vapor chamber heatsinks - yay or nay?

yeha · Post by **yeha** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 2:13 pm

just noticed this over at ocforums.com, someone finally made a heatsink that used a full-fledged vapor chamber instead of heatpipes. it's not the first, i know intel sells one for their 1u servers and thermacore seems to sell them to someone (not that i've ever heard of them), i'm just wondering how optimal this vapochill model will be. rrp is 27 pounds sterling.

from what i've read, a well-designed (and oriented) vapor chamber can dissipate over 200 watts, though i can still see a use for complementary heatpipes to help get the heat from atop the chamber to the fins themselves.

is this the future of heatsinks? the chambers seem to do a terrific job of spreading heat from the die to the entire base area.

oh and one absolute gem of execu-drivel from the product blurb:

"It’s hard to imagine a strategic partnership with stronger synergies; both companies have very strong and highly specialized technology know-how. This, combined with our company’s experience in volume production and quality control and asetek’s extensive application expertise and industry network, is nothing less than ideal." Mr. Eberhard Günther, Managing Shareholders of LG ThermoTechnologies, the LG Industries subsidiary in operational dialogue with asetek, points out further synergies: "The asetek / LG industries partnership facilitates unique opportunities to fast track future R&D cycles; we are certain that this partnership is a significant step towards the centre of the industry for mainstream CPU cooling".

Zyzzyx · Post by **Zyzzyx** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 2:47 pm

Looks interesting. However, your first link is dead.

DryFire · Post by **DryFire** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 3:28 pm

hmm interesting, seems like a heatpipe based cooler woudl beat it still, but at a higher price.

hmm i want to play with one.

StarfishChris · Post by **StarfishChris** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 3:58 pm

yeha wrote:from what i've read, a well-designed (and oriented) vapor chamber can dissipate over 200 watts...

*relief from Intel as their triple-core Prescott has been made possible*

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 4:42 pm

StarfishChris wrote:
yeha wrote:from what i've read, a well-designed (and oriented) vapor chamber can dissipate over 200 watts...
*relief from Intel as their triple-core Prescott has been made possible*

Depends...if they ran full triple core Prescott at full speed and full voltage we'd be talking close to double that (at 130watts/core, three cores comes close to 400 watts...).

yeha · Post by **yeha** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 6:53 pm

hrm the link still works on my end, but here's the ocforums thread just in case.

definitely looks like it'd be cheaper to build than a heatpipe sink, perhaps you could extrude the fins and chamber in one piece, then seal the chamber afterwards to eliminate the chamber->fins bond. and as we know, extruded chunks of metal (even with a bit of work done afterwards) cost a lot less than multi-fin pressed ones.

wooglin · Post by **wooglin** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 7:26 pm

It's still basically a heat pipe, isn't it?

dano · Post by **dano** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 7:58 pm

The fanless copper version looks like you could put a lowspeed 120mm on it pretty easily.

lenny · Post by **lenny** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 2:17 am

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=21679

More talk on Asetek cooler. 27 euros. Yum...

MassMan · Post by **MassMan** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 4:00 am

Especially http://www.asetek.com/main/page.asp?sideid=628 looks interesting from a silent computing pov.

And it doesn't hurt either that asetek is a Danish company which should make their products cheaper for me personally :>

Shining Arcanine · Post by **Shining Arcanine** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 4:18 am

I wonder if this will allow me to passively cool my 2.4GHz Pentium 4 Revision C.

ET Awful · Post by **ET Awful** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 4:59 am

I'll have to keep an eye on this one

. I've had great luck with Asetek products in the past, but have never had any with the potential for being really quiet, let alone silent.

Their vapochill and water-cooling products work extremely well though.

Krispy · Post by **Krispy** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 5:07 am

Will this work ok with the motherboard in a vertical position?

ultraboy · Post by **ultraboy** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 5:13 am

Krispy wrote:Will this work ok with the motherboard in a vertical position?

I have that same question too since Asetek Website says it works on 'gravity'.

Tibors · Post by **Tibors** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 6:45 am

That's probably why they mounted the rad slanted and not straight.

