5 ms·

Hmm - I'm not a fan of active cooling solutions (peltier, water, etc). Unless really well done, a failure leaves you with basically zero cooling. I like a nic

Hmm - I'm not a fan of active cooling solutions (peltier, water, etc). Unless really well done, a failure leaves you with basically zero cooling. I like a nice big chunk of metal! it ain't sexy, but its quiet and reliable.

tantalor 4y ago
A hunk of metal doesn't cool anything, it just moves the heat from one place to another until you reach equilibrium, then you have "zero cooling" again.
- andy_ppp 4y ago
  Giving you time for the CPU not to melt and shutdown the computer? Is thermal management clever/fast enough to do this on modern CPUs without any heat sink at all? Also I wonder about the failure rate of such a device. Very interesting though.
  - formerly_proven 4y ago
    Depends on how much the CPU can lower power consumption. With Intel parts you can run them with no cooler, they'll just throttle to maintain 100 °C by default (exactly like in laptops). Not every motherboard allows this though, some will start beeping angrily when PROCHOT is asserted or reset. With Ryzens it depends, the chiplet ones can't do it, because the IOD power consumption exceeds what the IHS can dissipate without a cooler, so no matter what the CPU power management does, it will always eventually shut off. If you're in OC mode, it will do so at 115 °C. The APUs can probably do it, they'll probably be faster than Intel because they're more efficient. CPUs without an IHS just explode though.
- aqme28 4y ago
  ??? All cooling is just moving heat from one place to another. There's no other way to cool anything.
  - coolspot 4y ago
    AcKtUaLly you can slow down each separate oscillating atom using counter-phase laser. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_cooling https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_cooling
    - aqme28 4y ago
      Second law of thermodynamics cannot be defeated. The laser is outputting more heat than it can cool, effectively just moving heat.
- iancmceachern 4y ago
  It does. The hunk of metal has more surface area than the processor, more surface to radiate, conduct, and convect the heat away. It doesn't matter if you use metal or water to move the heat to the air, your still sinking it to the air, hence the name heat sink. So a hunk of metal does cool things, it cools things better if you add more surface area by adding fins.

tantalor 4y ago

A hunk of metal doesn't cool anything, it just moves the heat from one place to another until you reach equilibrium, then you have "zero cooling" again.

andy_ppp 4y ago
Giving you time for the CPU not to melt and shutdown the computer? Is thermal management clever/fast enough to do this on modern CPUs without any heat sink at all? Also I wonder about the failure rate of such a device. Very interesting though.
- formerly_proven 4y ago
  Depends on how much the CPU can lower power consumption. With Intel parts you can run them with no cooler, they'll just throttle to maintain 100 °C by default (exactly like in laptops). Not every motherboard allows this though, some will start beeping angrily when PROCHOT is asserted or reset. With Ryzens it depends, the chiplet ones can't do it, because the IOD power consumption exceeds what the IHS can dissipate without a cooler, so no matter what the CPU power management does, it will always eventually shut off. If you're in OC mode, it will do so at 115 °C. The APUs can probably do it, they'll probably be faster than Intel because they're more efficient. CPUs without an IHS just explode though.
aqme28 4y ago
??? All cooling is just moving heat from one place to another. There's no other way to cool anything.
- coolspot 4y ago
  AcKtUaLly you can slow down each separate oscillating atom using counter-phase laser. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_cooling https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_cooling
  - aqme28 4y ago
    Second law of thermodynamics cannot be defeated. The laser is outputting more heat than it can cool, effectively just moving heat.
iancmceachern 4y ago
It does. The hunk of metal has more surface area than the processor, more surface to radiate, conduct, and convect the heat away. It doesn't matter if you use metal or water to move the heat to the air, your still sinking it to the air, hence the name heat sink. So a hunk of metal does cool things, it cools things better if you add more surface area by adding fins.