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Liquid Metal CPU Cooling

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the doesn't-look-that-great dept.

IceFoot writes "Bored with water cooling? Try a liquid metal cooler. It's a proven technology, used in nuclear reactors for decades because it carries heat away much better than a heat sink, heat pipe, or water cooling."

6 of 494 comments (clear)

  1. Three in a row! by Dot.Com.CEO · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't expect the slashdot editors to live in poverty but I think having three slashvertissments one after the other is really pushing it. This one even goes directly to a sales pitch with a sales contact at the bottom...

    --
    Mother is the best bet and don't let Satan draw you too fast.
  2. Re:Too dangerous? by igb · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Actually, metallic mercury is fairly innocuous. It's the compounds that are nasty, especially vapours formed when heating it. It's also not a very good conductor of heat.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(element)

    ian

  3. Three slashvertisements in a row by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    OK guys. Can we have 1 news story before you post the next 3 ads? Thanks.

  4. Gallium cooling by Animats · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Gallium would be a good choice for metal cooling. Melts at 29C. Non-toxic. Non-flammable. Costs about $550/Kg, so you'd probably have $50-$100 of metal in a cooling loop.

    Magnetic pumping of liquid metal is a standard practice. You run a current through the metal in the transverse direction, and put it in a DC magnetic field. This induces a force proportional to the cross product of the field and the current. No moving parts, and no seals to leak.

    The whole concept is probably pointless, but quite possible.

  5. Re:Mystery metal revealed: by arivanov · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It will fail for other reasons.

    People keep forgetting why liquid metal cooling is being abandoned in the nuclear industry. Liquid metals tend to be extremely aggressive substances. A Gallium-Indium mix will dissolve nearly any metal or alloy over time. Ceramics and glass tend to get permeated and lose their mechanical properties. Frankly no idea about plastics.

    --
    Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
    http://www.sigsegv.cx/
  6. Re:That's a little... extreme by Angst+Badger · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What about common or garden mercury? Liquid at room temperature. Though you really don't want it to leak...

    That's probably why. Can you imagine the product liability lawsuits when such systems begin to vent mercury vapor as they age (or get banged about at LAN parties)? May as well have a hardware-based random number generator built around an unshielded chunk of plutonium. ;)

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    Proud member of the Weirdo-American community.