EDIT: On second thought, that would probably help with the flow back part, but not not with the contact between the fluid and the base. So unless there is some wick structure on the inside of the base, a tower setup is a no go (or al least less effective).

nici · Post by **nici** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 6:47 am

ultraboy wrote:
Krispy wrote:Will this work ok with the motherboard in a vertical position?
I have that same question too since Asetek Website says it works on 'gravity'.

I believe that is the reason for the whole heatsink to be at an angle, so the liquid gets back to the base an therefore the heatsink also works in tower cases

JanW · Post by **JanW** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 7:06 am

Krispy wrote:Will this work ok with the motherboard in a vertical position?

My guess would be that the odd angled position is chosen to make it work when mounted vertically. But that's just guessing, really.

EDIT: I'll remember to take the habit of reloading the thread before replying... this is not the first time I'm repeating what has been said 20min earlier

yeha · Post by **yeha** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 10:29 am

it looks like it'll still function somewhat horizontally, as the semisphere at the bottom will pool the working fluid to a degree allowing contact with the heat source. i can't see it working as well as the vertical orientation however. depends on the wick performance - most modern vapor chambers use a wick lining of the chamber, with capillary action drawing condensate back to the heat source.

halcyon · Post by **halcyon** » Fri Mar 11, 2005 12:18 am

Images of the Asetek Cooler from CeBit (via Techpowerup):

Installed on a mobo
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Cebi ... micro1.jpg

Another installation shot
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Cebi ... micro2.jpg

And Another
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Cebi ... micro3.jpg

Availability starting May 2nd (according to Techpowerup).

yeha · Post by **yeha** » Fri Mar 11, 2005 12:34 am

might want to edit that last link to go to vapomicro3.jpg

MassMan · Post by **MassMan** » Fri Mar 11, 2005 7:06 am

http://www.hardware-test.dk/ht/test_show.asp?id=3697
more pictures

Kaleid · Post by **Kaleid** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 11:36 am

Even more:
http://www.bit-tech.net/feature/77

7 degrees better than the 7700cu?

ddrueding1 · Post by **ddrueding1** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 1:26 pm

Notice in all the pictures the M/B is leaning slightly to assist the "gravity feed"? I'm still a bit concerned about that...

milo · Post by **milo** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 10:50 pm

Notice in all but one of the pictures the M/B isn't plugged in? I'd be more concerned about that.

ronrem · Post by **ronrem** » Sun Mar 20, 2005 5:31 pm

as probably 90% of folks have a tower type case,there would need to be a pretty clear alert if the mobo needed to lay horizontal. Still,I can envision a pretty neat "desktop",wood case,with an ambient air tube feeding outside air to this (passive) and the whole enchilada cooled by the Coolmax psu with the variable speed 140mm fan. As the A64 3000 Winchesters run pretty cool it seems doable. It might be prudent to have an Artic Cooling TC,80mm thermal control fan set up so it only kicks in on major loads,as a safety factor that would add little to net noise. Going passive on VGA+chipset,and suspending a Spinpoint,you could get pretty close to silent. There are heatpipe passives and effective ultra low rpm fan options that give good results but in theory this may be just a little quieter. Using an external mount passive PSU might allow a single 80mm low rpm to cool the system-floor mounted,ducted to the rear

Mats · Post by **Mats** » Sun May 01, 2005 1:39 pm

The products will be launched on May 2. Have you seen any reviews yet?

Thunder · Post by **Thunder** » Thu May 05, 2005 2:32 pm

well its past may 2d and still nothing. Not even a word from Asetek. I have been avoiding buying a new cooler to see if these pan out and now it looks like the wait is getting longer.
*sigh*

yeha · Post by **yeha** » Thu May 05, 2005 2:55 pm

i read on another forum that asetek has delayed the release until june as the factory couldn't meet demand. so it probably won't reach retail until july.

MassMan · Post by **MassMan** » Thu May 05, 2005 3:12 pm

From asetek.com

First volume shipments to the retail market is set to May 1st this year. N.B. The first shipment has been postponed till the beginning of June.

The "announcement" has been there since april 28th or so, but granted, quite hidden on the bottom of the page.

Mats · Post by **Mats** » Thu May 05, 2005 3:43 pm

This is the only thing I've seen about it.

vapor chamber heatsinks - yay or nay?

vapor chamber heatsinks - yay or nay?

Re: vapor chamber heatsinks - yay or nay?

Re: vapor chamber heatsinks - yay or nay?