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Vapor-phase Processor Cooling

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the over-the-top-approaches dept.

Econolinecrush writes "If even exotic water-cooling isn't enough for your processor cooling needs, there's always vapor-phase cooling. The Tech Report has an interesting review of Asetek's latest Vapochill system, an admittedly pricey cooling option, but one that manages to fight off condensation while keeping even high-end processors running at sub-zero temperatures. A little extreme? Sure, but it's undeniably cool nonetheless." I haven't seen a cooling system this intense since my organic chemistry labs.

6 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. The thing you people miss... by unterderbrucke · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...is that processors actually have a limit to how much they can be cooled. To be cooling it below zero is a ridiculous waste of power, money, and will only shorten the lifespan of your CPU.

    1. Re:The thing you people miss... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      However, more cooling = more voltage = more multiplier

      offtopic physics lesson: the voltage stays the same, the current increases.

    2. Re:The thing you people miss... by NedTheNerd · · Score: 1, Insightful

      well heres my 2 cents to this first of what YOU are missing this is a novelty its not ment to be for high end servers although . . . its like people that supper charge cars to get more speed second off the reason that the processor runs soo much better at these cool tempratures is 2 things. The frist is that at room temprature anything that conducts electricity automaticaly resists the flow of electrons the only way to get true conductivity would be to freze the material to absoloute zero. which may or may not be possible. and the second reason is thermal expansion (or laqe there of) the more you cool something the smaller it gets.

    3. Re:The thing you people miss... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Do they really have a limit? Do you have any data to back that up? In your comments in the last cooling article you express that you don't know how it works but now all of the sudden you are an expert?

      Overclockers have tried cooling with liquid nitrogen, helium, dry ice, flourinert, PCBs, mineral oil, vapor phase change, water, air and all the above in conjunction with peltiers to drop another 10 degrees C off their lowest temps.

      Of all the documentation of overclocking attempts I have ever read, destruction of the CPU silicon resulted from heat not cooling.

      The principals behind overclocking were the subject of a whitepaper by Gordon Moore where he explicitly states that the golden target temperature is -100F where clock frequency can be doubled. Unfortunately it was written at a time when passive heat sinks were the norm, meaning whatever frequncy can be achieved with a passive heatsink can be doubled at -100F.

      That should make your little mind work overtime: Modern processors are already using overclocking cooling techniques to achieve their current speeds.

      In other words, fucktard, don't post if you don't know.

  2. Peace of mind by milkmandan9 · · Score: 3, Insightful
    In the end, what the Vapochill gives you is peace of mind, the luxury of never again having to worry about an important aspect of your system, processor cooling. Upgrade the rest of your system to your heart's content, but two things will remain constant: The Vapochill as your processor cooler, and the temperature of that cooler at a nippy five degrees above zero.

    Unfortunately, reliability is exactly what the Vapochill does not provide. When it comes to reliability, there is often no replacement for simplicity. I never worry about the 486 I've got in my firewall because it doesn't need a heatsink or fan. I can be fairly certain, however, that the fan on my workstation processor will seize up someday and the chip may self-destruct.

    These guys can't be more wrong about the reliability. This thing may shut itself off if it overheats, but if reliability were the number one concern, I'd underclock a new chip so that even if the cooling system does fail, it's not a catastrophe.
  3. Re:Space shuttle tiles by mindstrm · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm not so sure...

    Those tiles are heat resistant. They just don't heat up. They are not good heat conductors either... they are insulating tiles. Making chip packaging out of those would ensure you turn your chip into slag in short order, even under very low power, because NO heat would escape.