With the recent eruption of new HSF designs and companies battling for that small area in your computer, we have another HSF shootout / roundup / comparison ( what ever floats your boat). We run 6 HSF's in this comparison including 4 new entries and 2 that we have already run.

In the last review covering Vantec HSF's we discovered that airflow and socket orientation on the motherboard plays a serious roll in some cases for HSF effectiveness.   In this review we have eliminated that issue by not only making the air flow around the socket more open, but also by doing tests with multiple fans and multiple fan directions.

An Al. HSF is not supposed to be a "high end" HSF is it? Well it seems Dynatron thinks so!  For the last 12 months people have been leaving Al. HSF's behind for the more expensive and heavy Cu. HSF's for their superior design and materials. Dynatron may be in a position to slow that trend.

This is Dynatron's all Aluminum "MicroFins" HSF.   The "MicroFins" part is the key part that makes this HSF above other Al. HSF's. Lets explain what makes it different from normal tried and failed Al. HSF's:

This is a copy from the Dynatron website explaining nicely as to what makes this HSF different from the others:

The MicroFins® Technology
What is the MicroFins® Technology?
MicroFins® is one of the worlds most advanced, new concepts developed by Dynatron Corporation, and permits the production of copper heat sinks with a precise and super fine detail previously considered impossible.
Why do the MicroFins® Technology Coolers better than other coolers?
The traditional methods to make the heat sinks are Extrusion, Forging, and Die- Casting, and the maximum fins can be manufactured with a density approximately 20 to 40 fins their thickness or diameter. The material must mix with other metal to form heat sink with the thick and low-density fins that can't meet the thermal solution for the CPU. Some other method mix copper with other material to form the outer frame and brazed or weld the fins into the heat sink, which created the interface layer about 2 to 3 degree of the heat increase between the bottom heat sink and the fins, and also its very difficult to control the quality of the mass production heat sinks because some poor contract or disassociate of brazed or weld fins which is not a reliable products.

Dynatron's other "MicroFins" offering is an all Cu. Based HSF. This is rather revolutionary for the HSF industry to have a HSF with this density of fins, and be made from one block of Copper.

The MicroFins® technology is basically shaving the fins from the single block of copper. You can look closely and see how the fins are shaved and bent up. The fins have a very course texture after the process.

In the pic above you can see clearly all the fins are from the same piece of material as the base.  This greatly improves heat conduction to the fins, and overall makes the HSF a much more potent HSF.  The Fin density is one of the highest around, with more fins than the SK6 or any other copper based HSF. The exact technical details on how Dynatron does this is a trade secret, and obviously they would like it to stay that way :) No other company has successfully made an all solid Cu HSF with near the surface area, or efficiency.

The Clip mechanism, Fan, and aluminum shroud is the same as the all Aluminum version of this HSF.

One of the only disadvantages in this HSF is the thin base plate. Its been known for a while that a thicker "hot/cold plate" on the bottom of water blocks and HSF's will aid in the heat being dispersed over the entire HSF area.  The base is much thinner than the SK6 and Aluminum variant of this HSF.

This HSF truly intrigued me more than the others.  While its not a new design by any means, it is a new take on an existing one.

First thing the HSF looks like is a Vantec 6035D knock off, but then you soon notice the changes that were made and the many advantages it has over the 6035D and the Thermalright SK6. These are all Visual guesses though, the tests may show something different.

First thing I noticed was the 3 prong clip. This has been a much needed feature on all HSF's for some time, and the Dynatron is one of the first to implement this on a Cu HSF.

Next thing I looked at was the fins, and how they were attached.  They seem to be the same as the SK6 and 6035D, but much bigger and a lot more surface area. the Cu fins are just soldered in place on a Cu base plate, and are interlocked on the top and bottom of each fin.

The base plate is impressive.  It's as thick and as big as the SK6 plate and much thicker than the 6035D plate.   Its finished to a VERY flat and smooth surface equal to the quality on the SK6 for machining.

Next thing that I saw that showed me someone really did some home work was the fact there is NO break in the fins for the retention clip!  This is amazing to say the least.

The new offering from ThermalRight is not meant to be a replacement for their very successful SK6, but an addition to their product line.

This is an Aluminum HSF with a Copper plate soldered onto the bottom.  yes... Soldered.  They coated the Al. HSF with a nickel plate and then used the nickel surface to solder to.  Its a great idea but does introduce a few more layers of resistance than is normally had in a HSF. The CB6L for being an Aluminum HSF is pretty heavy ( due to the nickel coating and copper base) It weighs in at 225 Grams.

It comes to your door with a TIM ( thermal interface material) pad in place on the Copper base.   You can remove it with some acetone rather easy.  The Surface on the base of the HSF is excellent, and extremely well machines and lapped.

The Fan is the same size as the Dynatron MicroFins® fans, but not quite as powerful, this could play a big issue in this HSF's success/failure. This is a Sunon fan ( side brand of Sunon) <sarcasm>Pushing an amazing 19cfm</sarcasm> Being an Al. HSF it will be cheaper than an all Copper SK6, so this is obviously targeted at the main stream market... or is it?