Zalman Wants You Designing Its Next Heatsink

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As I have a large aquarium near my PC, I've been trying to find a way to build a water cooling system where instead of venting the heat out a conventional radiator, it cools the system with a radiator designed to be submerge in an aquarium.
I'm not certain what the minimum size of aquarium that could be used for this system (you don't want the water to get too hot for the fish), but a radiator in water would transfer thermal energy much more efficiently than air could (the same principles as to why the first water cooling system were designed) while being completely fan free and virtually silent. My conventional thermostat controlled aquarium heater would compensate for the fluctuations in temperature from the water cooling system as the machine ranges from off to idle and running hot while gaming.

Secondly, I'd like to see power supplies that are designed with water cooling in mind. If water cooling is attached the fan can be slowed down to a very low RPM so as to still vent the heat that accumulates within the tower from all the other components while taking another step towards the silent PC.

 
Here's a simpler variation on my previous idea that doesn't involve using the whole case as a heatsink.

Build a relatively small, all-copper heatsink that attaches to the CPU in the usual way but with many thin copper wires coming out of the other end, attached evenly across the whole surface. I'm envisioning at least 200 high guage wires each about a foot or two long, with the only point of attachment being at the heatsink or to some heatpipes that extend out. The other ends of the wires would be completely loose, but Zalman could provide some cable ties and other hardware to hold them up.

This would allow a lot of customization and experimentation for the enthusiast crowd. With a large case you might fan out the wires across most of the case, with thicker bundles nears fans. For a small case you could keep the wires in a tight coil. Some might try and extend the wires outside the case into one of those desktop water fountains, or clip out some of the wires to improve airflow, or otherwise develop their own cooling strategies.

I think this would be unique and appeal to those who like tinkering and experimenting, which I think is a lot of the enthusiast crowd who go out and buy their own heatsinks.
 
OK one more idea.

A temperature-sensitive strip running up the side of a traditional heatsink that shows more of a color (red?) on higher heat. So hopefully you'd see the bottom near the CPU burning white or red and near the top of the heatsink it would be closer to the default (blue?).

This wouldn't be much help practically but it would look cool and show Zalman's heatsinks in action.
 
Couple of activ heatsinks:

1st one uses 1 or 2 fans .. a 92mm at the back and 120mm fan at the front, 4 8mm heatpipes and aluminum fins (soldered to the heatpipes). The fins are curved for better air cooling. Oh and it has a copper base with a brass top fins.

2nd one uses 2x 92mm fans mounted at a 90 degree angle, both of them blowing air through the cooler. To avoid the turbulance there's the middle vertical fin that runs from the base to the top of the cooler so air is expelled from the top and the side of the cooler. The heatpipes are 2x6mm and 1x8mm in thickness, the same aluminum fins and copper base.

3rd one is passive and it's inspired by video card coolers. You can only mount it with the fins pointing up towards the power supply/top of the case where you have the fan from the power supply or the case fan that pulls hot air out of the case. It acts as a sort of radiator and uses the air circulation inside the case. This time, 5 heatpipes 6mm in diameter and the fins are aluminum. The base of the cooler uses HDT tech.

http://www.fileshare.ro/8792798877.25

and second

http://www.fileshare.ro/8792812138.32

the third

http://www.fileshare.ro/8794350490.88

PS: hope it's not a problem these are 3ds files
 
[citation][nom]someguynamedmatt[/nom]On an unrelated note, I'm wondering who the person is that downrated every single post on the fourth page...[/citation]

Yeah, like a new technology/quiet bladeless fan isn't a good idea for CPU coolers...I got rated down 3. 🙁
 
I just had another idea, what if you put something like an OLED screed on the center hub of a fan, but keep it stationary so it doesn't spin with the fan. Then the user could load a custom image onto the screen such as their kid's picture, an Intel or AMD logo etc.
 
I personally would recommend Zalman to use double heatpipes (a cupper tube within a tube).
It improves heat transfer by MUCH; especially so, if the outer heatpipe is connected to the base of the heatsink, and the inner tube is connected to a second sink (eg: in case of tall heat sinks, the sink can be split in 2 parts).

Create fans for small systems, like Atom processor based systems, too!

There are only 2 ways you can go with heatsinks, UP, or WIDE.
And because the thermal envelope of processors is too high to go fanless, you'd either have to create (small) heatsinks for liquid cooled systems, or you'd have to go for a fan design.

On top of the double (tube in tube) heatpipes for a better distribution of CPU core heat to the sink, it'd be nice if they could equip their design with a rubber hose, that would fit over 50% of the heat sink, and would channel the heat of CPU straight to the back of the computer's larger 80mm fan out space.
If CPU heat is directly ejected, the remainder of heat within the chassis (eg: those of the drives and motherboard parts) can be taken care for by the airflow of the power supply fans.

That way, instead of letting hot air circulate within the chassis, it'd channel the hottest air straight out.
Having a hose over your sink, that covers even the fan, would allow the sink to experience vacuum cleaner-like suction and thus very efficient heat transfer.

Both designs are more of a way to let fans operate more efficiently.
And especially with Corei processors who have graphics processor on board, and turbo boost capability, the cooler the processor runs, the faster it'll run (being temperature limited instead of frequency limited).

Copper would be the most expensive, and if you see that sink as a gold package, they could make a silver package (less expensive) out of aluminum.

I personally can not think of a better (non-liquid) way to cool a CPU, without seriously enlarging either fan and sink.
 
