When the opportunity came to try out the new Thermalright SLK-948U I jumped at it. If the stock heatsink did that well I couldn't wait to see what a top tier heatsink would do. The heatsink arrived in the normal Thermalright brown box.

The Venus 12 is not a new design. In fact the same exact heat sink is also used in the Silent Boost and Silent Boost K8 as well as the Extreme Volcano 12. The fins are soldered to the base rather than skived, this helps to keep the cost of manufacturing down, but also lessens the performance some. Coming to the table with 73 fins, the Venus 12 packs a lot of surface area into its rather small footprint. We all know that the greater the surface area, the greater the cooling potential. The Venus 12 is made from 100% copper and measures 73mm x 73mm x 48mm tall. Weighing in at a pretty hefty 760 grams, the Venus 12 is sure to land in the heavy weight category.

You can grab this heatsink here for as low as $25.