Overclocker Cafe - ThermalRight Round Out

ThermalRight Round Out

Manufacturer: ThermalRight
Supplied by: ThermalRight
Street Price: AX-7 ~ $26; SLK-600 ~ $38; CB-7 ~ TBA

By Dean Barker (8/13/2002)

Now I know what you are thinking. You are thinking we meant to say ThermalRight Round Up instead of Round Out. Actually we did not. We say Round Out because since the advent of the SLK-800 (reviewed here) the other cooling products Rounding Out ThermalRight's line up seem to have been somewhat left in the cold. These are the AX-7, CB-7, and the SLK-800's little brother the SLK-600. We decided to look them all over at once and see what qualities they offer. With the prices on some of these products dropping so low, one of these could be a hidden deal. We wish to extend our thanks to ThermalRight's North American and European divisions for making this Round Out possible. Let's get right to it and start off with the ThermalRight AX-7.

ThermalRight AX-7

ThermalRight has again dominated the top spot with its SLK-800 heatsink. This sink is worthy and deserving of your praise for all its cooling goodness. The thing about the SLK-800 is that it overshadows another big dog heatsink from ThermalRight. I am of course, talking about the AX-7. The AX-7 is not a new product but it is not an old one either. Not six months ago there was a substantial buzz in the overclocking community about the AX-7 that has since fallen prey to ThermalRight’s newest flagship sink. Something to consider is that the AX-7 generally has a street price now at about HALF that of the SLK-800. ThermalRight was kind enough to send us an AX-7 to play with. This will be our first experience with this product and I am anxious to see how it stacks up.

Specifications

Application: Intel Socket 370 and AMD Socket 462.

Dimensions: (sink only): 77 x 77 x 44mm (Upper); 77 x 50 x 16mm (Lower)

Weight (sink only): 430 grams.

Material: Copper base with aluminum fins

Fan: None included

All of ThermalRight's sinks are wrapped in plastic within their box to keep condensation out. Nice call especially with a copper base. When you look down on the AX-7, it resembles the letter ‘H’. You may have noticed from the specs above, we noted the AX-7’s dimensions in ‘upper’ and ‘lower’ sections. From a lateral vantage point, cutaways from the sink make its size change down to 77 x 50 x 16mm. These cutaways are an effort to afford extra clearance so that it may fit motherboards with some capacitors near the socket. We will see soon enough if this is effective.

A total of 70 fins branch off from a center that is an aluminum mass measuring 44 x 22 x 33mm. The two longer sides each have 28 fins with the inner sides being 7 per side. Given the fact that the AX-7 is an oversized heatsink, this high fin count represents an even larger gain in surface area than you might expect.

This larger center aids in “pulling” heat up from the base so it is better dissipated through the sink’s convection fins. The fins appear to be welded to the base. In the pic below you can see what appears to be the weld markings. The copper was also discolored here as if exposed to very high heat.

The AX-7’s base is polished to a high shine. There is some room for improvement if you have the time and 1000 grit sandpaper but the factory lapping is most certainly satisfactory. The base is a solid copper sheet measuring 61 x 50 x 8mm. A large thick copper base capped with lots of aluminum surface area is similar to the basic tenet that Swiftech uses in construction of its products. And we all know how very successful that design has been.

The clip on the AX-7 is yet another step in the direction of the six lug approach that seems to be slowly adopted by the industry. The clip fastens to the three lugs on either side of the socket. Not only does this give the AX-7 a more solid and flush mount but it also keeps a mainboard with a broken lug from being useless. A single screwdriver pry allows for the clip to be pulled back for installation or removal. We used an EPoX 8K3A motherboard as out test board.

Installation went so-so. We were able to get things mounted but the clearances were so tight we had some moderate amount of difficulty getting things hooked in. With the capacitor placement being different from board to board you would be wise to be sure the AX-7 will fit on your motherboard. Check and do some measuring with the dimensions we previously noted to keep yourself out of trouble.