Introduction

The GeForce 4 is a powerful video card, with one of the best chipsets currently available. Powerful processing requires powerful cooling, and the Thermaltake copper heatsink and ramsinks are designed with this in mind. Thermaltake has put together a package that includes everything you need bring down the temperatures on your GF4, while also including a built in blue LED for stunning effects. HeatsinkFactory sent over one for review, and today we will be testing how well this product actually works.

Specifications

Before I write about anything, I would like to get a list of the features out of the way. Looks aren't everything, if a kit doesn't have the basic components that you need, it's not worth buying it. I am pleased to say that the Thermaltake GF4 heatsink kit has all the features you could ask for. Here is the list:

• All copper GPU heatsink
• Built in high-speed fan
  
• Fits factory heatsink mounting holes
• Blue LED "CoolMod"
• Aluminum ramsinks included (2 top and 2 bottom)
• Thermal compound included
• Thermal tape included
• 3 to 4 pin Molex adapter included
  

More information may be found here at HeatsinkFactory.com, if you would like more detailed specs.

The Stock Heatsink

For this review, I used a GeForce 4 TI 4600. The original heatsink was an unfinished aluminum material with Arctic Silver 3 between it and the GPU. Using a temperature probe, I found the chip to be 42.5c at idle (after 20 mins of turning the computer on). If a few degrees could be dropped, overclocking would even be possible. If you are not interested in overclocking your video card, keep in mind that having a cooler running card will also help extend the life of your hardware. After shutting down, and pulling the card, I was ready to begin the install.

Getting Started

The Thermaltake kit is an eyecatcher right away. How many video cards have pure copper heatsinks? Not many. This is probably due to the high cost of a copper heatsink. Thermaltake has managed to put this kit together for just over $20 (retail price). A very good deal for such a high quality product. The contents of the kit are listed earlier in the Spefications, but for the install I decided to use my own Arctic Silver 3 and Arctic Silver Thermal Adhesive instead of the included compound and thermal tape. My reasons for this was that the stock heatsink had Arctic Silver 3 under it, and this would help to show a more exact comparison between the aluminum and copper blocks. The first step was to remove the old heatsink. To do this, I simply pushed the two plastic clips though from the back of the card, then pulled the heatsink off. I was now ready for installing the new cooling setup.

 

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