Intel’s Core i7 Stock CPU Cooler Revealed

With Intel’s Core i7 launch right around the corner (~2 months), it’s about time we get a glimpse of the CPU cooler we’ll be receiving with the retail product, right? Well, someone on a Chinese forum was lucky enough to score what appears to be a retail packaging (minus the graphics) and also the completely revamped cooler.

As you can see in the image below, the new cooler doesn’t change the overall design, but it appears thin copper fins replace the somewhat-thicker aluminum ones on the previous models. The fan itself is also larger and lacks a “guard” of sorts and happens to be completely clear. Overall, it looks rather sharp and should be a huge improvement over what we’ve seen before.

I still have to gripe about the use of the thumb-mounts, though. I know I’m not alone in thinking that these are less-than-ideal and only result in sore thumbs, but they continue to be used not only on Intel’s own coolers, but some others as well. The benefit of the thumb-mounts is of course ease-of-installation, but when your thumbs are sore afterwards, is it even worth it?

Whether or not this cooler will be included with all of the Core i7 models, or just the higher-end models is yet to be seen. It shouldn’t be too much longer before we find out.