Cooling
”Aftermarket Xbox 360 Case Reduces Noise, Heat and Design
If the Xbox 360 is simply too loud, hot and small for your taste, the Lian-Li PC-XB01 case mod can help. The case can silence the disc drive with sound-proofing foam and keep things cool with improved airflow, a single 120mm fan or optional water cooling system. Plus, it is four times the size of the 360—so you know it will take up that extra space you have been meaning to fill. A price point has not been made available, but we do know that you can get your hands on this hulking beast sometime this August. [Lian-Li via Xbox Scene via Hack a Day via Boing Boing Gadgets]
Moshi Zefyr: A MacBook Heatsink On Your Lap
Moshi's Zefyr is a portable cooling pad for the MacBook that provides a near silent fan, powered by USB, and offers a temperature drop of roughly 6 degrees C (12 degrees Fahrenheit). The Zefyr is designed to place your MacBook at an ergonomically beneficial tilt, and when not in use, the Zefyr collapses to better fit in a bag.
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Nike PreCool Vest Is Heatsink For Athletes
Beijing Olympians can count on being cool as cucumbers in Nike's PreCool Vest, a specially designed piece of clothing that lowers the body's core temperature. Much like computers, muscles perform better when they're not dedicating most of their resources to cooling down. Used about an hour prior to a competition, it can help an athlete last up to 21% longer out in the field. The vest is made of two layers of material: the inner one is filled with frozen water and the outer layer is coated with aluminum to act like a thermos, trapping cold in while reflecting radiant heat. Unfortunately, the PreCool is only available for Olympic athletes, so us normal folk will have to find other ways to chill out this summer. [Newlaunches.com]
IBM Mixes Water, Chips to Make Supercomputer And Cook Dinner Too
It might sound like a risky idea, but IBM's new Power 575 supercomputer uses a new system of chip-level water-cooling to keep its processors chilled. Nicknamed "Hydro Cluster", the machine actually uses 448 of the new 5GHz POWER6 processors. They must kick out a hefty heat load because IBM thinks there're eco-friendly uses for the spare hot water. Much like the Swiss town pool mentioned the other day, the suggestion is that it could be used for heating people's homes or even for cooking. Check out the video to see how IBM plans to take water even closer to the chip surface in the future. More »NVIDIA Motorcycle Casemod is the Fastest Computer On Two Wheels, Kinda
There are roadwarriors with their ultraportables and then there's master modder Dennis Ilyin, who took computing on the go literally with this ambitious motorcycle casemod. While the two-wheeled computing wonder lacks an engine, it more than makes up for it with massive LED-lit water tanks and what's sure to be ample processing power. The compu-bike was part of an NVIDIA-sponsored modding contest and actually came in second to this green thing. Fair? Unfair? Take a look at additional pics after the jump and you tell us.More »
Video: RSD5 Solid State Fan In Action
Yesterday, we posted about the RSD5 Solid State Fan from Thorrn Micro Technologies. Today, we have a video of the fan in action along with additional insight from one of the creators. The more I learn (and watch) about the RSD5, the more impressed I become. Thorrn Micro says the research is complete and expect the RSD5 to be ready for market by 2009.
