Zalman TNN 500A - Complete Heatpipe Cooled Case

SlashCrunchPop writes "Zalman is about to release a completely fanless computer case based entirely on heatpipe cooling capable of keeping even the hottest CPUs cool. Cool silence, at last?" The article's in German, but the pictures speak for themselves.

Comments

Excellent

[Anonymous Coward]

I have a computer in my bedroom that I keep on all the time. Lately I've been kept up at night by the fan noise. The noisy fan in my computer also posted a troll on Slashdot and killed my cat. Thus, I'm quite happy to learn that this problem is history. Soon I shall get rid of my noisy fan, and... *stab* Oh no! The fan got me! I'm going down!

Re:Excellent

[Zro Point Two]

I actually like the sound that comes from the fans in my system. It has much the same effect on me going to sleep as white noise would have on most people.

Or maybe it's just me....I mean, I am the one who moved right beside an expressway because I liked the dull sounds that come from cars rushing past while I am falling asleep.

Heat Pipes 101

[Anonymous Coward]

For those of you who want to know

Re:Heat Pipes 101

[amorsen]

The system is not closed. One end is being heated, the other end cooled. Therefore there is a temperature gradient. Perhaps someone else needs to learn simple thermodynamics.

Re:Heat Pipes 101

[Anonymous Coward]

And perhaps someone needs to get the proverbial stick out of their ass.

It is closed as in there is no coolant exposed - a closed loop. Much like your car system or your home airconditioning is considered a closed system.

Welcome to the real world and not your thermodynamics class boys and girls.

Re:Heat Pipes 101

[Eric Ass Raymond]

in a closed system the gas must all be at the same temperature and pressure all the time

Closed system: no exchange on particles. Isolated system: no exchange of particles or energy.

It is correct to call this system a closed one. The water molecules inside the tube transfer energy in and out of the system via evaporation and condensation (+natural conduction through the pipe material) as long as one end of the tube is at a higher temperature than the other.

As far as the transient times are concerned, you're right in that thermodynamics does not deal with equilibration times. Why? Because it is a theory of systems in equilibrium. And of course there is a delay. Nothing in nature is instantaneous.

Maybe...

[Black Parrot]

> The article's in German, but the pictures speak for themselves.

Maybe it's like the SCO comments, and someone can translate it by substituting English letters for the German ones.

You may check here for Building Silent PC's

[Delifisek]

http://www.buildsilentpc.com

Re:Time For BabelFish

[muirhead]

For people who don't read the article, just continue as normal.

Re:The best thing is...

[killermal]

It's german for crying out loud! Of course it looks evil :)

Re:Babeltry

[panurge]

"What can I say, it's the cream of the cream? It makes me go all emotional"

The author needs to get out more. A lot more. In fact, he shouldn't be allowed indoors until he's had a cold shower.

Looks cool, but...

[Zog The Undeniable]

I'm sure it's just a form of one-upmanship. Look at that "hard drive cooler" - it's just a load of central heating microbore tubing, isn't it? I can't believe that's the BEST way to get good heat transfer, even though most IDE hard drives are perfectly happy without any cooling whatsoever. All those pipes really look as if they'd get in the way when you're trying to install an upgrade. And is it just me, or does that northbridge only have a passive heatsink? These things can get quite hot, and there's no airflow through the case.

Air cooling still has plenty of mileage - bigger fans at lower rpm are what we need. I have two 120mm case fans running through a rheostat, and the noise is insignificant compared to the little 60mm CPU fan (no, it's not even a Delta).

Re:Looks cool, but...

[GeekDork]

[...] most IDE hard drives are perfectly happy without any cooling whatsoever.

But they won't get old. Manufacturers and tests show that a relatively small (10K) increase in temperature can significantly decrease a drive's lifetime. There's not much needed to keep a consumer drive cool, though. A low-noise fan (80mm, 1500RPM) keeps the temperature of my drives so low that they don't feel warm to the touch while they get quite toasty without the airflow.

Re:Goes around, comes around

[C32]

Zalman is a South Korean company.

Rough translation, hopefully better than babelfish

[Henk Poley]

"Zalman fanless PC

Finally, it's told to us [uhm "(un)endliche Ruhe im Karton" means so much more though :-)]. It took long for such a product to appear on the mass-market. The manufacturer will be hardly able to produce enough to satisfy market demand. Though it's promising on paper we will now need to wait for priceinfo and more information. One thing is clear already, the price will be far below DIY construction sets, since Zalman is known to be specialized in mass production. The 6 heatpipes for the CPU, 2 for the graphicscard and 10 for the harddisk will keep the system as cool as possible. We are looking forward to this new Zalman case and hope to say say bye bye to our fans and noisemakers by Christmas.

