CoolScraper 120 V2.0

[Redzo]

Just stumbled upon this CPU cooler and it looks really interesting. Direct contact BIG heatpipe, and fin spacing is not too bad either.
Nice, propper mounting aswell. Bolt thru with backplate. Nice contender for SPCR test maybe See more here

[Felger Carbon]

Direct contact BIG heatpipe

I don't think so. Last time I read up on the NPIH heat columns, they only had a very slight vacuum. Heat pipes have a pretty high vacuum.

Here's how slight the NPIH heat column vacuum is: almost two years ago I bought one. The upper end of the column was "sealed" with a thin plastic membrane, presumably at the factory near sea level. When I recieved the heat column here at Klamath Falls at 4100', the membrane was bulging out from the sea level air pressure, just like the instant-coffee containers I buy here. The technical description by NPIH states that the slight vacuum they seal in (and obviously seal very well, by the way) is required for operation. I think that means you have to live at sea level, and if in Manhattan not above the 8th floor, to use a heat column.

[IsaacKuo]

I have used the older version of this cooler in four builds--they were available for only $15 for a short time here in the US (close out sale). The older version had a silly "bat" themed look. The new version looks much nicer, but apparently the fins are a bit more tightly spaced.

[Sooty]

Just one example of the many excellent reviews it’s received:

http://www.dirkvader.de/frame.php?site= ... aper_Rev2/

It’s clearly one of the best coolers going, and has been for some time, but for some unknown reason, it’s only available in a limited number of countries, outside Germany. I emailed NoiseBlocker and told them it might be a good idea sending their BlackSilent fans for SPCR’s fan shootout (they did). I suggested they send the CoolScraper too. Whether they did or not, I don’t know.

*edit* Would no doubt be even quieter with a BlackSilent XL1 fan, rather than their SX1.

[Spanki]

http://www.guru3d.com/article/cooling/433/

[nick705]

There's a less enthusiastic review at XSReviews, although I'm dubious about a reviewer who rejoices in the name of "Whoopty."

I think that means you have to live at sea level, and if in Manhattan not above the 8th floor, to use a heat column.

Why would the external pressure make any difference, or am I being a twit?

[Sylph-DS]

I find it somehow more attractive than the Ninja, Infinity or Ultra-120.

But then again, I've never been one to go for looks in computers

[Felger Carbon]

I think that means you have to live at sea level, and if in Manhattan not above the 8th floor, to use a heat column.

Why would the external pressure make any difference, or am I being a twit?

First, twitness: I too think there's a twit in the woodpile, but it's not (IMHO) you, nick, or me. Here's the deal: the folks at NPIH are apparently the only ones to make the sealed-end (for CPU mounting) copper tubes that are the "heat column" (not heat-pipe, which requires a high vacuum and a little moisture to work).

To maintain a monopoly, they assert there's a secret-sauce inside the heat-column. So far OK, all clear all around. But what keeps folks from looking in the big tube and seeing there's nothing but copper there? Hmm. OK, "the heat column secret sauce needs a slight vacuum to work". So they apply the slight vacuum at their sea-level factory, and seal the top of the tube with the same plastic membrane used on my jars of instant coffee.

There is one small problem: the sealed column, once you go uphill just a short distance, no longer contains a slight vacuum, it contains a slight positive pressure! And, if you continue uphill to Klamath Falls and 4100', you get a helluva overpressure! Uh, what about the secret sauce that needs a slight vacuum to work? Well, the genius who figgered out this near-scam overlooked that little problem.

The truth is, the "heat column" is a copper device to conduct heat from the top of the CPU's IHS to the cooling fins. A thin tube will be lighter in weight but conduct poorly. A thick tube will be heavier but conduct well. The large diameter of the heat column provides a large area to transfer heat from the heat column to the cooling fins.

Case in point: NPIH has built prototypes of a "Big K8" cooler much like the one here. They shipped the lightweight version to FrostyTech, and their review clearly shows it cools poorly. This review is in the FT database and you can look it up if you wish. So they shipped a second review version, weighing about two pounds(!) to Madshrimps, which included it in a fairly recent heatsink roundup. It cooled better, but most folk avoid 2lb HSFs.

