A Closer Look

The Twin Towers is very unconventional in design. There are two copper heatpipes surrounded with aluminum fins. One of the heatpipes comes straight up from the center on the unit, while the other wraps around the base and curves up to run parallel to the first pipe. The secondary heatpipe is slightly smaller than the main one, but it can spin around the base to assist in avoiding compatibility issues.


Zaward uses a solder-free process to attach the aluminum fins to the copper heatpipes, which makes the product environmentally friendly. Each heatpipe has a black rubber cap on it, which not only makes it more aesthetically pleasing, but helps to prevent other components from being scratched by the crimped tip during the installation process. There is a small amount of thermal compound spread around the base to allow better thermal contact with the second heatpipe.


Speaking of the base, Zaward uses a 2mm thick piece of copper that is attached to the rest of the unit with screws. At first this may seem alarming to see screws near where the chipset will be, but as you will see later the chipset die fits nicely between them. However, one concern here was a couple of dings on the edge of the base. While these were not near where the chipset will be, they are sharp and could scratch other components or cut the user if they came in contact with them. Having previous machining experience myself, I know that these things happen from time to time, but it is up to the operators, assemblers and quality control to keep things like this from reaching the customer. A few seconds with a fine file were all that was required to remove them before installation.