Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A startup’s cooling chip may surge processor power

allaboutcircuits.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 58 posts

Re: A startup’s cooling chip may surge processor power

#11

Post by sanjayio »

danuker wrote: post #3
ddejohn wrote: post #2

> The AirJet datasheets report a power dissipation of 5.25 W and 10.5 W using the AirJet Mini and Pro, respectively. Ah, beans. Was hoping for something more applicable to desktop processors. Neat idea though. Edit: I missed the callout about laptops and tablets as I was skimming.

If you are interested in cooling, I suggest that you replace your thermal paste. In my research I have found that the thermal paste is, paradoxically, the least thermally conducting part of a PC heat pipeline. So, use as little of it as possible, to avoid adding thickness. Or use one made of a metal alloy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdTsra-uLBI

If this is true, why not have coolers built into the CPU? Like a block of metal attached? Is it a small improvement gained? Or manufacturing nightmare?

Re: A startup’s cooling chip may surge processor power

#13

Post by anyfoo »

patentatt wrote: post #8
geocrasher wrote: post #4

I'm just really glad its not some Peltier junction solution. It looks like it could be a boon for low power devices that throttle easily such as tablets, maybe even phones and ultra thing laptops. Might even make cooling for non-cpu chips easier.

I feel like these are not as common/popular as they were back in the day. Now it's all water cooling with those all-in-one setups. I always thought the Peltier coolers were cool (pun not originally intended, but now it is).

I was very young, probably as a teenager back in the 90s, when I discovered the existence of Peltier elements for the first time, and that one had been part of one of my former CPU coolers for all the time.

After an upgrade, I had this now unused CPU fan on my desk, and took it apart for whatever reason (because it and the screwdriver were there, I guess). And there I noticed that as part of the assembly there had been... another thin plate sandwiched between cooler and fan, separate and just held in place with the screws, and I now saw that it also had two wires for power that were spliced into the fan's power cable? Optically, this was clearly just a thin, static slate of something, maybe ceramic. Definitely no moving parts, why in the world does that need power.

I curiously applied some voltage, and was amazed that it turned cold! I played around with it a bit, and unwittingly touched the other side of it. Hot, surprisingly hot! It wasn't touching anything, that was just from the air around it!

I was mesmerized, good times.

Re: A startup’s cooling chip may surge processor power

#14

Post by efp »

sanjayio wrote: post #11
danuker wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are interested in cooling, I suggest that you replace your thermal paste. In my research I have found that the thermal paste is, paradoxically, the least thermally conducting part of a PC heat pipeline. So, use as little of it as possible, to avoid adding thickness. Or use one made of a metal alloy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdTsra-uLBI

If this is true, why not have coolers built into the CPU? Like a block of metal attached? Is it a small improvement gained? Or manufacturing nightmare?

neat. something like an integrated heat spreader? that's a pretty good idea

Re: A startup’s cooling chip may surge processor power

#15

Post by nigerianbrince »

danuker wrote: post #3
ddejohn wrote: post #2

> The AirJet datasheets report a power dissipation of 5.25 W and 10.5 W using the AirJet Mini and Pro, respectively. Ah, beans. Was hoping for something more applicable to desktop processors. Neat idea though. Edit: I missed the callout about laptops and tablets as I was skimming.

If you are interested in cooling, I suggest that you replace your thermal paste. In my research I have found that the thermal paste is, paradoxically, the least thermally conducting part of a PC heat pipeline. So, use as little of it as possible, to avoid adding thickness. Or use one made of a metal alloy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdTsra-uLBI

Doesn't extra paste just squeeze out the sides?

Re: A startup’s cooling chip may surge processor power

#20

Post by kasabali »

nigerianbrince wrote: post #15
danuker wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are interested in cooling, I suggest that you replace your thermal paste. In my research I have found that the thermal paste is, paradoxically, the least thermally conducting part of a PC heat pipeline. So, use as little of it as possible, to avoid adding thickness. Or use one made of a metal alloy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdTsra-uLBI

Doesn't extra paste just squeeze out the sides?

Yes. This myth needs to die.
Post reply on HN