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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. here's a thought... by intermodal · · Score: 5, Interesting

    underclock. even out of the factory, CPUs are basically overclocked for all intensive purposes. I know thats not what you all want to hear. But every advance that the chipmakers make that should be able to reduce the heat coming off a processor ends up getting put into running it faster instead. I grant its good for the MHz race, but the MHz race in the long run isn't really that good of an idea.

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    1. Re:here's a thought... by Klaruz · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Does anybody have some resources on doing this? How far down can I underclock a chip? How much of a difference does it make? How about notebook chips? etc...

      I've read a lot on things like flower coolers, silent power supplies, hd enclosures, etc, but I've never ran across any good info on underclocking. I wouldn't mind spending a bit extra for a faster chip so I could underclock and have a quiet system. My 1.4 athlon is loud and plenty fast (heck my 667 g4 is fast enough for me). I wouldn't mind my next pc being a 2.5ghz system run at 2ghz or something, but silent.

  2. What about electro-migration? by JKR · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Cooling is all fine and dandy, but increasing the voltage increases electric field strength across the transistors, as well as increasing the power as the square of the voltage. As I understand it, this should cause many more early failures due to electro-migration and thinning of the aluminium / copper traces in the metal layers.

    However, I'm guessing electro-migration is thermally activated, or at least sensitive to the temperature; does the extreme cooling mitigate the increased field strengh?

    Jon.

    1. Re:What about electro-migration? by shamilton · · Score: 5, Interesting

      As long as you keep your voltage below about 2V, you should be okay. Some have taken it up as high as 2.2V or so and not had problems, but I wouldn't condone that on any expensive chip.

      However, what's the point of worrying about fried hardware? Those of us who overclock our systems to such degrees replace hardware every 6 months at least.

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  3. Re:The thing you people miss... by Quelain · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What is this limit then? As far as I could find out, about 40 K (yes Kelvin) is the lower limit for doped silicon, because the dopants 'freeze out' at that point.

    I assume you mean 0 degrees celsius when you say 'below zero', so how does the freezing point of water have anything to do with the performance of silicon semiconductors vs temperature?

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  4. I'd rather see... by Lurgen · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Personally, I'd prefer to see a whole lot more work going into silent computers. Processors and video cards are at the point right now where overclocking only yields benchmark improvements - bumping that chip up 15MHz only gives you a few points in 3DMark, or UT2k3.

    For actual use though, it doesn't make any difference. 150fps, instead of 130. Or 0.5 seconds faster load times. Does anybody really care any more?

    I'd be a lot more interested in spending money reducing the noise output of my machine. Give me passively cooled power supplies (instead of these 3 fan monsters). Cases designed purely for better noise reduction (Antec Sonata is heading in the right direction).

    Having a frozen CPU running 20% faster than it was meant to might win you a few brownie points at a LAN party, but does it actually make any difference? I doubt it.

    *shrug* each to their own. I'll be impressed when I see a 3GHz P4 or Athlon running without any noticable noise.