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Cutting Open a Heatsink Heatpipe To See Inside

Posted by timothy on from the well-lookie-here dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Frostytech gets to the heart of Zalman's CNPS11X heatsink by cutting a section of heatpipe from the CPU cooler to inspect its inner composite heatpipe wick structure. Now that's an in-depth heatsink review! Interesting photos of the dissected heatpipe's composite wick — sintered copper powder on top and axial groove wick below — that you're unlikely to see elsewhere. In the late 1960s the first commercial heatpipes were used by NASA to stabilize satellite temperatures; now they stabilize multi-core processors."

3 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. Before anyone else says it... by roc97007 · · Score: 4, Funny

    > In the late 1960s the first commercial heatpipes were used by NASA to stabilize satellite temperatures

    Why didn't they just use fans? ...um, what? ...Really? Oh. Never mind.

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    1. Re:Before anyone else says it... by roc97007 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Or, rather, lack of Whoosh...

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    2. Re:Before anyone else says it... by Thud457 · · Score: 4, Funny

      In space, no one can hear you Whoosh.

      --

      the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff