At the top of the cooler, Enermax have imprinted their logo and badge for a personalised touch. More importantly are the features present that are aimed to boost cooling performance. As usual, we see the heat pipe ends at the top; here they form two clusters of four. Ideally, the heat pipes should be spaced further to allow heat to dissipate more effectively but instead, they are aligned with tiny winglets just behind to generate vortices as well as optimise airflow around the whole circular heat pipe. The vortices help transfer more heat away through convection. Between the two heat pipe clusters are 4 streamlined tetrahedral shaped openings to create the Stack Effect Flow.


Looking from behind, we see those cut-outs more clearly through which hot air can rise and cool air be drawn above. As such, it is important to orientate the cooler with regards to the airflow direction when installing.


We see the same pattern on the bottom fin since the feature is present across all 52. The means hot air has a direct path from the lower heatsink to the top.


The Enermax ETS-T40-TA is special in that it features nickel-plated heat pipes compared to the other two variants. This helps reduce oxidation. The heatsink sports four 6mm heat pipes, more typified by lower-mid range heatsinks. Ideally, a six heat piped design would have been better for high end performance.


The base of the cooler features the latest HDT technology such that the heat pipes are in direct contact with the CPU for more efficient heat transfer. Enermax have done a brilliant job by having a very flat, near mirror-like surface with little to no gap between the heat pipes and the outer metal housing. This maximises the surface area of contact. My personal preference is still towards a copper base plate which tends to be more useful at spreading heat and ensure greater surface area for heat transfer.


The base has a perfectly flat finish, an improvement over other coolers using the same HDT technology so Enermax have to be commended on this.