Eumax EU-0702 Copper Heat Sink

Provided by: Eumax
Retail: as low as $20.00
Review Date: April 13th, 2003
Reviewer: Brad L.

These days just about everyone knows the importance of a cool CPU, because a cool CPU is a stable CPU. With the majority of computer users implementing a stock heatsink there is no wonder to the amount of overheating issues there are out there. Quite simply put, I have seen too many situations where a stock AMD heatsink cannot cool the CPU sufficiently. Often times I hear of users complaining that they have random lock ups or freezes. All too often, when I open up a case I come across a cooler that can’t keep the CPU at a good temperature because of the airflow dynamics of the case.

My first piece of advice to these people is to buy a more competent heatsink. Then of course they ask me “which one?” That can be a very difficult question to answer, heat sinks seem to be blobbed into a couple of hard to discern categories. On one hand there are really expensive heatsinks for the overclocker, they work well but come at a cost. On the other you often have cheaper heatsinks that perform, well, cheaply. Upgrading your stock heatsink to one of these cheaper products all too often doesn't justify the purchase price. This is because these "cheap" models don’t perform much better than stock. A good example of a cheap heatsink that isn’t much better than stock is the Volcano 5.

I chose to compare this heatsink to the Volcano 5 because I believe that the cost of the Eumax unit it is really competing with some of the midlevel heatsinks available. As an added bonus this cooler comes with a custom fan with a red, green and blue LED embedded in clear plastic. Not only does the Eumax unit promise performance, but it entices with good looks as well. Let’s take a closer look at the Eumax EU-0702.

Specs (as listed on the Eumax Website)

Main Feature:

• For AMD Athlon XP 2800+ and 1U System
• Thermal Resistance : 0.525oC/W
• Total dimension : 84.8(L)x80(W)x66.4(H) mm

1. heat sink : 84.8(L) x 80(W) x 41.4(H) mm
2. fan : 80 x 80 x 25 mm (w/ LEDs)

• Clip : One Step Clip For Installation Quickly & Easily
• Fan specification :
  1. Speed : 3000rpm
  2. Voltage : 12V
  3. Air Flow : 39.5CFM
  4. Noise : 32dBA
  5. Bearing : Two Ball Bearing
• Interface Material : Balancestars ST 360
• Model Number: EU-0702

Packaging

The Eumax EU-0702 comes packaged in one of the best plastic packages that I have seen a cooler arrive in. Its plastic housing appears to keep the unit completely isolated in a rigid safety bubble. Upon opening the package I came across a small syringe of thermal grease accompanied by the Heatsink-fan unit. Its individual specs were listed as:

Thermal conductivity >4.5W/m-k and Thermal resistance >0.06 C -in ^2/W

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Rather than trust this grease I chose to use Arctic Silver 3 as I always do. The difference between the two greases, or any for that matter, is merely a few degrees Celsius. It is that small difference that I always pay attention to, and as a result I chose to give this heatsink a ride on the Arctic Silver 3 icicle. When I compared the consistencies of the greases I found that they looked nearly identical.

The heatsink itself has a nice 80mm LED fan mounted atop a mountain of aluminum. The fins were aluminum, and there was a small copper insert at the base. The copper insert was roughly the size of a quarter and covered the area where the die would make contact with the base surface of the heatsink. In this critical area there was a thin layer of “protective” plastic. But let us be honest, anything that is dense enough to scratch copper is going to be dense enough to cut through that tab. Thankfully the heatsink was packaged nicely, and no oils were embedded in the copper insert covered by the plastic tab.

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The heatsink design didn’t appear to be anything really revolutionary, but appeared to be designed on sound heat dissipation principles. The heatsink grows in girth from the base and the aluminum fins spread out to accommodate the dimensions of the crowing 80mm fan.

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I peeled back the copper base to rub in some Arctic Silver 3 and took some time to observe the finish. There was some “arcing” present. Presumably this is from the sanding wheel or whatever device was used to ground the base of the Eumax heatsink. The base appeared to be level, with no convex or concaves angles; however, the surface left something to be desired. The grinding left scratches deep enough to show up in photographs, so surely it is enough distance to effect cooling on the microscopic level. I always like to see a nice mirror shine, but that is rare and we will have to see how this heatsink performs despite the slightly unsavory finish on the base. (It was difficult to portray the arrangement of the machining marks in the following photographs but there was a general semi-circle shape to the grooves.)

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A big plus that this heatsink has is the clipping mechanism. Many heatsinks include only a single clasp on either side of the unit with which to clamp to the motherboard socket. This heatsink delighted me with a 3 clasp per side design. The reason I like this so much is the stability. It is easy to break the plastic tabs on the CPU socket using high pressure heatsinks which can render a motherboard useless by only breaking a single tab.

The power cord connected to the fan was a 3-prong connector with a medium cord length. It proved to be enough to maneuver about my case.

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