Intro

The other day an unexpected package arrived. The box was beaten, battered, and looked like someone used it to play soccer, but the contents were in good shape. When I opened it up I first noticed the rather large fan. I immediately pulled out the spec sheet provided by Dynatron to see what unit this was, as I hadn't seen it before. It was the DY1206BH-638, a.k.a. Model-638. After closer examination I realized that this unit looks a lot like the SK-6 as far as manufacturing techniques goes, and for good reason. Today we'll be taking a look at the Model-638, and seeing whether or not it can take down the Thermalright SK-6!

The Heatsink

Mounted on top of our heatsink is the 60 x 60 x 38mm Delta fan. This sucker pushes 44 CFM of air at a loud, and I do mean loud 50.5dBa. The fan speed is 7000 RPM. The wattage drawn by this fan, and its other specs are unknown as the sticker on the fan stated "Sample Reference Only." I can only imagine the amount of power this fan pulls. A three-pin connector powers the fan however; I would consider it unwise to plug it into your motherboard header, as you would be likely to burn out the header. Moving on to the next picture, you'll notice that unlike the Model-P, this unit does not have the staggering fin density. The amount of fins on this unit comes in at 36, only 2 less than the Thermalright SK-6. Another thing you'll notice is that the unit is manufactured the same way as the SK-6. The tops of the fins are bent over and soldered together, just as in the SK-6, and the fins are soldered to the base. Each one of the fins is about .4 -.5mm thick, and about 2mm apart. The fan clearance is about 2-3mm also. The clip runs perpendicular to the fins, and the 2 separate gaps are each 5mm wide.

Next up let's take a look at the clip. I personally love this clip, it's a breeze to put on and it uses all 6 cleats. Once it's locked in on the socket there is no play whatsoever. I believe more manufacturers need to move to using all 6 cleats, but hey, that's just my opinion. The clip works like every other one, lock the clip on one side, tilt the unit down, and then use a flat head screwdriver to push the clip down and engage it into place. Unlike with the Model-P users shouldn't have to worry about the heatsink moving around on the die when they move their computer. One complaint I had about previous heatsinks I have tested is that they didn't put enough pressure on the processor die. In my opinion this clip puts just the right amount of pressure on, not too much, and not too little.

If you take a look at the side shot you'll notice the lack of fins compared to the Model-P. This is because unlike the Model-P, this unit does not use Dynatron's MicroFins Technology. The technology used to manufacture this is exactly the same as the Thermalright SK-6. The fins are soldered together at the top, and are once again soldered to the base. The soldering in this unit is much cleaner than in the SK-6, hardly even being noticeable. As it has become custom, the fan shroud on the 638 is made out of Aluminum and anodized a copper color. This is to cut down on the weight (467g) and manufacturing costs. The shroud is attached to the heatsink base by 4 small slots, and also runs parallel to the fins for maximum cooling efficiency.

As you'll notice in the picture above, when the heatsink was shipped to me it had a strip of paper running across the center of the base. This is obviously to keep the area of die contact free from scratches, scrapes, and other abrasions. If you look closely, you'll also notice that the base is slightly tarnished. Since this is an engineering sample this is expected. This was also seen in the early engineering samples of the Vantec CCK-6035D, but was proven to not effect the cooling very much. The base itself was still however very smooth and provided good contact with the processor die. There were no noticeable scratches or dents in the base of this unit, unlike what we saw with the Model-P. Now that we've taken a look at the heatsink, let's get to the testing!