A Closer Look

The Andy Samurai Master Cooler is a six-heatpipe heatsink with a copper base and aluminum fins. This design works well to transfer heat away from the CPU and keeps the weight of the cooler at a minimum.


On top of the cooler is a 120mm fan held on with two thin wire clips similar to the ones used by Thermalright. This has always proved to be an efficient method, and continues to work well with the Andy Samurai. With the fan removed, the aluminum fins can be more closely observed. The fins are staggered and not the same all the way across. This reduces surface area but helps to improve airflow since the fins do not slow down the air moving across them.


The six heatpipes are passed from the aluminum fins down to the base. The base has a top part made of aluminum with very tall fins on it, and a bottom part made of a thin, flat piece of copper. I loved how the top of the base had fins on it, as I have seen many similar heatpipe coolers that only had a flat block for the base. Adding fins here helps to immediately remove some of the heat from the base, making the heatpipes' work easier. However, I noticed that there was a large gap around the heatpipes between the aluminum fins and the copper base. I wonder if more contact with the heatpipes would improve the heat transfer, as air is a better insulator than a conductor.


During shipping the copper base is covered by a thin plastic film to protect it. Upon removal one can see that the base is polished nicely to a mirror shine. Between the lack of distortion in the reflection of the tube of Arctic Silver and the lack of light showing through with the razor blade test, the base appears to be nearly flat and should provide excellent contact with the CPU's IHS.