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Introduction:::...
Having
not written an air cooling review for ages, here I am penning
my second in a few days. Still, it makes a refreshing break
from power supplies I suppose.
I'm
not quite sure if the recent surge in CPU coolers is due
to some kind of upsurge in air cooling or if it's just one
of those unexplainable coincidences that we have to put
down to some strange, latent energy force that circles the
universe causing all manner of phenomenon. Phenomenon like
buses that arrive in threes or friends offering things for
sale at ridiculously cheap prices the day after you paid
far too much for the same thing elsewhere.
What
ever the reason, air cooling seems to be generating interest
again, and heat-pipes are this year's must-have accessory.
And at that juncture, let's remind ourselves what heat-pipes
are all about.
Below
is a rather simplified diagram covering the basic principle
behind heat-pipe technology. The idea is a fairly simple
one. A small amount of liquid, usually water or Ethanol,
is sealed inside an airtight tube under a partial vacuum.
Heat at one end of the pipe then boils the liquid which,
the vapor from which then moves to the cooler end of the
pipe, condensing and giving up its heat as it does so.
If
the heat-pipe is used in a single orientation then gravity
can be used to return the liquid back to the "hot end",
but for applications where the pipes are likely to run contrary
to the forces of gravity some means of drawing the fluid
back to the heat source needs to be employed, and this is
loosely known as a wick because it uses the principles of
capillary action. Probably the best of the often-used types
of wick is the sintered powder wick. Forms of screen mesh,
grooved tube walls and porous steel "foams" are
also employed, some being better than others, which makes
judging heat-pipe efficiency quite difficult. As a vague
rule though, short heat-pipes are better than long ones
and thicker heat-pipes are better than thinner ones.
Assuming
you're still awake, it's time to introduce the two combatants
in today's review. The first is from GlacialTech and is
a large, rather unusual design with a dual, low-noise fan
setup. The second is a hybrid copper and aluminium cooler
from the people who recently hit success with the very popular
and award-winning Kamikaze HSF, Scythe.
Both
coolers sport heat pipes, but is that where the similarities
end? First let's take a closer look at them....
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