Out in Front: September 2, 1996

The Cool Cat thermal-management software from Aavid Thermal Technologies provides a search engine and thermal-algorithm solutions for cooling complex systems. The software derives thermal solutions on-the-fly for forced-air and natural-convection systems.

You can use Windows 3.1-driven menus or enter data in prompted boxes to assemble thermal components and integrate interface materials and attachment methods to obtain cooling solutions ranked according to performance or height. Cool Cat supports thermal systems incorporating liquid cooling; stamped, die-cast, extruded, and cross-cut heat sinks; and heat sinks with bonded fins and integrated fans.

The software, distributed on two 3.5-in. floppy disks, requires at least a 486 processor running Windows 3.1 or higher. You need at least 4 Mbytes of RAM and 9 Mbytes of free disk space to run Cool Cat. The $19.95 price includes free upgrades for one year.

—by Bill Travis

Aavid Thermal Technologies Inc, Laconia, NH. (603) 528-3400, http://www.aavid.com.