Zalman Showcase Massive P4 Heatsink

Kez writes "I couldn't express the size of this heatsink in the space provided for the subject of this post. It's the size of a small country and when the fan is running, turbulence from it means a no-fly zone needs to enforced above it. At Hexus.net we've got a picture of this behemoth."

Comments

Wow,

[Oculus Habent]

It wasn't too bad until they mentioned daisy-chaining five power supples together.

Re:Wow,

[Oculus Habent]

For all of you who can't see it, there's a picture of a heatsink - with six or eight heatpipes up to a 6-inch fan surrounded by copper fins - with a pack of cigarettes for comparison. It would make the heatsink over 1 foot tall. The text refers to 25 cubic meters per second of airflow, and a 1400 watt power requirement.

Re:Wow,

[sixteenraisins]

This was an almost-believable story. The biggest flaw is the 6-inch fan capable of moving 25 cubic meters of air per second, or on the order of 54,000 cfm.

A fan that size isn't measured in watts, it's measured in horsepower. An axial (propeller) fan capable of moving that much air might be about six feet in diameter and be driven by a 10 hp motor.

Maybe there's a typo in there - 25 cubic meters per minute (I know, not a proper SI unit) would be about 900 cfm, much more believable for a 6" fan, but still howling.

Re:Wow,

[compro01]

actually, it would be measured in watts if you wanted. or kilowatts more accuritely.

10 hp=7457 watts

Re:Wow,

[WasteOfAmmo]

Before your read through all the following posts stating "why it can't be real" and "holy crap is that huge" and "size does matter", read this:

From this picture it looks like the picture that everyone is talking about is the marketing display unit on the left. This looks like a blown up version of the real unit (shown on the right side of the picture) used for the purposes of trade shows (and slash dot advertising) only!

The quoted article is obviously a joke about the marketing version and not refering to the real heatsink unit shown on the right of the linked picture. Even though the real unit is not as large as a small dog and does not use 1.4 kW of power it is still an impressive unit.

Yep, most of the above is my take on the article and may not be 100% correct but it does make more sense then the OP and some of the comments below.

M.

Standard Units Please

[LiquidCoooled]

It doesn't matter how big it is, I want to know how many Han Solos it can freeze per minute.

The world must know.

Re:Standard Units Please

[H_Fisher]

It doesn't matter how big it is, I want to know how many Han Solos it can freeze per minute.

Wow, you're clearly not a true scientist. Had you been, I think you'd be much more interested in the cooling measurement in tauntauns per time-it-takes-to-reach-the-first-marker, commonly represented as the variable {Aack!}.
I'll expect an apology in less than three parsecs. :-)

Re:Standard Units Please

[DarkBlackFox]

Actually, it's the other way around-

"That's no space station... it's a heatsink!"

And to answer the grandparent post, it'll cool roughly 4.5 Han Solo's per minute, which is about .00125 Libraries of Congress, which is about .03 Volkswagon Bugs.

Re:Standard Units Please

[SirTalon42]

WOOSH!

Is that the sound the heatsink makes, or the sound of the joke flying overhead?

Wow

[itchy92]

Well, since this is slashdot, even though the site won't load for me and I haven't seen the heatsink, let me just say: HOLY CRAP THAT'S HUGE!

Re:Wow

[justthisdude]

Don't think of it as sad bunch of nerds, think of it as a Geek Chorus that chanting familiar refrains to tie the current discussion into the larger communal tapestry. That or I am a sad nerd with a BA in English.

Re:Wow

[MoonBuggy]

Here's the Coralised image link. You can say it again now.

Also the print friendly page and article text:

Zalman get extreme with Pentium 4 cooling

It's long been known that Intel run a little hot, so Zalman have gone extreme with a cooling solution that finally does the biz.

Pumping an impressive 25 cubic metres of air per second Zalman are confident that the 'Big Boy Turbo Mega Fan 2' will be able to keep any Intel CPU, up to and including the Pentium 4 670 3.8GHz, running cool in even the warmest conditions.

Developed with the help of the British Aerospace wind tunnel engineers, the BBTMF can pump enough air to pop you double glazing out, so it comes with several precautionary notes, mainly involving the suction and loss of small pets whilst in the vicinity of your machine.

