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Designed for Performance

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 Thermalright SLK 800   
A Piece of Art By its Own
(Review by MS, Jan 8, 2003)
Summary

Thermalright is something like the Mercedes amongst the coolers even with their naming scheme, it would appear. There are coolers that are bigger, badder and louder but the SLK-800 as the big brother of the SLK-600 and the SK-6 are unique in terms of design. Aside from the spring-loaded fan mount and a three-prong holding clip, what else does it have to offer and why does it work the way it does? We won't show bar graphs or offer sound waves or similar profanities in this review, though.


Cooling is right now about the only thing that is still really profitable in the PC industry. Cooling is also one of the most interesting and innovative areas in the PCI industry and there is probably no other area where we have seen as much of a Bungee-cord effect as here. Bungee-cord in this context refers to the total inadequacies of coolers from only some 2 years ago to deal with today's CPUs, then the intermittent swing towards intolerably heavy and loud monsters, causing adrenaline rushes and shivers at the mere thought of turning on the box.

Thermalright SLK800

Sample supplied by Plycon

Considering what we were dealing with over the past years, it is no wonder that finally some designs came through that nobody would have even dreamed of. Any heatsink/fan combo capable of keeping the most demanding processors cool while maintaining tolerable noise levels would have meant instant riches not long ago. By now, however, certain things are becoming common knowledge.

There are still a few designs that are setting themselves apart from the rest of the crowd. Swiftech with their series of cooler, the Alpha Pal family, Arkua coolers, NoiseControl "Silverado" and Zalman are a few names that are standing out for being at least different and for having their own fan club. One name not mentioned yet here is Thermalright and to make a long story short, it is one to try and get hooked on.

The cooler we are looking at is the SLK800, provided by Plycon. One thing that definitely is different about the Thermalright coolers is that they ship without fan, the heatsink is what the name implies, a heatsink only. The cooler itself ships in a sturdy cardboard box, the reason being the extremely fragile nature of the cooler itself.

             

Click pictures for larger view and detailed captions

Included with the shipping box are two fragile looking spring steel clips and a small plastic pouch with the ubiquitous white "Stars" thermal compound that is not necessarily high on the list of recommended features but will do for an initial short term setup and two strips of stenciled-out rubber feet. Those feet are a recommended feature to use since the base of the SLK800 is too narrow to fit on the rubber feet of the Athlon CPUs.

next page:    => Specs and Design Features =>

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