Akasa Evo 120 Heat Pipe Cooler

The first thing that really catches the eye is the large 120mm fan.  This is going to provide plenty of airflow over the aluminum fins and copper heat pipes as well as keeping the noise level down low so that your PC case doesn't sound like a refrigerator.  The composition of the base is copper with three copper heat pipes attached.  The construction is very solid.  The heat conductivity of the copper base will help draw more heat away from the CPU and up to the heat pipes.  The mounting brackets can be easily removed by two small screws on each side so that you can change to mount on an Intel platform if you so desire. 

  

If you notice the base of the Akasa Evo, you can see the fairly well polished finish.  I've seen better, but I've also seen much worse factory lap jobs.  There were no noticeable inclusions or imperfections in the finish at all.

  

The next thing that grabs our attention is the included PCI Fan speed controller.  Just attach this to the fan, and put it on the back of your case, and you can adjust the fan as necessary.  This should help regulate the air flow levels, as well as the sound produced by the fan.

Let's get to installing and see how the Akasa Evo performs.

Installation

First things first, I removed the old stock heat sink, and the processor.  Using a cotton swab and some isopropyl alcohol, I removed all the old thermal grease from the processor and the old heat sink.  I then applied a thin layer of Arctic Alumina to the processor, and spread it evenly with a razor blade.

The motherboard had to be removed from the case to in order to install the back-plate onto the motherboard.  The screws used in the installation were very easy to attach, but were also very unique to this cooler, so you will almost definitely have to remove the motherboard for the installation.

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