Drawing an impressive 1400Watts of power, Zalman include a full instruction booklet on how to daisy chain 5 300W PSU's together to power the fan, and you get 50 starter cartridges free to get it spinning in the first place. Of course, you'll need a serious case upgrade too, and we would recommend the CoolerMaster 821 Garage, which comes with a tasteful variety of electronic doors and leaves enough room for even the largest GFX cards in SLI and a Nissan Micra too.

Re:Wow

[Otter]

Here's the Coralised image link [nyud.net]...

HOLY CRAP THAT'S HUGE!

Re:Wow

[jalefkowit]

The best part is the label in tiny print on the thing, which looks like a small desk fan:

"Zalman Quiet CPU Cooler"

Oh yeah! I bet that thing is just whisper-quiet when it revs up to full speed, causing your PC to launch out the window and slip the surly bonds of earth.

Re:Wow

[ignorant_coward]

You should know that when your mom says it, she's just being nice to you.

slashdotted already...

[alexandreracine]

The shit just hit the fan.


Sorry for the language, I just could not resist.

Re:slashdotted already...

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry for the language. . .

No worries, allow me:-

La merde a juste frappé le ventilateur.

uhmm, not anymore you don't

[mr_gerbik]

Is this news? Or is this some kid trying to stress test / plug his crap website? Dear Kez: you got slashdotted in 20 seconds flat. Your website sucks.

Wow

[LewsTherinKinslayer]

No less than 30 seconds after being posted, and subsequent slashdotting, no fewer than eighteen posts immediately use the same stale joke as me about how they could use that heatsink.

We are a collectively sad bunch of nerds.

That old stereotype?

[chowdmouse]

C'mon dude, it's been said time and time again that size doesn't matt....GOOD GOD! IT'S HUGE!

Speed is no longer the biggest selling point

[3770]

For me speed is no longer the biggest selling point for a CPU.

It is on second place after power consumption.

Re:Speed is no longer the biggest selling point

[Monkelectric]

For me speed is no longer the biggest selling point for a CPU.

You obviously don't run gentoo :)

Three Words:

[Stanistani]

Grilled cheese sandwich.

mmmm...

someone needs a new fan

[SQLz]

I think their web server just over heated....

MIRROR

[DJ_Goldfingerz]

This should be the link for the mirror.

Now let's start the "How slashdot should mirror before posting" thread.

No mirror...

[Elminst]

" Hey man! The MirrorDot page you are looking for is not here."

maybe we need a mirror for mirrordot?

This has to be a joke

[Paul Crowley]

You couldn't possibly fit a fan this big in any known case.

Coral link to article

Coral link direct to picture of fan

Re:This has to be a joke

[Phishcast]

Think hotrod! You've seen those cars with the hole cut in the hood for the blower to stick out. Same deal. Paint some racing stripes on the case and you're the man...

Re:This has to be a joke

[trentblase]

From TFA:

Of course, you'll need a serious case upgrade too, and we would recommend the CoolerMaster 821 Garage, which comes with a tasteful variety of electronic doors and leaves enough room for even the largest GFX cards in SLI and a Nissan Micra too.

Seriously people, it's a JOKE. Stop trying to explain why it'll never work because it uses 1.4KW.

TFA

[Mike Peel]

"It's long been known that Intel run a little hot, so Zalman have gone extreme with a cooling solution that finally does the biz.

Pumping an impressive 25 cubic metres of air per second Zalman are confident that the 'Big Boy Turbo Mega Fan 2' will be able to keep any Intel CPU, up to and including the Pentium 4 670 3.8GHz, running cool in even the warmest conditions.

Developed with the help of the British Aerospace wind tunnel engineers, the BBTMF can pump enough air to pop you double glazing out, so it comes with several precautionary notes, mainly involving the suction and loss of small pets whilst in the vicinity of your machine.

Drawing an impressive 1400Watts of power, Zalman include a full instruction booklet on how to daisy chain 5 300W PSU's together to power the fan, and you get 50 starter cartridges free to get it spinning in the first place. Of course, you'll need a serious case upgrade too, and we would recommend the CoolerMaster 821 Garage, which comes with a tasteful variety of electronic doors and leaves enough room for even the largest GFX cards in SLI and a Nissan Micra too."

Picture

Re:TFA

[rpozz]

I think the small one is the real one, and the large one is for marketing purposes. Hexus could well have been trying to troll the whole slashdot community for troll tuesday, but instead got a melted server.

Re:You couldn't express the size?

[Lxy]

Volume expressed in Volkswagons would have been acceptable.

Re:Why oh why, slashdotted before the first commen

[numbski]

I've been passing this around for a while, trying to get it noticed without appearing to be a Karma whore:

How to fix the slashdot effect.

Any mod points would be hot. :) I don't need the mod points, but I think this idea is important enough to be noticed, and this is really the only forum for which to discuss it. :\

PICTURE

[Oculus Habent]

Took me a bit to dig through the cache, but here's a pic: Zalman Big Cooler

Size Doesn't Matter

[Ruzty]

Everyone knows that expressing greater surface area is more important than size for heat dissipation. Simply making the fins thinner and folding them into crinkles should significantly improve performance of the heatsink. There is no need to make them this big.

I'm thinking a metalic design like currogated cardboard with air blown through the "tubes" between the layers should work very well. This would fit in well with a pass through fan design pushing air from the front of the case to the back right through the tubes. Just align the heatsink properly and go. No more need for seperate, big CPU fans mounted right onto the heatsink.
-Rusty

Re:Size Doesn't Matter

[SharpFang]

There are two elements. Transmission surface is one thing. Temperature gradient is the other. One is achieved by more smaller fins, the other, by air flow. As long as you can pump enough air into the tubes, all right. But if your air leaves the tubes at 60 degrees, the processor won't be cooler than that. This design seems to use elephantine fan to provide enough airflow to keep the fins temperature low. If the surface was bigger, it would be harder to make air flow efficiently. Sure this one seems a bit over-the-top, but if you go too far with the surface, you end up with construction too fragile to apply a fan strong enough :)

Direct Links and text

[AndyFewt]

Well here are some direct link to the image on various mirrors: Corel Cache Image Shack

The article text:

It's long been known that Intel run a little hot, so Zalman have gone extreme with a cooling solution that finally does the biz.

Pumping an impressive 25 cubic metres of air per second Zalman are confident that the 'Big Boy Turbo Mega Fan 2' will be able to keep any Intel CPU, up to and including the Pentium 4 670 3.8GHz, running cool in even the warmest conditions.

Developed with the help of the British Aerospace wind tunnel engineers, the BBTMF can pump enough air to pop you double glazing out, so it comes with several precautionary notes, mainly involving the suction and loss of small pets whilst in the vicinity of your machine.

Drawing an impressive 1400Watts of power, Zalman include a full instruction booklet on how to daisy chain 5 300W PSU's together to power the fan, and you get 50 starter cartridges free to get it spinning in the first place. Of course, you'll need a serious case upgrade too, and we would recommend the CoolerMaster 821 Garage, which comes with a tasteful variety of electronic doors and leaves enough room for even the largest GFX cards in SLI and a Nissan Micra too.

Working picture link

[aicrules]

http://www.uiaa.org/urbana/illinoisalumni/images/0 402_sculpting3.jpg

Re:No comments and /.ed already?

[Anonymous Coward]

That's a great idea. That way, nobody except lazy college students will be able to access the site due to the stupidity of it running on port 8090 rather than the IANA mandated port 80, and thus it failing to be passed by every firewall that has any credibility whatsoever.

Mirror of pic

[Alien54]

This not hosted on GeoCities, but on a file host tested by the power of F***

Mirror here

Mock-up

[RedShoeRider]

Because no one has posted what I think this is:

A mock up for a computer show.

If you look in the background of the picture, it looks like there are Zalman posters hanging up, like you'd have at a booth. Made much smaller, they might have an interesting idea for an effective CPU cooler (as Zalman has come up with some pretty neat ideas over the years, I'd almost expect something like this for them). The text is just for fun.

I'd assume everyone on here would understand humor when they saw it....but....

Re:This is why next gen consoles use ibm

[SillyNickName4me]

meanwhile intel is trying to replace kitchen appliances like ovens, and toasters, with insanely hot processors.

Ah!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is what they are doing, it finally starts making sense now.

I can just picture it, 5 years from now..

Buy the new and improved Intel toaster with the new P8 CPU. The most powerfull CPU you'll find in a toaster for the fastest and best toasting..

Re:NOT FUNNY: Chinese Military Computers

[rpdillon]

So wait, some guy expressing a US-bashing political opinion in a thread about A NEW HEATSINK gets +5 Insightful?

What happened to -37, So Absurdly Offtopic It's Not Even Funny?

