Intel TS15A Cooler Spotted, Massive Retail LGA 1151 Fansink For Skylake Breaks Cover
We can sense your skepticism, and truth be told, we don't blame you. It's not as though Intel's previous stock cooling solutions have been anything to get excited over -- while sufficient, Intel's bundled coolers typically fall way behind third-party cooling solutions aimed at enthusiasts and overclockers. Will that be the same with Intel's TS15A cooler?
We'll have to wait and see, but for now, let's appreciate the size of the TS15A. A store in Japan is already selling the retail boxed part, so of course pictures of the cooler found their way to the web. The first thing that stands out about the cooler is how big it is compared to previous stock heatsink and fan combinations (see photo comparison above). It's even taller than Intel's TS13A for Haswell-E.
Underneath the TS15A is a large copper base with pre-applied thermal paste. Heat is pulled from the CPU and then distributed to a series of densely packed aluminum fins that are arranged in similar fashion to high-end third-party coolers.
Intel's latest cooler uses a 4-pin pulse width modulation (PWN) fan speed control and familiar push-pin mounts. The fan on top also appears unchanged from previous. Even so, the sheer size of this thing suggests that it should do a decent job with Skylake.
In Japan, the TS15A costs ¥5162, or around $41 in U.S. currency.