HEAT PIPES & THE BASE
The cooler features four 8mm Nickel plated heat pipes. As this is a heat-pipe direct touch cooler (HDT), the heat-pipes form the base of the cooler as well.
The portion of the heat pipes that serve as the “base” have a mirror shine and are not Nickel plated. The heat pipes do not run contiguously, but are separated by Aluminum partitions. These partitions run down from a block of Aluminum that forms a support for the base.
Each individual heat-pipe that forms the base is flat as is the base as a whole. There are however minute grooves between the heat-pipes and the partitions.
Once the heat-pipes leave the base they are Nickel plated all the way to the top of the heat sink tower. Unlike most heat sinks, these pipes have a diameter of 8mm (as opposed to 6mm on most coolers that fall in this category and even in the high end of the spectrum).
The pipes run in a staggered fashion (rather than running in a line) through the cooling tower. This is done to maximize heat dissipation to air.
The heat pipe design is one of the strongest points of the cooler. They are Nickel plated and are of 8mm diameter. The base portion has a mirror shine and is flat.
Though the cooler has a simple design, it is very well constructed. There are no sharp edges on the cooling. All the solder points are well ground off. The base is of top notch finish (as much as can be for a HDT cooler). Xigmatek has put in a lot of effort to offer a well finished product.
FAN
A 120mm fan with an orange propeller and white LEDs is also bundled with the cooler. The fan has PWM control. It can throw a maximum of about 62 cfm of air at 1500 rpm.
ACCESSORIES
The cooler comes with mounting kits for all contemporary Intel and AMD processors. For Intel processor a universal back-plate and mounting system is included. The back plate has an adhesive surface and needs to be stuck to the motherboard for optimum placement. The cooler is mounted on the back plate by fixing two “clips” on to the cooler. Spring loaded screws are used to fix the cooler to the back plate.
The cooler comes with small tube of thermal grease as well. There is enough material in the tube for about 5 pea sized applications.
DOCUMENTATION AND ONLINE RESOURCES
If the heat sink construction was the high point of the package, the provided instruction is definitely its Achilles’ heel (pun intended).
The instruction comes in the form of a folded leaflet. Xigmatek has attempted to offer installation instruction for both Intel and AMD processors in 8 languages on a two page leaflet.
The instructions were probably not written for each specific revision of the cooler. (I’ll get back to this point a little later). Remember that the cooler has gone through major and minor revisions.
The first problem is that the diagrams that accompany the instruction are confusing at times. They are too small and not very clear.
The other problem, and a major one, is that the instructions jump from one method of installation to another. This is in part due to the way the instructions have been updated to reflect the newer revisions of the cooler.
I’ll take the example of installation in a LGA 775 system. The instructions are divided into panels which are numbered from one onwards. The first two panels are generic and tell you to remove the protective sticker from the base and apply the provided thermal grease to the processor heat sink spreader.
The 3rd and the 4th panel are for AMD K8 platform with a clip installation system (though no such system is provided in the current packing –the instructions are probably a remnant of an older revision)
The 5th panel shows how to install the clip system for LGA 775 platform. The accompany text only says “Fasten the clip and clip screws onto the bottom side of the heat-sink”.
The next panel (6th) shows how to push the pins into the motherboard to secure the cooler. The picture in the 5th panel shows a clip without any push pins and the next panel is asking you to push the pins installed before. Any novice will probably be very confused. Again this discrepancy is because of the way the instructions were revised.
This is not the end of instruction manual “hell”. The mounting mechanism included in the package requires the installation of a universal back plate for all Intel sockets. The instructions here are clear enough to show which side is to face the motherboard when fixing the back plate.
The problem starts when you try and fix the cooler to the back plate using the clips provided. The instructions will pretty much leave you guessing as to how to thread the spring loaded screws into the clip (There is no indication which slot is for which socket type).
For some reason the instructions jump to installation of the cooler on an AMD platform using the mounting kit provided.
Xigmatek really needs to work on their manual leaflet. They need to use larger figures, fewer languages and provide clear instructions for the mounting mechanism included in the package. They should also divide the instruction for Intel and AMD on separate leaflets or at least complete installation for one platform before starting off with the installation of the other.
The online page for Achilles is well organized with tabs providing access to features, application, specifications and an online user manual. The latter is plagued with issues highlighted enough. The manual is for an older revision of the cooler which had an older mounting mechanism.
OFFICIAL SPECS
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