Appearance

After removing the fan and heatsink from the foam, I become much more appreciative of their size. This is a massive heatsink.



There are three "U"-Shaped heatpipes running through the heatsink. Unlike other heatpipe-based units that have the heatpipes running through a pre-drilled hole in a copper or aluminum base, the HDT-S1283's heatpipes are part of the base. This is what Xigmatek calls "Heat-Pipe Direct Touch" technology. With the heatpipes right against the CPU, there should be a much faster heat transfer, resulting in much cooler CPU temperatures.



As the heatpipes extend upwards, multiple layers of "fins" are attached. The heatpipes transfer the heat into the much thinner finds, and then the air blown by the fan takes the heat from the fins.



Overall, it's an attractive heatsink that doesn't go out of it's way to be the bling-bling of today's computer systems. I am, however, slightly concerned that it may not fit into my case because it's so massive.