I still think it's money wasted. Anyone purchasing high end components will likely look into aftermarket cooling. In the end, we all know where the extra cost of making that heatsink trickles down to. Infact, I think high end cpu's should come with no heatsink and fan.

I would agree with widowmaker. There is no point in buying the "Extreme" version of any CPU unless you are going down the overclocking route, as the only difference (to my knowledge) is the unlocked multiplier.

Anyone spending that much on a CPU is going to be looking at minimum at the Ultra 120 Extreme, if not water of phase change cooling.

TBH it would have probably made no difference to sales if they had shipped as OEM processors.

the retail heatsink for a 2.26GHZ p4 was good for a 1.7ghz pentium
the heatsink retail for a 2.8e was good for the 2.26
the 2.8e has my hair standing on end four years and 12000 hours later, with a recent custom all aluminum ductwork precisioned to mate to the xp90 vibrationless with reverse cooling: my lowest max temp now is 140F, a miracle. The 92mm does see a very very quite mode with th giant duct. My own stubborness of disbelief in how hot they really are as finally gone away.

Is intel paid off for the aftermarket winners to prevail? why do they even bother with the heatsinks...
anyone remember that crazy all wrapped slot1 pentium2 they had going...not even 10 years ago now.
the guy I sold it too had a heart attack at age 36, sitting near the computer. After the year I ran it and spoke of mysterious odors, dizzyness and adjectives babbling nuclear, heart palputations and numbness, mysteriously disappearing when I left my computer....

Heatsinks are serious business. Intel is being dumber than a 5 main bearing boxer engine....I wonder how many intel emplyees think that is good too...
INSANE.

Pictures of the base on page 2 are quite interesting. There is a very defined step..

I wonder if this is Intel's answer to concave heat spreaders.

According to reviews, the Pentium D heatsinks from Intel sometimes worked better than aftermarket coolers. Not because they were more efficient, but because they didn't require much skill when installing (not the first time, with the thermal compound preapplied). This heatsink provides the exact same feature: It just works, no hassle. It may not be extremely efficient (nor silent, surprise, surprise), but it is efficient enough, which is all Intel needs.

I do agree with the article comment about adding LEDs, though. Hilarious.

Hard to figure..... This Intel OEM heat-sink is a whole lot more than their coolers of the past, which were basically simple chunks of aluminum with a fan slapped on the top. In fact I wonder the production cost differential between this cooler and a multitude of similar after-market coolers that apparently perform better and quieter.

Intel is not in the HSF business, but with the resources of the Intel corporation, you'd think their OEM HSF could perform much better than coolers being sold by some (relatively) peanut HSF company located in some back-alley.

As Bluefront said, Intel is not in the HSF business. But, I go the opposite way from there: instead of dumping corporate resources down the HSF hole, why don't they license a heatsink from a company actually in the business? Maybe they don't want to do that with their low-end line. But, with the Extreme processors, they should have a licensing agreement where the processor would come with a TRUE or Ninja or something. Heck, the heatsink companies would probably soil themselves competing for that contract.

Hello,

I wonder if a (Velcro) strap (or even a rubber band) run around the outside, could be used to dampen the fins rattling, and therefore make it a lot quieter?

I believe that's what Intel already does. The heatsinks from the 4XXX and 6XXX series are also sold by Dynatron IIRC (with a different fan). I think both companies get the same stock from a third party.

Foxconn IIRC.

I bet the number of people purchasing this $1000 chip designed purely for extreme overclockers that actually use this heatsink could be counted on a quadriplegic's hand.

Still, nice to see them using something more advanced that the basic intel heatsink, hopefully this means that new CPU's in the future will get a better cooler for those who dont plan on switching to an aftermarket one.

Heh, I'd rather both AMD and Intel toss out their heatsinks alltogether and pass the savings onto the consumers. Spend time making an "approved" heatsink/fan list for the consumer to pick and choose. Middle to low end CPU's should probably still come with a heatsink though.

Both companies should make similar cooler what AMD supplied with their 125W CPU's, except with bigger fan. That was very good looking Stock HSF, heatpipes and all. But 70mm fan running 3500 RPM's max is not quiet, albeit it was effective.

Whats what buying OEM is for!

The only OEM Intel processors I see on Newegg are P4s. Am I missing some other source?

I also second Neil's question above. The first thing I thought when I read the part about the fins vibrating was to wrap a rubber band around the entire heat sink.

Maybe its different in the US, but in the UK most websites offer OEM versions which come without a heatsink and generally only a 1 year warrenty (compared to the more usual 3 in retail). Not a whole lot cheaper, but if like me you dont plan on ever using the stock cooler then its worth it.

OEM is fine generally but if I was buying one of these Extreme Editions that cost almost a £1,000 for the top of the pile chips I think I’d like the safety of a 3 year warranty rather than save £20.