Re:Why oh why, slashdotted before the first commen

[ignorant_coward]

Actually, web sites that cannot stand Slashdotting are badly designed. Ace's Hardware survived a Slashdotting using a single ~500MHz UltraSPARC II server, running Java no less.

I think people just don't realize how powerful even an ancient CPU is at pushing data, when it isn't running GNOME. Think about it, whole companies ran data centers on systems less powerful than a $400 PC not twenty years ago.

For all of you who can't see it

[Analogy Man]

Contents of article are below:

Cannot connect to the SERVER at this time for the following reason - Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (2)

This is probably because the server is subject to high demand at the current time. Please try again in a minute or two

Re:But but...

[symbolic]

1400 watts? I stopped to ask myself if they were heating the CPU, or cooling it.

SI measurements on this monument to excess

[WebCowboy]

Although the metre is an SI unit, m^3 per minute is not considered "proper" becasue SECONDS is the standard base of measurement for time for all SI engineering units. If one second is not a reasonable amount of time for the application then it is prefixed like any other SI unit (microseconds, milliseconds, kiloseconds....). Stuff like "kilometres per hour" is commonly used metric but scientists wouldn't use that for the same reason--for them velocity is always metres per second.

However you measure it though a "15 centimetre" fan that draws 1500 watts of power to cool a CPU is just stupid. Not sure if it is a slow news week for nerds but it seems the stories are getting silly (still a good laugh though). This CPU cooler would be good for the guy who buys that dumb "type R" PSU that was featured earlier. It seems the PC-modder crowd is seeing more and more "rice boxes" out there.

I can picture it now..."cool" nerd going a LAN party, driving a brightly painted Civic with that screaming 115HP motor, windows tinted almost opaque with 18" wheels on a goofy camber due to the chopped springs/hack lowering job and glowing neon and red "R" stickers all over the place.

In the passenger seat sits his 'leet gamer PC (the trunk is full of amps and speakers). It is an amazing construction of aluminum, plexiglass, neon and silver and gold Tremclad housing a type R power supply (as advertised on /.!), the biggest heat sink that'll fit inside and six fans to coll that screamin' $80 mobo and Celeron CPU. Good thing that mobo has built in audio, video and LAN becasue the slots are blocked by all the other gear...

Just a word of advice...if you "pimp your ride", then "pimp your PC" to match your ride, it is time to seek therapy.

Re:Why oh why, slashdotted before the first commen

[jdion]

I agree with the above statement,

But twenty years ago... how much bandwidth was avaliable to the general public?

I'll be glad to stick a PII 350 running a barebones *NIX webserver with Java any day, but only if my pipe is any less than a OC-1.

Let's just think about how many people would be required to flood such a link.....

I'll be generous here, and say that most people using broadband have about a 2Mbps connection. A normal sized webpage usually runs about 30-75kb (including advertising and thumbnails).

The page is probably cached in RAM, so I'm ignoring hard drive bottlenecks. Even at 75kbs, a 2Mbps connection can pull that page in about 3.5 seconds. Thanks to the checks and balances of TCP, an ACK packet must be resent back to the server. (This is not a knock, just a comment). Going back to the example: An OC-1 connection is quickly flooded by 26 people connecting at the same time. I'm pretty sure this happens! 3.5 seconds later... everybody has their webpage.

Now in the real world, anywhere between 3k and 5k connect to a slashdot page at any given time. Granted, not all 5k connect at the same time, but I would venture to say that about 300 people connect in the same 3 second window. That right there is about 600Mbps downspeed. Keep that flood going, and you'll be lucky if the first 50 people get their ACK packets back to the server to keep feeding them data.

Is TCP poorly designed. Largely, no. Possible solutions: UDP! Someone come up with a UDP standard for page viewing. Is this going to happen in the real world? No... probably not. I would hate to see some website improperly read because a packet didn't reach the destination and so there are holes in the transmission. How about smaller webpages? Five years ago... pages were not nearly as graphic heavy as they are now. Is it required? No. Will it go away. No.

Simple answer: Slashdot should have a rotation script that displays the link on a series of user accounts after a time period. Why not? They do it with paid users... why not just implement it into a time script. Would this take more processing power from Slashdot... you bet it would, but how much more? Think about how many websites might actually be able to be read by users...

Wait... do Slashdot users actually RFA?

Slashdot is a central hub for DDoS attacks. Forget Zombie networks.... post that page on Slashdot... and it's going down.

Just food for thought.