Air, Water or Phase Change Cooling?

@ 2005/07/12
Many companies are pushing water cooling and even more extreme measures to cool the components inside your PC. Intel and AMD keep making silicon which runs hotter each product cycle; and air cooling might not be able to cut it anymore.

Or maybe it does? I'm still using air cooling on all my PC's and with the correct heatsink you can even do it quietly. What are you using to stop your PC from overheating?
Comment from Sidney @ 2005/08/17
Call it what you like, it's improvement or further expansion of heat pipe technology.
Comment from wutske @ 2005/08/17
You can also start mixing it toghether:
http://www.overclockers.com/articles1246/
Comment from GIBSON @ 2005/08/17
Quote:
Originally posted by Driften
Well the biggest problem why water cooling will never become a part of the everyday computer is because it does take some technical understanding and basic reasoning skills then most are willing to give. It takes more work to upgrade your computer as well as maintaining the system and protecting from leaks. Water cooling is something that I never see a main stream company like dell, hp, sony or any of them making a common piece of hardware in there computers. Even though it works good, the cost is not efficient as well as it brings too many risks to installation. Over time if the system is not maintained properly it could burn out the whole system. Upgrading is a bit too hard for people who rely on the plug and play feature for everyday upgrades. Also the problem with self mouting water blocks on new pieces of hardware, and well just voiding the warranty. No company is going to take a part back after you fry it due to improper water block modding. This is a art only done by those who know there way around a comp, and have the money to put where there mouth is when it comes to pimping there rig. Its like guys pimping out cars, its just less $$, but they do it for bragging rights.

But however I agree the cpu manufacturers need to develop something fast when it comes to over heating. If anything I bet you they already have a solution, they are just sitting on it. As long as they can get away with using cheep fans to hold the temperature under the breaking point, they will do nothing about it. Fans are cheep, somewhat reliable, and well is stable in a ever changing technical world. Water cooling is just a transfer point for those who want more till something reasonable comes along to replace it all. But since that happens who knows when, water cooling will be used more once cost come down, and well those who are just now gotten into heat piping will start thrive for the more "riskier" water cooling
some of the bigger companies (i think it was sony, not sure) are already experimenting with implementing wc in there "off the shelf" computers. And if intel continues on the road of the prescott (which they prolly won't) they will have to look for better cooling methods than their crappy stock cooling. But if they're smart enough they'll continue on the road of the pentium M.
Comment from Sidney @ 2005/08/06
Heatpipes have been in used much longer than W/C.
Comment from Driften @ 2005/08/06
Well the biggest problem why water cooling will never become a part of the everyday computer is because it does take some technical understanding and basic reasoning skills then most are willing to give. It takes more work to upgrade your computer as well as maintaining the system and protecting from leaks. Water cooling is something that I never see a main stream company like dell, hp, sony or any of them making a common piece of hardware in there computers. Even though it works good, the cost is not efficient as well as it brings too many risks to installation. Over time if the system is not maintained properly it could burn out the whole system. Upgrading is a bit too hard for people who rely on the plug and play feature for everyday upgrades. Also the problem with self mouting water blocks on new pieces of hardware, and well just voiding the warranty. No company is going to take a part back after you fry it due to improper water block modding. This is a art only done by those who know there way around a comp, and have the money to put where there mouth is when it comes to pimping there rig. Its like guys pimping out cars, its just less $$, but they do it for bragging rights.

But however I agree the cpu manufacturers need to develop something fast when it comes to over heating. If anything I bet you they already have a solution, they are just sitting on it. As long as they can get away with using cheep fans to hold the temperature under the breaking point, they will do nothing about it. Fans are cheep, somewhat reliable, and well is stable in a ever changing technical world. Water cooling is just a transfer point for those who want more till something reasonable comes along to replace it all. But since that happens who knows when, water cooling will be used more once cost come down, and well those who are just now gotten into heat piping will start thrive for the more "riskier" water cooling
Comment from Sidney @ 2005/08/06
Here is Swiftech stock performance -
http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom....asp?symb=RCHN

I need you guys to buy more water cooling so I could make money instead of losing my shirt. Put your money where your mouth is.

Damn, the heatpipe manufacturers are working overtime.

I went to a meat market and couldn't find any fish.
Comment from Driften @ 2005/08/05
I went water here. I built 4 complete machines for myself since I was 13 years old all using air cooling. The fifth I took on the adventures of water cooling. It’s not as complicated as people make it out to be. As well as it’s not as dangerous as people complain. People automatically think that electricity and water do not mix, in all actually they don't and that’s why it is safe. People do not realize it’s the minerals and other debris in water that makes it conductive. And if you read and follow the directions you are suppose to use distilled water which is none conductive. I say water cooling is going to become a big piece if not already a healthy stage in the pc building community. However people who prefer to not dilly in the pc world and rely on dell and hp to create there limited projections of technical advancements will stay with air cooling simply because it’s easy and they don't need nor want a fast hard core machine.
Comment from Sidney @ 2005/07/16
There are tallest structure and the deepest tunnel; the largest and the smallest of any man-made objects because either we are creative or from our curiosity nature.

Some will swear the biggest Heatsink combined with the largest fan solve the thermal issue in their proudly own “machine”; while others seek for the smallest case with everything tiny returns them the satisfaction.

Whichever the approach, manufacturers are more than happy to supply the products for those who are willing to pay with a smile on their faces, “if you are happy, I’m happy too”.

Water-cooling of CPU hobbyists created a new industry long before CPU thermal output reached 70 Watts. Sub-zero was “discovered” by enthusiasts living in the distant land way up north when they found out CPU could run at much higher than factory specs deep in the winter months without any home heating turn on. To ensure their friends could do the same living in the south, they offered them Vapor Chill.

Again, the manufacturers are happy to make those folks happy. Now, if all these devices make sense, I wonder what the reason behind AMD and Intel is not to offer them. For one I guess, they are smart. They have to be, they make processors with millions of transistors in a tiny housing. Perhaps, they are so smart that they know even if the make all the huge Heatsink; Water-Cooling and Vapor Chill products, the enthusiasts will still look for “more”.

They have realized long ago “Dry Ice” cooling without any noise from pump, fans, and compressor is the best way. This concept goes hand in hand with air pollutions; and shall be ready for mass production in 2025 by then either we will not have any problem because the world will be back in the ice age; if not, processors will require this low cost-no noise cooling when they reach the speed of light.

In between now and then, Heatsink covering the size of the motherboard with 200 mm fan at 0.15 dBA rating; water cooling using water lines coming from City Water-Filtration plant guaranteeing +/- 1°C temperature to cool your PC with a reasonable charge; Vapor Chill lines coming from your Home HAVC special unit will occupy he enthusiasts’ thirst for quite sometime.

In the next 3 to 5 years, the people living in India; Mexico; South China; East/West Africa will be very happy to have a simple factory equipped air cooling Heatsink fan as long as they have a PC; which by the way, represents >80% of the world population.
Comment from kristos @ 2005/07/15
the xp-120 is weighs less then the stock intel heatsink afaik

and in terms of compatibillity, there's not a single motherboard the xp-90 won't fit on according to thermalright's (rather extensive) list. and with performance close to that of the xp-120, it's a win win situation really
Comment from GIBSON @ 2005/07/15
thing is that for decent aircooling you most of the time need giant heatsinks like the xp120 and alike, with a lot of incompatibility problems and a lot of weight on the socket, while waterblocks aren't really big. you might need to add a silent fan however to cool the mosfets
Comment from TeuS @ 2005/07/12
Quote:
Originally posted by jort
Me voted for water too, phase-change is just too expensive to run 24/7 and more things to look after.

maybe the best thing is cpu designers need to see to the power consumption!
AMD knows this for a long time, Intel is really aware of it since the Prescott
Comment from jort @ 2005/07/12
Me voted for water too, phase-change is just too expensive to run 24/7 and more things to look after.

maybe the best thing is cpu designers need to see to the power consumption!
Comment from TeuS @ 2005/07/12
I voted watercooling, you can cool anything with it and quite some watts are required to max it out. vapor change is too difficult to work with

Quote:
Originally posted by Rutar
I predict a decline in watercooling due to more and more quality HS being available for a good price.
true, the thermalright XP-120 and alikes are great, combined with A64 cool 'n quiet that + temperature controlled fans they work very well. notebook CPU's are already in desktop PC's, a good thing
Comment from Rutar @ 2005/07/12
I predict a decline in watercooling due to more and more quality HS being available for a good price.