SLK800:



Well here's something completely different, the SLK800 from Thermalright. By far the most known product made by this company (former to this one), would be the SK-6 heatsink. When looking at the SK-6 (which is quite a bit older then the SLK800), there are some remarkable similarities with the SLK800 (and to be seen on the next page: with the SLK900 as well). No wonder actually, when you think about the succes Thermalright had with the SK-6. But what exactly makes the SLK800 such a hit among the overclocking users? Why not the SLK600 or SLK700 heatsinks, which are fairly unknown? Well, most likely the fact that Thermalright designed the SLK800 to be installed with an 80mm on top, giving it a strong advantage compared to heatsinks cooled by 60mm or even 70mm fans. A 60mm just can't compete with an 80mm fan - not when it comes to cooling, and not when it comes to noise production. Nevertheless, the SLK800 has little "steps", so it's possible to use 60mm and 70mm fans as well. There are two versions of this heatsink available: the SLK800 or the SLK800-U. Where the SLK800 is to be installed with clips, only on AMD mobo's (SoA that is), the SLK800-U can be used on both Intel PIV boards and on AMD mainboards. I must say the people at Thermalright take good care of their business: the SLK800 and SLK900 both came packed real tidy, to prevent the heatsink from any damages done by transporting.



Well, this would be a rather unique design Thermalright came up with. A solely copper construction - 34 fins soldered to the heatplate, which is quite remarkable. The heatplate itself doesn't cover the entire cpu as most heatsinks do, but has a smaller width. Why did Thermalright decided to go with such a design? Simple, it just has a better airflow than other designs. As the fins are all placed besides eachother, the airflow can just pass through this piramide-like construction without hitting any obstruction. Just to give you an idea, this piece of copper might look pretty light, but weighs over 500g as well (505g to be exactly).



An important remark: the small width of the base can become a problem with AMD processors. Where "normal" heatsinks rest on the pads of the AMD cpu's, that's not always sufficient for the SLK800/900. On this picture it wasn't a problem and we just installed it as is, but Thermalright do deliver extra pads just in case (note: be sure to use them when installing an SLK onto a Thunderbird cpu, which is really fragile!)
It's clearly visible here that the SLK800 doesn't have any problems whatsoever with components around the socket, due to its slim design. To make sure you don't screw anything up: here's the official install guide