New Mid-Priced Coolers from OCZ and Scythe: The Small and the X of It

[kaladze]

There is no doubt that the top heatpipe tower air coolers perform very well. Test results have shown the best heatpipe designs with side facing fans have cooled processors better than any air cooling design. These top heatpipe towers also outperform the entry level water cooling systems we have tested.



Source: More informations

[clocker]

Someone's fond of Anandtech....

[Racket]

Take a class in thermodynamics and you will understand why no CPU air cooler will beat a proper water-cooled cpu. Water has a specific heat capacity (cp) of approximately 4.186 J*g−1*K−1 whereas air has a cp of approximately 1.00 J* g−1 *K−1. Water can absorb 4x as much heat as air. The larger the volume of the water loop, the larger the mass of the water and the more heat that can be absorbed. Those, mini kits from Swiftech and Corsair suffered from low volume especially with no water reservoir. Now, move on to heat-pipes for air coolers. Most are made of copper and aluminum. Copper has a cp of 0.385 J*g−1*K−1 and aluminum has a cp of 0.897 J*g−1*K−1u. The metals work very well at conducting heat from the cpu, but they don't hold the heat very well; the heat flow will radiate to the surrounding air. Water could hold so many more Joules of heat without the surrounding environment getting any warmer. The latest developments are mixing "old" ideas together: Manufacturers are combining Peltier/TEC's with water loops because Pelteir's are great at moving heat but very ineffecient at storage of heat. Thus, condensation problems caused by the TEC's are solved by incorporating a water loop. You just have to love science!