A big “thank you” goes to Rob from HardCoreCooling for generously providing the review sample. Maybe it’s because he has so many left over and doesn’t mind sending me a spare, but I’m happy all the same. Likewise, overstock means that poor Robbie has to liquidate the pile of SLK-700s he has, and to do so, he’s dropped the price, a lot. HardCoreCooling is offering the SLK-700 for the lowest price on the internet right now, at $26.87USD, including the partner T.M.D fan, which is pretty pricey in its own right.
I’m sure you’ve all seen the monstrous SLK-900s, preceded by the slightly less monstrous but still fairly monstrous SLK-800s (review here). These are no doubt Thermalright’s current flagship coolers, but are they the right one for you? The SLK-700 has the same efficient design as both of the aforementioned coolers, it’s just smaller (and cheaper too). It also uses a TMD fan, which is again more efficient than the standard. Let’s see if such a combination of efficiency can take on the brute force of “Bigger” (heatsink) and “More” (airflow).
Kicking off the review, we have the SLK-700's specs:
Feature:
• All copper design for maximum performance
• Soldered fins to base to ensure effective contact
• Three pronged type heat sink clip
• Stepped fins to hold 60mm, 70mm and 74mm (TMD) fans
Technical Spec:
• Dimension: L80 x W60.8 x H45 (mm) - Top, without fan
• Weight: 510g (heat sink only)
Stock Fan Specs:
• Maker: YS Tech
• Model: PD1270155B-2F
• Size: 74 x 74 x 15 (mm)
• Bearing: T.M.D. (Tip Magnetic Driving)
• Voltage: 12V
• Speed: 5600 rpm
• Air Flow: 35.5 CFM
• Noise Level: 38 dBA
Application:
• AMD: Athlon XP Desktop CPU Thoroughbred 2200+ and higher
• Intel: P-III 1.33GHz and above; Celeron 1.3GHz and above
The first thing which caught my attention was the weight of the heatsink itself. 510g would once have been thought to be an absurd mass, but now it's almost accepted as normal now. That's over a pound, not even including fan! Something to ponder when you think of your poor little AMD CPU cores. Next, we'll have a look at the packaging and everything that's included within.
