Sandy Bridge-E shipping light without a heatsink/fan

It has just come to light that Intel does not intend to ship its upcoming Sandy Bridge-E (LGA2011) Core i7 processors with a heatsink/fan (HSF). Instead, Intel plans to offer the certified HSF for these processors as a separate, standalone purchase through the same retail channels.

While there's no doubt some people are satisfied with, or even prefer an Intel certified cooler for these high TDP processors, Intel would be banking on the majority of the target users wanting to use third-party cooling options, as it is expected that many of the big name CPU cooler makers will have lineups of LGA2011-ready coolers readily available upon the Sandy Bridge E series launch.

Sandy Bridge E processors have a rated TDP of 130W, but early testing on engineering samples has proven that it can reach as high as 180W under load (and that's at stock speeds).