The heatpipes are part of the cooler base, keeping direct contact with the CPU. Although it has no mirror finishing the bottom surface is pretty smooth. Direct contact of the heatpipes with the CPU eliminates one extra thermal layer, helping heat transfer.

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Figure 5: Radiator.

As we said before, this cooler uses a 120 mm fan made of black plastic, using a miniature four-pin connector with one wire for speed control (PWM), so the motherboard can directly control its rotating speed. There is no manual speed control. The fan cable is covered by a plastic mesh, showing us that even for a simple product Akasa really cares about finishing.

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Figure 6: 120 mm fan.

Putting the fan in place is a very easy operation: you just need to put the four rubber holders in the fan holes and then pull them. It stays firmly in place. If you want to remove it, you just need to pull it. The question that came to our mind was "how long will it last without breaking?" Only time will tell.

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Figure 7: Cooler assembled.

In Figure 8 we can see a detail from the gap between the fan and the heatsink (about 1 mm), thanks to the holders. So, any vibration generated by the fan isn't replicated to the heatsink and this helps reducing noise.

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Figure 8: Fan holder.