'Imposing' was the first word that sprang to mind when we first took this heatsink out of the box, quickly followed by 'unusual' as it comes in two separate parts.

To start with is the 'standard' heatsink, which features two towers whose aluminum blades are linked together by two sets of four heatpipes each.

This sizeable collection takes up a lot of room, and if you've got a motherboard where the heatsink sits right next to the processor, you'll need to be careful that the IFX-14 doesn't bash into it.

The base is made from nickel-coated copper.

The second part is the IFX-10, an additional heatsink that sits at the back of the motherboard to remove heat produced by the processor.

Two heatpipes start at the bottom and run up to a third tower of heat-exchangers, which this time sits on top of the motherboard, and you'll need at least 70 mm of space on top to fit this pair.

Finally, you can also add a third element--either a 120 mm or a 140 mm fan.

An Excellent Heatsink

As with all heatsinks which don't include a fan, we tested out the IFX-14 and IFX-10 with one of our favorites, the Noctua NF-P12, and we found that the whole lot gave excellent results.

This new model from Thermalright makes the most of its large surface area and is more effective at cooling than some of the best heatsinks out there like the Noctura NH-U12 or the Cooler Master Z400.

In short, with a 120 mm on board too, the IFX-14 excels at cooling even the hottest quad-core processors.


Passive Mode

Running in passive mode, without a fan, you'll need to be careful to ensure the rest of the case is well-ventilated, and, where possible, use a processor that doesn't suffer from overheating.

In our test, the IFX-14 couldn't keep our quad-core processor below 80 °C, the maximum temperature we allow.