future tech
Microchip-sized Solid State Fan Actively Cools Laptops With No Moving Parts
Engineers at Thorrn Micro Technologies have created a solid state fan for portable gadgets that is one-fourth the size and two to three times more powerful than a comparable mechanical fan. The RSD5 fan, which is roughly the size of a microchip, is said to be extremely thin, silent, and powerful and current prototypes can effectively cool a 25-watt processor. More »Gigabyte's Cool Rain Memory Cooler Was Blade Runner Prop in Past Life
OK, Gigabyte's Cool Rain Memory Cooler was never featured in Blade Runner, and yes, we called it stupid overkill, but just look at it. The watercooled unit, which we mentioned earlier, can accommodate memory in dual channel form, has a radiator that flips open, uses two heat spreader units and a blue LED. If only our sneakers looked this sci-fi. (Yes, we liked LA Lights.) [Newlaunches]
peripherals
MSI Motherboard Fan Powered Without Electricity
Fans of green technology will undoubtedly be glad to hear that MSI has developed a working concept design that utilizes Stirling Engine Theory to power a motherboard fan. Instead of conventional electricity, the fan will harvest heat emanating from the processor to function. More »
mods
PC Cooled By A/C
Fans are alright, but if you really want to sacrifice some trees to run your PC, consider this: air conditioning. One modder seems to have combined his A/C with liquid cooling, reaching coolant temperatures as crazy low as -10 Fahrenheit. What do you think, everyone? Can it play Doom? [hacknmod]Lian Li Cranks Out Super Hot Armorsuit PC Case
We just checked in with the guys at Lian Li, and we managed to peek a look at their hot new PC cases. The best of the bunch is the Armorsuit enclosure, shown in the image above. It's smoking. The case has a solid aluminum construction (with plastic side windows), nine 5.25-inch device bays (including two 3.5" x 3 HDD cages), three LED fans, LED lined heat exhaust and liquid pipe inlets for solvent cooled systems. If that doesn't sound great; check out the gallery, revise your opinion and eat humble pie.
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Liquid-Cooled PS3 For Running Silent But Deadly
If wielding your Heavenly Sword means cranking up the AC and opening all the windows, you might want to take a page from this dude's book: he is building a liquid cooling system for his PS3 that currently brings the system temperature down to about 90 degrees Fahrenheit at full power, and runs "almost dead silent." [PlayStation.com Forums]Thanks, Mike!
peripherals
Kensington Introduces sd200v Video USB Dock and Other Notebook Accessories
Kensington's new $139 sd200v is a single hub that can manage your keyboard, mouse, printer and iPod, plus speakers, microphone and even a VGA monitor, all tied to your laptop by a single USB cable. The catch is that the DualView DisplayLink USB video connection is Windows-only, and it's not likely to be high on performance. Still, only having to unplug one cable when you're on the go is a huge boon. More »
cheap
How to Get Free Air Conditioning From Your Water System
Some cheap guy came up with a way to get "free" air conditioning by cycling up his 50-degree well water through a home-made pipe/radiator system and dispersing the coolness into his house. It's really, really ugly, but it does save some money on your cooling bill. Useful if you live in really hot areas and have a well. That's all of us, right? [Instructables via ]Ionic Wind May Help Cool Computers 250% Better Than Regular Wind
Those bullshit ionic air purifiers from Sharper Image may not help relieve your allergies, but ionic wind may help keep your computer cool. Purdue researchers demonstrated that by ionizing air and passing it over the chip, it increased airflow on the surface and cooled them down as much as 250%. The mock chip went down from 140 degrees to 95 degrees. Now they just have to reduce component sizes and make them more consumable before they can actually be installed in laptops and computers. Make the jump to see how it works, Gizmodo style. [Extremetech]
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microsoft
Japanese Thermal Expert Examines Xbox 360, Figures Out What's Wrong (Hint: Everything)
Because Microsoft will never admit to any possible overheating problems with their beloved Xbox 360 design, Japanese-based Nikkei hired a thermal design expert to come examine the console. They looked at two—one made in 2005 and one repaired in May 2007. Here's what they found: More »Microsoft Adding Extra GPU Cooling to Retail Xbox 360 Elites
Apparently Microsoft has started adding extra GPU cooling to new retail Xbox 360 elites in order to stave off overheating problems (and the three red lights) the units may be having. These added heatsinks were only previously found in refurbished Xbox 360s in Europe, which meant we were pretty much SOL. Ben Heck dismantled a new Xbox 360 and found a new heat pipe and new materials, but still thought that the cooling was a bit weak because there are no fans directly on any of the components. [Ben Heck via Evil Avatar]








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