Don't let the odd appearance fool you. It may look strange, but the V1 performs just as well as other air coolers that have a more traditional round or square shape. It works on the idea that heat rises, and it makes sense to apply that to a CPU air cooler by using a vertically aligned fan and copper fins to move heat up and out. I also can't say enough about how easy the installation was; it was by far the quickest install of a cooler I've done in a couple years.