To sink the heat.
A heat sink is designed to disperse and transfer heat coming from a processor to an outside medium, so that it does not overheat the actual processor chip. It is usually used in conjunction with a fan to cool the device it is installed on.
To cool the processor
heat sink
It keeps your processor from melting. Do not run a PC without a heat sink on your processor. Processors can get to extremley high temperatures. The heat sink absorbs this heat and removes it using a fan.
The heat sink absorbs the heat from the processor and then the fan disperses the heat.
Heat sink
A heat sink is a device commonly used to help move heat away from a processor. It consists of metal fins that absorb and dissipate heat generated by the processor through conduction and convection. In some cases, a fan is attached to the heat sink to enhance heat dissipation.
sink
If you buy a retail boxed processor, yes. You do get a heatsink fan (HSF) with the processor.
The main purpose of a heat sink is to expel heat from a generating source. Heat sinks work through the process of conductive and convection heat transfer. Heat sinks are a passive form of cooling, as they have no moving parts and require no power.
Processor, RAM, daughter cards, CMOS, Heat sink
Most computer processors liberate heat by mounting a metallic heat sink and fan on the processor itself. Gamers' systems may however feature liquid cooling.