Off coarse I'll try to inform you about this in the future [ "Ja naturlich bleibe ich am Ball ..." ???]

What's more to say about this thing, only creme de la creme superlatives will suffice. It makes you feel all soddy inside [ "Da bekomme ich feuchte Augen"]. Heatpipes (18 !!), and more heatdispensers than you will probably need.

It will be perfected silence because the case is fully sealed. It's the first one where even optical drives will be decoupled from the case.

Better is not possible!

More silent is not possible!

Due to be sold in october at
www.alternate.de
Maybe you should start saving money."

Case Details

[kaptink]

PDF specsheet on the case => http://www.sharkacorp.com/pdf/TNN500A_Catalog.pdf

Save enery

[tsa]

Maybe I sound very European when I say this but isn't it more sensible to try to reduce the amount of energy spent by the various components of the computer to minimize heat output?

English

[heli0]

Here is some information in English

Zalman TNN 500A - Complete Heatpipe Cooled Case

From Zalman's site:

7/16/2003

Thank you very much for your fervent interest in Zalman's upcoming product.

Q: What about the price?
A: It is very likely that the official retail price of TNN 500A cooling system will be determined as about 900~1,100 US dollars.

Q: Where can I buy it?
A: Zalman's dustributors all over the world will have it stocked in the near future. When the time comes, contact Zalman distributors in your country by referring to 'Order' section on the upper right corner of this screen.

Q: When (can I buy it) ?
A: We are going to launch the TNN cooling system around September. Then, you will be able to order it via or to distributors in your country. Please be patient until the time comes. Thank you.

Regards,
Jinkook Kim/ZALMAN

Re:English

[AmiMoJo]

It is very likely that the official retail price of TNN 500A cooling system will be determined as about 900~1,100 US dollars.

For that much money, you could go for a full water cooling system with one or two large 120mm fans. Careful selection of the fans would make it very nearly silent, certainly below the noise level of my bedroon during the day, which just off a main road.

The Zalman case looks really impractical too, I mean the back has a door which you would need to keep open if all your cables didn't fit though the exit holes at the bottom. It's gotta be a niche market thing.

MoJo

More info in English

[MoZ-RedShirt]

is available here:

http://www.sharkacorp.com/pdf/TNN500A_Catalog.pdf

RedShirt

Re:Meassurements, Price?

[heli0]

"What does it cost?"

$1,000(US)

"Does it fit under my Desk?"

Dimensions: 400(L) x 286(W) x 607(H) mm

Fanless = dust free?

[slim]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if there's no air-cooling going on whatsoever, does that mean the case can be completely sealed against dust?

I'm sure inhaling the dust that collects in computer cases is a health hazard, if you do it often enough.

Complete manual translation

[Apogee]

OK, this is the complete text translated (and I have to add, this guy gets *pretty* emotional about this case, and uses a lot of colloquialisms).

Zalman fan-less PC

Preamble:

Finally, never-ending silence in the box. It took a long time for a product like this to be produced for the mass market. The manufacturer likely will be swamped by the large number of pre-orders. While its technical specs already convince us on paper, we are waiting for the first samples and pricing information. But one thing should be clear right away: The price will be way below any self-made constructions, since Zalman is known to specialize on uncompromising mass production. 6 heat pipes for the CPU and two more for the graphics card, as well as 10 for the hard disk should keep the system optimally cool. Let's look forward to it, and start saying good-bye to all these fans and noise makers right now. I hope it's christmas soon :-)

Well, what more can I say, the cream of the crop. It brings tears to my eyes. More heat pipes (18 of them!!) and cooling elements than you ever wanted.

Silence in its perfected form, since this is a completely closed case. The first PC case where also optical drives can be de-coupled and their noise dampened.

More is not technically feasible!

More silent is not possible!

From october on, this case will be available at www.alternate.de

So, start saving now!

And of course, I'll keep at it. (I guess the author means he'll post updates)

Re:Uber Sweet!!

[The Wicked Priest]

They can ALL double as space heaters, regardless of the case/cooling system. Think about it -- the same amount of waste heat is always generated; it's only a question of how that heat is moved away from the hot spots in the system.

It does look like a giant heat seak, though. I wonder how hot the case itself gets.