Calyos Case Based On Phase Change Gets Improvements, Shipments Late Summer

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bit_user

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The cooler uses a capillary pump to send a few grams of pentafluoropropane through the loop. It becomes vapor from the heat source, and once it passes through the radiator it returns to its liquid form and back to the pump. There are no mechanical or moving parts
So, you're just using the term "pump" to refer to the passive capillary action?

22 kg is quite a heavy case. Right up there with the price.
 

bit_user

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These two heat pipes for the VGA cooler combine 50 Watts cooling capable of handling the hottest GPUs.
Lol.

Last year, there was a review on here of a full system that was completely fanless. Based on the comments, lot of people don't seem to appreciate the difference between a quiet system vs. a fully fanless one. For those applications truly requiring silence (or for computing in very dusty environments), there's no substitute for fanless. For the rest of us, a PC that's merely quiet is far more cost-effective and carries fewer other compromises.
 

alextheblue

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I'm not sure if it's a matter of not appreciating the difference, per se.

When discussing silent PCs, I think there few situations in which fanless is truly superior within the same price class. Heck, I've seen a lot of slim systems that are fanless but rely on airflow via convection. They are still vulnerable to dust. A "sealed" fanless system would not have to worry about dust, but are less flexible. At idle a good quiet fan like a PWM Noctua with the low noise adapter is pretty darn silent. Meanwhile it can still spin up due to a sustained load or ambient temp changes. Convection increases airflow too, but not as much.

I think a lot of people appreciate fanless systems more than you think. After all, most people have smartphones. For mobile devices it's definitely a big plus. Even for PCs, I for one appreciate them from a technical standpoint. But at least with relatively powerful PCs I can't think of many cases where silent/near-silent fans wouldn't be as good or better, especially within a certain price and form factor. In a dusty environment I'd either want a sealed system (obviously with some compromises) or just have dust filters that are simple to service along with positive air pressure - necessitating fans.
 

bit_user

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So, check out this thread. A theme that keeps coming up is people saying it's stupid b/c they can build a quiet PC that's cheaper/better. And many people focus on the noise @ idle, rather than under full load.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-3124466/compulab-airtop-fanless.html

That's what I'm talking about. Sure, if you just want a quiet PC, use quiet fans, water cooling, etc. But there are some situations where silence is worth the cost & compromises.


I have dust filters on all but one of my PCs with fans, and I have a well-ventilated, fanless machine built around a 10 W Apollo Lake board. I'll probably give it an annual air blast, but I won't have to open it to do so.

I don't consider myself to live in a dusty environment, but I had to clean the heatsink of my old P4 a couple times per year, or it'd overheat. That was my last machine of triple-digit TDPs with no dust filters. I've never had to clean out the machines with dust filters - just the filters. Their insides look completely clean.
 

alextheblue

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Yeah I'm not really disagreeing with you for the most part. I'm saying there's a trend towards quieter computing and that if you talk to those who are actively seeking silent solutions, they probably understand and appreciate the difference. They might disagree on which is better for their needs (10W chip might not cut the mustard). On the other end of the spectrum, asking someone who wants good cooling on a budget isn't very productive, since what they seek is largely incompatible with silent system building within their budget.

As for focusing on idle, that's pretty normal. Simple tasks have your fan speeds at idle. Pretty much anything a similarly priced affordable fanless system can handle well, a near-silent fan equipped system will handle at idle speeds... nearly silently. For me they only generally spin up when I game, in which case the game audio drowns it out. But that's not a good scenario for a fanless rig for different reasons... mainly cost. I can't justify a chassis with integrated powerful phase change cooler, nor a watercooled system with external passive (and massive) radiator. But I certainly appreciate them for what they are. :D

I agree that filters are a must for systems with fans. I probably only need to clean mine yearly though. But again, in dusty environments (warehouses - so much dust) I wouldn't consider convection fanless superior when you're up against filtered fan-cooled systems, as long as the filters are easy to service. Knock the dust off and you're done. Positive airflow is preferred as it keeps it from sucking dust via gaps pretty effectively. Either go that route or sealed fanless that doesn't rely on internal airflow at all. Then you just dust the exterior every once in a while. ;)
 
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