The Pentium 4 heatsink we are reviewing today is simply called the Global Win Pentium 4 Heatsink and is part number TWAFR01. As previously mentioned, this heatsink is bigger then heatsinks designed for Socket-370 and Socket-A. Lets take the popular Global Win FOP80 for example. This heatsinks measures 70x62x37 whereas the Global Win Pentium 4 cooler measures 90x70x35, this is because the Pentium 4 processor socket area is bigger than the socket area of the Intel Pentium 3 and AMD Athlon processors. The heatsinks are required to be bigger for the Pentium 4 as they generate more heat compared to 6th generation processors, this heat needs to be dissipated away for the processor to operate properly and stable. Here is a picture of the base of the heatsink...
- The Fan
The heatsink comes with a 21 CFM dual ball bearing fan that operates at 3950 RPM at a super quiet 26dba - Hardly noticeable with other case fans operation within the case as they drown the quiet Global Win fan out. My opinion is all HSF units should ship with fan guards, CoolerGuys chose not to though. Fan guards add class and style to the heatsink as well as keeping us kiddies from hurting our fingers when touching the fans. Admit it, you just can’t help it can you. The fan has a 3-pin power connector, which means you can monitor the fan’s operation within the BIOS and supported software such as Motherboard Monitor. The fan is attached to the heatsink using Global Win’s traditional clip method.
- Included Thermal Paste, or lack thereof
Global Win include a plastic slip with supposedly enough thermal paste to apply to Pentium 4 core. The amount of thermal paste include with my kit was no where near enough to cover the whole Pentium 4 core, instead I used some Arctic Silver and OCZ Quick Silver thermal paste. If a company is going to include thermal paste, can they at least provide an adequate amount. Here is a picture of the plastic strip sitting next to an Intel Pentium 4 1.5Ghz processor for size comparison...
- New Clipping Mechanism
The Intel Pentium 4 uses a totally different and innovative clipping mechanism, compared to the clip style of Socket-370 and Socket-A heatsinks. I feel the new clipping mechanism of the Pentium 4 is much better and makes installing heatsinks quicker and easier. The new clipping mechanism was also designed in a way that it wouldn’t contribute to crushing processor cores like we know all to well with AMD Athlon and Duron processors. Besides this, the Pentium 4 cores are much stronger than the Pentium 3 and AMD Athlon cores; it tends to remind me of older PPGA Intel Celeron cores that were indestructible in terms of crushing or cracking the cores. Global Win have chosen to use the default clipping mechanism which Intel ships with their impressive stock cooler, which is part copper I might add and actually a decent heatsink from Intel compared to their past, not-so-impressive heatsinks. Now, let’s take a short look at the new clipping mechanism and how it works in pictorial form.
Below we see the Socket-423 and part of the clipping mechanism screwed into the motherboard and case...
Here is a picture of the heatsink seated in the socket...
Here is a picture of one of the two clips that are used to clamp the heatsink to the socket...
Here is a picture of the heatsink successfully installed on the Socket-423...
As you can see the process of installing a Pentium 4 heatsink is much easier compared to that of a Pentium 3 or AMD Athlon heatsink. Hardly any pressure is needed to install the heatsink, to remove the heatsink all that you need to do is push the clips out with a screw driver and they become loose and then you can just remove the clips and remove the heatsink, very easy indeed and something for which Intel should be congratulated on.
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