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The HPL-815 is a very low profile cooling solution that would be best suited for a media center and systems that are not going to be overclocked or overvolted.
The fan they selected for the HPL-815 is a thin (15mm deep) Evercool EC8015TH12EP 80mm unit. It uses a 4 pin connection which enables the BIOS controlled PWM feature when connected to a supporting header on the motherboard. The fan has 7 red blades that spin between 1,000 and 4,000 RPM depending on the CPU temperature parameters setup in the BIOS. When the PWM feature is disabled the fan runs at full speed and is fairly loud.
With the fan removed we can better examine the heatsink. The HPL-815 uses 4 x 6mm Direct Touch heatpipes to draw heat away from the processor. The copper heatpipes extend from the base of the heatsink then bend in a U shape before passing through the multiple aluminum fins and exiting through the last row of fins.
The base of the HPL-815 has a layer of plastic protecting the base from scratching. Once we remove the plastic we can see that the base of the HPL-815 is pretty much flat. There are very small gaps between the base and the heatpipes but that should not interfere with performance as the thermal paste will fill in the gaps once pressure is applied by tightening the mounting screws.
