Xigmatek HDT

The Xigmatek uses the typical tower design which is used on most high end coolers. It has three copper heat pipes, each measuring 8mm, which run up through the aluminium fins. This is a tried and tested method of cooling, as the heatpipes transfer the heat quickly from the core to the fins with the large surface area. If you'd like to read more about heatpipes, check out our glossary entry here.

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The front 120mm fan sits right above the aluminium fins and heat pipes so heat should be lost relatively quickly. The fan is secured tightly to the cooler with rubber sound dampeners so there should not be a lot of vibrations made by the fan, hence less noise. The cooler has a 4 pin connector which is used on most new motherboards, however if you don’t have a this, you can still use the 3 pin adapter on your motherboard or the included Molex adapter, although this means that the fan speed will not then be controlled by the Bios.

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The cooler is constructed out of aluminium and copper. The heat sink fins are made of 1mm thick aluminium and the base is around 13mm thick. The copper heat pipes are fitted into gaps which are cut in to the underside of the base. They're level with the base so there is a greater surface area of the cooler in contact with the processor.

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In terms of reflectiveness, heat sink core isn’t anything special; it’s not polished and all shiny. However, it’s very smooth and level which is much more important than a shiny lumpy base. You can read about the different surface types and which yield the better results in our glossary article found here.

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