Me and My Dell For Inspiron, G-Series, XPS, and Alienware computers

Heat sinks are used to dissipate heat generated by the processor, some high-end graphics cards, and on-board chipsets. Heat sinks generally have a fan mounted above or beside them to increase airflow. A heat sink is made up of fins or blades instead of a single block of metal. This helps increase the surface area for increased heat dissipation. A layer of thermal grease is applied between the processor or graphics card and the heat sink for easy exchange of heat.