Page 2 - Physical Look - Hardware
The SAMA A60E we have is the silver version, but there are also the black A60B, white A60W, and ARGB A60L versions. The top cover plates on each heatsink tower are easily my favorite design of this product. The plates are made of a metallic material and rest on top of a plastic enclosure that is attached to the heatsink. The surface of the plate is a texturized dark gray color with a line pattern similar to wood surfaces. This is then contrasted with the smooth and reflective edges. A black line runs down the center of the plates to add more spark to the design. Finally, the SAMA logo is placed on the bottom left to finish the look. I find this design to be stunning, and the perfect medium between simplicity and complexity. Although the appearance is incredible, there seems to be some quality control issues, as one of the heatsink covers is loose and can be moved around slightly.
Considering the dimensions of the SAMA A60E, it falls into the common category of 120mm coolers, which should fit in most mid-tower ATX cases. It measures 125mm in length, 142.5mm in width, and 156.5mm in height, including the fans. I counted there to be 106 aluminum fins after a few attempts. Each fin is 2mm from each other with some slight deviations. The fins are wave-shaped, which SAMA claims helps reduce wind shear noise. One design I found odd is the last five fins on each tower are shorter than the rest. This design is not intended to improve RAM clearance, since with the fan on, the extra clearance is nullified. The review guide I received did not state any advantages to this design, so I can only assume this is either for visual appearance or to cut costs. It was difficult to measure the dimensions of the fins since they are not rectangular, but I calculated the total surface area of the fins to be about 1.0m2 with some rough measurements, ignoring the thickness of each fin. Between the fins, there are twelve optimally spaced heat pipes passing through all of them. There are only six pipes, but its U-shape effectively makes it twelve pipes. Fan mounting clips are used to attach the fans to the heatsink, which is a simple and cost-effective method many CPU air coolers utilize. The weight of the A60E, including the fans, is about 1158g according to my scale. Without the fans, it comes in at 811g.
The SAMA A60E is primarily aluminum. Making the heatsink out of copper could lead to enhanced thermal performance due to the thermal conductivity of pure copper being 401W/mK compared to pure aluminum's 237W/mK. However, despite the thermal conductivity of copper being close to double that of aluminum, copper heatsinks are almost nonexistent in the CPU air cooler market. The reason for this is because aluminum makes more sense from a practical standpoint. Aluminum is lighter, cheaper, and easier to manufacture. This lighter material also means there is less strain on the motherboard when the heatsink is in place.
The SAMA A60E includes two fans that do not have a product name printed. This nine blade PWM fan has a maximum airflow of 78CFM and a maximum air pressure of 2.7mmH₂O. The dimensions are 120mm in length, 120mm in width, and 25mm in height. SAMA did not specify the lifespan of the fan, but they specified the bearing type to be hydro bearing. The fan is also designed with a guide ring attached to the ends of each blade, which is meant to reduce noise and improve efficiency. In the specifications, the fan noise is stated to be 29dBA. However, in the review guide SAMA provided me where test data were shown, a singular fan reached 42.2dBA, and two fans together reached 45.2dBA. It is standard to state the maximum fan volume, but SAMA stated the idle volume without indicating it. This is very misleading, which I do not appreciate. I also noticed the texture on the sides of the fan causes them to be prone to scratch marks. One light pass with the fingernails will leave a mark that is very difficult to remove.
The contact plate of the SAMA A60E is a solid metal base design made with pure copper. Both the base plate and the heatpipes are nickel-plated to enhance corrosion protection. Although pure nickel has a much lower thermal conductivity than pure copper of about 91W/mK compared to 401W/mK, it is only a thin layer, so it should reduce the negative effect it has on the performance. The copper base also allows for a more even distribution of heat to the heatpipes at the expense of lower thermal conductivity. The thermal conductivity of heat pipes can range from the thousands to hundreds of thousands, which is much higher than pure copper. From a visual inspection of the contact plate, I also noticed two small dents. I think the dents are small enough to not affect the performance, but this could further suggest quality control issues.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware
3. Installation and Test Results
4. Conclusion
