Comparative test: 46 Cool Coolers

Heatpipes

Up to a few years ago we’d never heard of them. In the meantime every self-respecting manufacturer uses them: heatpipes. It’s an effective, albeit expensive, technology to increase CPU-cooler efficiency. The aim of using heatpipes is to displace heat quickly and efficiently. When using large coolers the heatpipes are used to move heat as quickly as possible from the bottom to the top of the cooling block. In fact a heatpipe is nothing more than an aluminium or copper tube filled with a fluid. This can be water, but more frequently ammonia or ethanol is used.

The working principle is quite simple. The bottom end of the heatpipe is located directly above the processor and as such is in direct connection with the heat source. The liquid contained in the heatpipe will absorb the heat and by consequence will evaporate. At the top-end of the heatpipe is a cooling block which in its turn absorbs the heat from the evaporated liquid, effectively cooling the gas, which in its turn condensates again and trickles down to the bottom of the heatpipe. Once below, the (once again) fluid absorbs the heat from the processor, etc. in a continuous cycle.

Not all heatpipes are equal though. Amongst other things the materials out of which the heatpipe is constructed and the type of fluid it contains determine its efficiency. In any case, dissipating heat by means of a heatpipe is much quicker than through a solid piece of metal.

Heatpipes can be used to increase the efficiency of a CPU-cooler.

Peltier