MSI employs Stirling Engine Theory

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 7:08 am

Greetings,

This is pretty cool (no pun intended):

(click on image for link)

It has built-in thermal control!

[Edit: I would imagine that this could be used for a CPU heatsink, too?]

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 7:14 am

it is very cool & geeky but since fans only use about ~2W it's not exactly going to save the world, in fact it probably uses way more energy to produce than it saves. still, neat little gadget.

geforce1 · Post by **geforce1** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 8:13 am

One thing that this fan won't use is a motherboard fan header, making it useful for boards that don't have many fan headers.

Sendorm · Post by **Sendorm** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 9:22 am

the sterling engine will also use some of the heat as source of its mechanical energy, thus cooling the chipset even further.

The idea (if works as intended) is great. Think about cooling all the heater elements in a computer with their own heat.

seraphyn · Post by **seraphyn** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 12:02 pm

If they're silent (;)), it'll be a fun little gadget for on my north and southbridge. Wouldn't trust it with a OC'ed Quadcore just yet though.

tehcrazybob · Post by **tehcrazybob** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 12:39 pm

I'd expect that to cool at least as well as any passive heatsink - it's still got a dual-heatpipe radiator element. And of course, it's hard to say how loud it would be, but as a geek I feel it's my responsibility to say that is completely awesome regardless to the noise.

I wonder if they'll sell an aftermarket version?

Capsaicin · Post by **Capsaicin** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 12:44 pm

More info here: www.bit-tech.net

Too bad it doesn't kick in until 60deg C. Still pretty cool, though.

scdr · Post by **scdr** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 11:09 pm

jaganath wrote:it is very cool & geeky but since fans only use about ~2W it's not exactly going to save the world, in fact it probably uses way more energy to produce than it saves. still, neat little gadget.

Not to mention more moving parts => probable shorter MTBF => replace more often => even more energy/resources used.
(On the other hand, a cooler that ceizes up, frys the northbridge, makes you buy more motherboards - great marketing concept!)

Gadgetry - way cool

marketing - mindlessly slather ECO on everything in sight - yuck.

m^2 · Post by **m^2** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 2:10 am

bit-tech wrote:MSI claims the efficiency is around 70 percent

70% of what? Theoretical max Stirling engine efficiency at this temperatures is ~14%.

FartingBob · Post by **FartingBob** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 2:23 pm

Very fancy. Not overly useful, since larger north/southbridge heatsinks provide passive cooling just fine and are far more simple, this would only be for show.

Post by **CA_Steve** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 8:42 pm

It'll be interesting to see how well it works...I understand Stirling engines need at least 50C differential.

<edit> my bad....wikipedia gives references to as little as 7C differential.

"Small demonstration engines have been built which will run on a temperature difference of as little as 7 Â°C, e.g. between the palm of a hand and the surrounding air, or between room temperature and melting water ice.[2][3][4]"

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 2:04 am

"Small demonstration engines have been built which will run on a temperature difference of as little as 7 Â°C, e.g. between the palm of a hand and the surrounding air, or between room temperature and melting water ice.[2][3][4]"

not just demonstration, you can buy them as toys from e.g. http://www.stirlingengine.com/

Post by **CA_Steve** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 9:11 am

...from the same referenced wiki entry...
Low Temperature Difference Engines