[M] Performance Preview of Danamics LMX liquid metal CPU Cooler
 

We received a sample of the much anticipated Danamics LMX CPU Cooler, which looks like your average dual 120mm fan tower cooler, but with a twist.


The shroud at the top holds an electromagnetic pump, which circulates liquid metal through the vertical pipes.


This heatsink is the ideal candidate to test our latest CPU load generator; previously we used an overclocked Pentium 4 prescott based single core CPU overclocked to 3.6Ghz, build inside an Antec Sonata 2 case, with a one riva TNT VGA card. Under full load the full system drew ~138W from the wall socket.

With the wide availability of quad core CPUs, our dated P4 was no reference for such furnaces; is still copes nicely to be a yardstick for CPU cooler performance with Core 2 Duo and upcoming dual Core i3/5 CPUs, but for the really high end we noticed the CPU was not hot enough.

For a new system we looked through several options, finally settling again on a Pentium D system (Yah! I know;)). A Dual Core Prescott D 840 overclocked to 4.1Ghz and 1.5v vcore, inside a Coolermaster HAF 922 case, with a single 7900 GT and 5400rpm 2.5" HDD; total power draw under load: ~320W; so ~180 watt more than the old system.

We ran a few comparison tests with the Corsair Hydro H50 and Prolimatech Megahalems. The H50 with stock fan ran the dual core CPU 17°C hotter, the Megahalems with NCB@High fan ran the new CPU 15.5°C hotter. At low fan speed the H50 failed, the Megahalems couldn't keep the CPU from speed throttling (although all power features are disabled in bios!), when the CPU temp hit 72°C the power draw goes down.

So with that in mind, here are the results with the H50, Megahalems and the new Danamics LMX configured with 2x2000rpm 120mm fans; Danamics will provide 2x1400rpm in the retail package, further test results will follow:


Noise reading was done @ 30cm from the front of the case, this case is not a silent one like the Antec Sonata 2, it has plenty of fans and thus the minimum noise level is in fact... high at 42dBA.

CPU temp wise the results with the LMX cooler are promising. Using the the two 120mm fans at 2000rpm it's not as loud as the 3000rpm Titan 120mm on the Megahalems, yet they offer a better performance/noise ratio. The water cooled H50 setup is about 6°C hotter at same noise level. And as mentioned, the 72°C result of the Megahalems is actually "too hot" as the CPU is speed throttling at this point.

It will be interesting to see where the LMX will land in the ranking when we switch to 2x1400rpm fans, as well as try with a single 120mm fan, the GlobalWin NCB. Stay tuned for more.

Very interesting!

What kind of prices are we going to be looking at?

Hm, so this is their second cooler? First was the LM10, which while matched the Thermalright TRUE for lower wattage CPUs cost 6x the price.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/05/d...ctical-ineffe/

What's the price on this one? ;)

~€160 excl VAT

Say whaaaaaaat!

No, what's the point if you can have the H50 for ~60 euro?

Their unique selling point for this product is probably that you can get water cooling performance (both in terms of noise and cooling) without the risks and maintenance that comes with a water cooling setup.

Buth €160 is waaaaaayyyyyy too much.

Sodium Potassium doesn't come cheap; it's a lot more expensive than water or a heat pipe; I don't think they can make it much cheaper.

Competitive price compared with watercooling units, doesn't look that exciting as DIY-WC though ;)

That's what I figured, much cheaper than the LM10 but still not cheap enough to be viable. "Watercooling performance" can be a very wide metric to use, for that price one could build a WC setup that outperformed it.

As for being "safer" then water... If you break a pipe and touch it and if your hand is just a little wet you'll be burned. If the contents of that pipe touches water there will be a fire, possibly an explosion depending on the strength of the sodium potassium solution they use.

I've no idea what you use heatsinks for but in most cases that is very unlikely to happen ;)