Computer Power User Article - Heatsink Heaven -
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Published on: 6/19/2006
Last Visited: 6/19/2006
"Testing of heatsink effectiveness is a big topic and as varied as the number of people operating test labs," says Chris Soule, director of engineering at Thermshield (www.thermshield.com), a company that makes heatsinks for servers, workstations, and PCs.Soule, who has 15 years testing experience, says that he places a thermocouple near the heat input area (by the CPU) and another in the air nearby, which gives the tester a reference point.
Soule says that for very accurate testing, you should use an anemometer to measure air velocity, a power meter to measure volts and amps, "and depending on power levels, there may also be a need to measure the power factor and correct for that."Sound
extreme?