Gizmodo: heatsinks

Thermaltake's Xpressar PC Case Uses Actual Fridge Compressor For Cooling

John Mahoney — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:00:00 EDT

Onwards and upwards in the overclockers' heatsink game: The crazed coolant doctors at Thermaltake are now shipping what they're claiming is the first case to feature a DC-inverter micro refrigeration system onboard, which goes beyond conventional liquid-cooled setups by using the same type of compressor/condenser/coolant system found in a refrigerator or air conditioner into your PC case. UPDATE: It is not the first, as Asetek had done this ages ago.

Thermaltake claims the Xpressar gains an additional drop of 20° C below liquid-cooled systems that don't feature an actual fridge compressor. But, as you know, your AC and refrigerator tend to make a lot of noise and suck down a lot of power (Xpressar's compressor is rated at 50W), so you can assume that this is not the most practical of setups. And the crazy ductwork required means only certain ATX and mini-ATX motherboards are supported, but practicality's never really been first on overclockers' minds, right? [Hexus, Far East Gizmos]

Self-Refrigerating Plastic Sheets Could Make Ultimate Heatsink

John Mahoney — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:20:00 EDT

Researchers at Penn State have cooked up a new plastic that can be cooled by simply running a current through it. It uses the electrocaloric effect to rearrange its individual atoms when charged, allowing for heat to more easily come and go. By wrapping up a chip in the stuff and zapping it with current, researchers hope they've found a way to make more efficient heatsinks for laptops and other gear with small, hot enclosures. Right now the process requires too much voltage to be feasible (120v, rather than the couple of volts your laptop battery could give it), but manufacturing improvements could make it ready for prime time, and Intel seems interested.

Says Rajiv Mongia, an Intel engineer:

"The fact that they've been able to develop a polymer-type material that can be used in a relatively thin film is worth a second look [compared with previous ceramic heatsinks that worked the same way]," Mongia says. "Also, it's working in a temperature range that is of interest to us."

[Technology Review]

XCM Xbox 360 Casemod Glows Whether Console is Overheating or Not

Jack Loftus — Sun, 25 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT

Irresistible Xbox 360 red ring of death heatsink jokes aside, this glow-in-the-dark replacement shell from XCM is the bee's knees for gamers who like to do it in the dark. Even with the lights on the case is still pretty cool, as it sports a semi-translucent look, allowing onlookers to marvel at the melting electronics housed within.

[Technabob]

Moshi Zefyr: A MacBook Heatsink On Your Lap

Adrian Covert — Fri, 09 May 2008 20:06:48 EDT

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.

The Zefyr also provides a pass-through USB port, so that peripheral use is not sacrificed. A portable cooling pad might be a little silly, but for anyone who's experienced the heat of a MacBook on their lap, and worries about going sterile, it may be useful. It's available now in black and silver colors, and sells for $75. [Moshi]

Microsoft Adding Extra GPU Cooling to Retail Xbox 360 Elites

Jason Chen — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 13:00:42 EDT

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]