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Silent Microchip 'Fan' Has No Moving Parts
Stony Stevenson writes "Researchers in the US have developed a microchip fan with no moving parts that operates silently and generates enough wind to cool a laptop computer. The solid-state fan, developed with support from the US National Science Foundation (NSF), is touted as the most powerful and energy efficient fan of its size. The device produces three times the flow rate of a typical small mechanical fan and is one-fourth the size. The technology has the power to cool a 25W chip with a device smaller than one cubic-cm and can someday be integrated into silicon to make self-cooling chips, according to the researchers."
Just when you thought anti-gravity was dead for good. Hey, at least this thing sounds like it will work as advertised...
...until someone tags this whatcouldpossiblygowrong.
The phenomenon is called corona wind.
And the product is called Ionic Breeze
What?
It could then be marketed to gamers and called: "Silent, But Deadly!"
This is an atrocity! First they silence the CPU fans, then what? What about their civil rights? These people have a right to be excited about their CPUs dangit! I condemn these acts.
mini-EMPs
I'm suddenly having visions of two anthill armies going to war and launching little tiny tac-nukes at each other.
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- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
Baked Beans have no moving parts but can generate enormous amounts of wind ... though I dont think it has been applied to CPU cooling yet. Now if the innovation had generated air flow instead of wind my comment would not be as punworthy.
Well, think positively: finally it'll be possible to have a nVidia north-bridge that does't have the equivalent of a fighter jet fan to cool it. (Or at least sounds like it's going to take off and smash into the mandatory case window.)
;)
;)
;)
Ok, so it might build up static and fry the CPU. Big deal. If you bought one of those babies just to run 6-way SLI (3 slot x 2 GPU per 9800GX2 card), you don't want to hang on to one CPU for too long anyway. The CPU is the bottleneck in that setup, and is keeping your preciouss 3DMark score low. If you don't upgrade it immediately when a higher frequency becomes available, and post your new 3DMark scores immediately, your willy-waving rights might be at stake. Worse yet, people might start thinking you're a girl!
So just think of the static buildup as a gentle reminder to upgrade ASAP.
Plus, ok, so you already have every colour of led fan, near UV tubes, glowing SATA cables, and glowing dye in the water-cooling water. Big deal. Every cool kid has those nowadays. Just having a good look at the innards of a computer which looks like a terror attack at a clown makeup factory, only gets you so much willy-waving rights nowadays. So where do you go from there? A few electric sparks and a nice St. Elmo's fire discharge around the PSU and HDD connectors might just add that extra touch.
Everyone will be in awe of that computer at the next LAN party. If they move their stuff away from you and inquire politely about a fire extinguisher, it's just a sign that they're humbled by your greatness and know that their lame-ass girlie rig would look like loser-gear next to yours
Plus, there's probably some paint around that glows when hit by those ions. Like that stuff they put in fluorescent lights. Imagine having a bad-ass glowing logo on your case's window. Now that would proclaim you as "T3H UB3R-L33T H4XXX0R". I mean, it's simply hardcore
Sure, you might lose the contents of that HDD now and then, but it's not too bad. Windows fills with crud anyway, and eventually it might affect those preciouss 3DMark scores. A reformat now and then will do the sucker a world of good.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
Win! Just attach a bottle to it, catch the O3, and send it up to the hole in the ozone layer! :P
Computers: Is there any problem they can't solve?
No tyrant thrives when every subject says no.
Ah, a literal atomic weapon!
Anthill one: We have one atom of Weapons-grade uranium, and we know how to use it!
Anthill two: We have three atoms and we're not afraid to use them!
Anti-nuke protest ants: You must dismantle your weapons! No nukes in the back yard! The walking mountains and the walking forests already have weapons and sprays! Bite them, not each other!
Anthill three, which never admitted it also had Uranium atoms Ok. We'll dismantle our weapon. *BOOM go the protest ants* Who's next?