Two Pound Behemoth

I don’t know if anyone else here watches "Ace of Cakes".  It seems like every single one they make is bigger than the last.  I’m always sure that they're going to topple over and cover an entire block with icing.  He makes the coolest looking stuff, and his motto is; “Make it bigger, make it badder, make it awesome.”  I’m starting to think that EverCool took this lesson to heart when they started designing the Transformer series of heatsinks.  When I reviewed the Transformer 6 last year, I had my doubts as to whether this thing’s weight would snap my motherboard like a twig.  It was absolutely enormous.

Now as I get ready to check out the Transformer 4, and am truly frightened by what could happen when this thing is finally mounted.  The total weight of this heatsink is 843.5 grams, or 1.85 pounds.  That’s a lot of gear to be hanging off of a fragile printed circuit board.  If it were mounted vertically, such as in an HTPC, then I would say the weight wouldn’t be an issue.  But nearly two pounds hanging perpendicular?  This, I will have to see to trust.  Which I guess is why I’m doing this kind of work, isn’t it?

Here’s a little info on the Transformer 4 before we get started:

Features and Specs

4 heatpipes in 8Φ collocate with large aluminum fins to make effective cooling.  All in one design for application to Intel LGA 1366 & LGA 775 and AMD K8 & AM2 series motherboard. According to the needs, users can assemble one or two 12CM fans by themselves to achieve quiet and cooling function. (two silver fans were included) Brightly silver and solid appearance.  Users do not need to use tools for easy installation. Overall Dimension 130 x 122 x 160 x mm DC Fan Size 120 x 120 x 25 mm Heat Sink Material Aluminum Fin+Heat Pipe Bearing Type Ever Lubricate Bearing (Long Life bearing) Rated Speed 1000 ±10% RPM Noise Level <21 dBA Rated Voltage 12V Weight 843.5 g Intel : • Pentium 4 Socket T 505~571/620~672 • Pentium D Socket T 805~840/915~960 • Pentium 4 Processor Extreme Edition Socket T 3.73G • Core 2 Duo Processor Socket T E4300~E8600 • Core 2 Extreme Processor Socket T QX6700~QX9650 • Core 2 Quad Processor Socket Q6600~Q9550 • Core i7 Processor I7-920~940 • Core i7 Processor Extreme Edition I7-965~975 • Core i5 Processor 750 AMD: • Athlon Phenom~9600/Phenom X3~8750/Phenom X4~9950 • AthlonPhenom II X2~550/ X3~720/ X4~965 • Athlon 64 X2~3600+ /~6400+(AM2) • Athlon 64 FX-51/53/55/57/60/62 • Opteron ~154 / ~256 / ~890 • Dual-Core Opteron ~180 / ~290 / ~890 • Second-Generation  Opteron™ ~1222 SE/1222 • Third-Generation  Opteron™ ~1356 • Sempron ~3800+

On the next page we take a look inside...

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