The heatsink laid bare
Once the plastic fan mounts and top is removed, we are left with the heatsink. The cooler uses a fairly large tower heatsink design with an aluminium construction and five heat pipes. Without the fans, the heatsink is 63mm thick and stands 165mm tall. Already, this makes it comparable to the highly revered Thermalright Venomous X. A clear distinction from the Thermalright though, is the use of 5 heat pipes as opposed to 6 but to compensate for this, the heat pipes are 8mm in diameter instead of 6mm.
The fin array
The Thermaltake Frio has a much more linear design that previous coolers we have tested. There is a total of 48 fins, all very planar in shape giving each face a flat profile. It's a very minimalist design but one that is tried and tested. At each end of the fins, they are angled downwards on the left and upwards more obtusely on the right. This bent winglet design is similar to that found on Thermalright heatsinks and this ensures that hot air gets transported more quickly across the fins to cover a greater surface area per time.
Side of the heatsink
Turning to the side, we can see that the Frio is quite thick. However, thanks to the design of the fins such that the heatsink is thinner in the centre compared to the sides, the fans can sit snugly in the middle depression. The result is that the overall width of the heatsink and fans doesn't come into conflict with any RAM slots once installed. On the side, we can also see two long grooves which the plastic fan mounts clip into when installed.
The heat pipes
The Frio makes use of 5x8mm U-shaped heat pipes that spread from the base. They are in direct contact with the copper base for more efficient heat transfer and quicker dissipation from the CPU. The heat pipes form two rows on each side of the heatsink, again very similar to the Thermalright Venomous X.
Top of the heat pipes
At the top, we can see the protruding ends of the heat pipes. Each rounded end has a corresponding grooved end on the other side. We can also see how the edge of the fins are straight without any patterns or grooves like we have become accustomed to seeing with other heatsinks.
The base of the heatsink
The copper base is nickel plated and flat. It lacks a perfect mirror finish but the it is still quite smooth. It also has a very large rectangular surface area to match the largest CPUs currently in retail, thereby providing adequate contact for optimum heat dissipation. Part of the mounting mechanism is integrated in to the base but more on the installation procedure later on.
