This is a quick and dirty review of a pair of socket 478 coolers from LS Cable. LS Cable is a little known Korean company owned by JC Corp that is trying to break into the cooling arena using aircooled heatsinks with heatpipe assistance. Their success will depend on the cooling ability of their products, and if these two are a preview of what we can expect, they have got some work to do.

Package

I received two models of their heatsinks, the LSHS- X500 and the LSHS-L500. Both came in the exact same box but the L500 had a sticker over the model and the LSHS-L500 was written in. Both boxes sustained a little damage from the ends of the heatpipes, but it didn't seem to damage the heatsink.

Here are the two heatsinks side by side. The basic design is the same for both sinks, the fins and heatpipes are exactly the same for both. I will point out the differences between the two as I get to them. First off, looking down from the top at both of them you can see that one fan has turbine style blades while the other has flatter, straight blades. The turbine style blades belong to the X500 and the flat blades belong to the L500. I'll have more details on these fans later.

The X500 is for socket 478 boards, but will work on 939 boards with the included retention bracket. The L500 is for 478 boards only. The L500 included a strange little fan controller in the box, as well as a tiny screwdriver. I have no idea what the screwdriver is included for.

There is also a set of instructions in each box that cover both heatsinks. Now, I am not one to dis another for their lack of English skills if they are from a country that speaks another language; after all, I'm sure most of the world speaks English better than I can speak their language. But if I were to want to sell a product in another country, I would make damn sure that the instructions were properly translated. It's a matter of professionalism and reflects directly back at the company.

Here are some examples of poor translation I found in these instructions:

-"Excellent cooling effect by pure cooper material use."
-"Proper amount of thermal grease may attach on the product to get the most effective heat delivery."
-"Compulsion install of heat sink may bring major defect on the product."
-"In case of the thermal grease attached, please be careful not to touch it."
-"Spread heat delivery grease on CPU surface."

Again, I don't mean any offense for the company's knowledge of English, but whomever they hired to translate their instructions should probably look for another line of work. Besides, who wants to spread heat delivery grease on their CPU?