Prime Cut

This is an interesting article recounting the events that have led to the release of the monster video card known as 7800GTX. It's a story of competition between ATI and nVidia with the consumer as the major beneficiary. It's a really good read that includes nuggets of information outside the standard historical prose. Here is an example...

"Copper is outstanding at transferring heat, but is not as effective as aluminum at dissipating heat into air. The combination of a copper core and aluminum fins insures that the heat is more evenly spread throughout the cooler, and it maximizes heat dissipation in air."

So that's why those heat sinks are made that way.