website they even have a little demonstration where they discuss dropping a case with motherboard, cpu and MC462 mounted on from a 1-story roof (three times no less) to see what it would do to the motherboard or the CPU.
In the end they show a banged up case, and reassure us that both processor and motherboard remain unharmed. Now, we're not about to test this out ourselves, but it's interesting to check out all the same.
The concern there was not so much whether or not the case or computer parts would survive the drop, but rather, would the hefty weight of the heatsink cause problems to occur if a computer system was moved.
The system that SwiftTech use to mount the MC462-A Rev1 onto a Socket A motherboard consists of four brass stand-offs, a bunch of nylon washers, four compression springs, and four 40mm screws.

The mounting screws slide into four mounting holes in the base of the MC462A Rev1 and connect up with four brass stand-offs attached directly to the board itself. The spring ensures that the heatsink cannot be over tightened onto the Athlon or Duron heatsink. On the motherboard the brass stand-off mounts to the four support holes which surround Socket 462 motherboards. Depending on the make of motherboard, small shoulder washers may be necessary to center the brass standoff in the mounting hole. A nylon nut keeps the standoff safely in place.

Shown with all of the stand-offs mounted, the MC462-A is able to apply just the right amount of pressure on the surface of the processor by virtue of those four compression springs.

On much earlier coolers from SwiftTech (think way back to the MC1000 socket cooler) there was often a problem created by over tightening the screws.

Ever improving on previous shortcomings, SwiftTech now use the springs to apply the correct tension on the processor. The heatsink can be tightened as far as those screws will go and the heatsink will still apply the same, consistent, and level force to the silicon die.

 Previous Page ° ° Next Page 

Table of Contents:

 1:  Swiftech MC462-A Rev1 Heatsink Review
 2:  The differences are in the revision:
 3:  Looking Closely at the MC462-A Rev1
 4: — Assembling Heatsink for Installation
 5:  Mounting on the motherboard:
 6:  The killer fan from Sanyo Denki
 7:  FrostyTech Synthetic Temperature Test Platform:
 8:  Synthetic Test Results:
 9:  Conclusions:

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