Micro channel heat sinks with staggered pin fins are designed and studied in this paper. Three typical pin fins (rhombus, hydrofoil and sine) with symmetry geometries and low flow resistance were made a detailed comparison in the study. Simulations indicate that the heat sink with sine pin fins shows the best heat removal capacity and the lowest pressure drop when the coolant flow rate is 100 ml/min and the heating flux is 144 W/cm(2). Chip's hottest points are 357.90 K, 356.81 K and 354.91 K in the three cases and the pressure drops between the inlet and the outlet are 15793.50 Pa, 15242.21 Pa and 15196.04 Pa respectively. The same trend exists among the obtained experimental results and theoretical simulations. The research systematically studied the pin fins' influence to the heat sink by simulation and confirmed the conclusion by experiment. This method can be used in the following research about the heat sink. The study also found the best pin fins configuration of the three typical structures, and the structure will be helpful for the heat sinks design. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.