So: there's the whole story. At least at McDonald's, the "secret sauce" is real!

[IsaacKuo]

I have no idea what "NPIH" is, but I do know that the Cool Scraper CPU heatsinks I have are obviously not solid copper (they don't weight a ton), and they work well enough to fanlessly cool a Sempron 3100+, which is all I've ever asked of them.

I doubt they work as well as traditional thinpipe heatsinks, because it's hard to imagine heat spreading efficiently from the central column out to the tips of the huge fins.

[nick705]

There is one small problem: the sealed column, once you go uphill just a short distance, no longer contains a slight vacuum, it contains a slight positive pressure! And, if you continue uphill to Klamath Falls and 4100', you get a helluva overpressure! Uh, what about the secret sauce that needs a slight vacuum to work? Well, the genius who figgered out this near-scam overlooked that little problem.

But only relative to the outside? At altitude, the absolute pressure inside will in fact be a bit *lower*, as the membrane bulges out increasing the internal volume. I'm still not getting it...

/edit: I'm with you now (god, it took a while, I must be getting old), I was just missing the whole point. So, anywhere the membrane is flat or doming out, the secret sauce can safely be exposed as a red herring...

[Felger Carbon]

It's NPH, not NPIH (it's been a while). Here's more info:

Heat pipes and columns - on the bottom half of the page, the heat columns can be seen with the thin purplish membrane in place.

Some HSFs made using heat columns. Note purplish membrane at the top of the columns.

Madshrimps reviews the K8-big. Weight, 1058grams!

Frosty Tech reviews the K8-big. Weight, ~500grams!

On page 2 of the Frosty review, the BS about the special sauce is listed, with links provided for even more BS yet. Confession: when I read this the first time, I had an NPH-K8 in my possession with a bulging purplish membrane. So when I read "small vacuum" I interpreted that as "slight vacuum". Uh uh. 1 Torr is 1/760th of sea level air pressure. And yet all of the photos you've seen already shows the membrane in place and flat. You think a thin membrane is going to stand up to 759/760ths of 14.7lb per square inch pressure? Do you also think that a membrane sealing a 1 Torr vacuum will bulge outward in Klamath Falls' 4100'?

Do you think NPH would ship big, expensive heatsinks to reviewers and customers with the fragile plastic membrane exposed, when the proper operation of the heatsink depends on the enclosed, sealed, vacuum?

[jaganath]

is it not possible that the actual seal for the pipe is below the membrane, which is purely there for cosmetic purposes? and possibly some air is trapped under there at atmospheric pressure, hence the bulging?

not that I think this thing works the way they say it does, there is no such thing as superconductivity for heat AFAIAA.

[IsaacKuo]

I have no idea what the heck that NPH mumbo jumbo is supposed to be about. The old Cool Scrapers I have simply described them as "stubby heat pipes". Whatever's on the inside, they work nicely. The ones I have are capped off by a decorative cap made of thick black plastic (it has decorative "bat wings"). I never tried removing them to see what was underneath; they might not be purely decorative.

In any case, I don't think see the sense in slighting one company for some other company's bizarro advertising.

[IsaacKuo]

is it not possible that the actual seal for the pipe is below the membrane, which is purely there for cosmetic purposes? and possibly some air is trapped under there at atmospheric pressure, hence the bulging?

Hmm...that actually makes a lot of sense. Look at that second link: Some HSFs. In the middle of the page are three coolers which seem to lack the "cap". Instead, there's an ugly copper "nipple", which looks like the end of a traditional small diameter heat pipe. Maybe they vacuum seal off the end in the same fashion as a small diameter heat pipe?

If that "nipple" is underneath the plastic cap, then that would leave a small air pocket which could bulge out depending on the outside air pressure.

[Sooty]

Someone is at last selling these in the UK:
http://www.thecoolingshop.com/product_i ... ts_id/2682

Not cheap, but better late than never, however they may of missed the boat, because the new Thermalright Ultima-90 might just raise the bar for this class of cooler.