aspire, so, under that idea, DD copied D-tek for using tall cylindrical pins? How about OCZ, that uses pins, but triangle shaped? There is a design limit around bottoms - looks/tops are totally a different discussion. All companies out there are trying to cool the exact same component, whose thermal profile doesn't change all that much. evil said it best: it's all based on the same idea - you can only design a bottom differently so many times before you start seeing reiterations of the same design pattern.