A Closer Look

The Vivo is a tower type heatsink which features a white cover with black vents on the top and sides. The installed 92mm fan is also white, which helps keep the appearance uniform.


The white cover is mounted to the top of the heatsink with four small black screws. By loosening these screws the whole cover can be lifted off the top of the heatsink, which can help to make installation easier, as well as replacing or adding fans. The fan is bolted to the cover with four nuts and bolts. One issue discovered here was that the white cover came apart easily when removed from the heatsink, which made the black vents fall out. It would be nice to have the two sides of the cover lock into each other better, or have them glued together.


With the cover removed, the aluminum fins are exposed. Zaward uses a solder-free method of attaching the fins to the heatpipe, which helps to make the unit RoHS compliant. The three copper heatpipes are bent in a U-shape and end with the tips slightly exposed on the top in the fin array.


The Zaward Vivo comes with the LGA 775 mounting hardware already installed. Each of the four screws has a spring and is held in place with a C-clip.


The base is a little different than most users are used to. Zaward uses exposed heatpipes which come in direct contact with the CPU's integrated heatspreader. To protect the surface during shipping, there is a plastic film covering the base. The base is flattened after it is assembled and then lapped, which makes the heatpipes level with the aluminum base. With the razor blade test, very little light shows through, and that is mostly from the small gap at the surface between the heatpipes and the base.


The fan included with the Vivo is one of Zaward's Golf fans, which features Zaward's Dimple technology. According to Zaward, "[the] Golf dimple blade reduces 15% noise level at the same RPM & airflow. Seven dimple blades raise airflow and air pressure at the same noise level." The wires for the fan have been sleeved with a white-rubbery material.