"Interestingly, rather than going down the usual route of having a copper base or similar that all of the heatpipes attach to, OCZ have chosen to have the three heatpipes used by the Vendetta make direct contact with the surface of the CPU itself. In theory this should actually improve the transfer of heat away from the processor somewhat, although the design used here does leave ridges rather than a completely smooth surface on the base of the cooler, which can make applying thermal compound tricky - In this case, it's easier to apply the compound to the cooler before installing it rather than spreading it on the CPU itself."