How about some high quality GPU coolers specifically designed for SLI/CrossFire systems? Whenever you start adding extra cards in SLI or Crossfire, they end up blocking each other's intakes since they're generally on the face of the card. So how about a GPU cooler that moves the intake from the font to the top or rear of the card?
 
I have a few ideas I'de like to share, they are for different builds and price points.
First off all of the following ideas need to have these features.
1. Finished bottom. I enjoy lapping my CPU but don't give me a heat sync thats rough and ****** on the bottom. I would like to see a mirror shine so perfect I can see every hair up my nose.
2. Easy assembly. Make it so the heat sync can be fitted with different braces so they work with stock attachments that are already built into the mobo for the required socket without needed to put a new bracket on the mobo.
3. Good thermal paste. Make a deal with artic silver or something and include good quality thermal paste with the heat sync. I want to apply it, i dont want crusty dried up paste on my heat sync that i just opened.
Build A)
A low profile heat sync with the goal of cheap, quiet, and sufficient cooling. This would be used for lower end cpu's such as a core i3 that can be put into a HTPC without worrying about it hitting stuff above it. The fan should be small and VERY QUIET!! The cooling should be just enough so my cpu is happy without me breaking my wallet for this HSF.
Build B)
Similar to build A, I am looking for a quiet HTPC heat sync. This one though is to be fanless. Make it as small as possible and made to utilize the rear fans on a micro ATX / ATX case or side fans. The fans on my silverstone HTPC case are so quiet this sync would be amazing if it used those quiet fans to eliminate that noisy stock cpu fan.
Build C)
Optimum cooling! This is for a overclocking noobie. Someone who wants to play with overclocking but dosent want to go all out. Make it look cool, big 120mm fan that moves alot of air and a real treat would be too coat the bottom with silver to really improve the heat transfer.

I hope those ideas help, I did not take any ideas from other comments, these are my own i've had for quite some time. My dream of being a computer hardware design engineer is being put to use.
 
How about have a plate like the ones on sapphire vapor-x cards over the cpu core but bigger than it. Then have several direct touch heat pipes over the plate soldered and bolted down. This way there is more surface area for the heat to spread into. Then there can be more direct touch heat pipes taking the heat into the fins faster and therefore having better cooling.
 
I would like to see a compressor cooling kit. Just like you would find on refrigerator or freezer, except smaller. It could cool hardware well better than any heatsink, or water cooler.
 
It's great when companies open up like this :)

For those who are suggesting using the case as a giant heatsink, though it'd be pretty cool (no pun intended) it's not very practical. The surface area of an averaged sized case would only be maybe double the surface area of a large heatsink, but without airflow on all that surface area, likely less effective.

Btw, what sort of prizes are we looking at?
 
Nice to let the people give good feedback to the big guys, the government could learn from Zalman 😛 And that dyson thing would be a terrible HSF fan, its 200$, barely a fan, and very low pressure. A bit ago, Thermaltake combined with a few companies to make what was more or less a "freezer" of a case and cooler. It was very expensive, but was supposedly very good. Air cooling is good for the masses, but i think its time we start thinking a bit outside of the case. Like a high pressure air cooler. Think of like a lcs loop, but instead of water being pushed and pulled, it uses high pressure tubing, (decreasing diameter), high pressure fans, which they might have to design themselves, and have a freezing compartment instead of a radiator. Then you have a similar lcs loop looking thing, somewhere between liquid nitrogen and air cooling performance, no leaks and refilling, and maybe costing less. Just a thought. They could build it into a case for even better cooling if they wanted.
 
[citation][nom]Mark Heath[/nom]It's great when companies open up like this For those who are suggesting using the case as a giant heatsink, though it'd be pretty cool (no pun intended) it's not very practical. The surface area of an averaged sized case would only be maybe double the surface area of a large heatsink, but without airflow on all that surface area, likely less effective.Btw, what sort of prizes are we looking at?[/citation]

Wow, I agree with every single sentence of that post.

I love it when companies do this. Someone else said that 'we're getting ripped off', but I'd say getting free stuff for your ideas is pretty dang good. We're not rendering $1000 models here... just giving ideas... :)

Yeah, if you wanted to do that effectively, you'd need to have great airflow around the case, and it would need fins and heatpipes to effectively dissipate heat. I can only imagine how much something like this would cost, too.

And I was just about to ask what the first, second, and third prizes are... doubt they'll tell us.
 
[citation][nom]someguynamedmatt[/nom]Wow, I agree with every single sentence of that post.I love it when companies do this. Someone else said that 'we're getting ripped off', but I'd say getting free stuff for your ideas is pretty dang good. We're not rendering $1000 models here... just giving ideas... Yeah, if you wanted to do that effectively, you'd need to have great airflow around the case, and it would need fins and heatpipes to effectively dissipate heat. I can only imagine how much something like this would cost, too.And I was just about to ask what the first, second, and third prizes are... doubt they'll tell us.[/citation]

I think Zalman (or Thermaltake?) came out with one of these a couple of years ago, it was enormous, extremely heavy, and expensive. I'll have to browse through my old magazines..it may have been CPU magazine. They tested the giant heatsink case and found it to be the quietest case they had ever tested. It didn't have fans so the CPU got a little toasty I think.

Anyway the case was effective but impractical. It had very thick walls and also increased surface area with lots of folds and ridges in the thick metal case. It was a behemoth, I think about the size of two full towers sandwiched together. NOT pretty either.
 
[citation][nom]domenic[/nom]I'll get started on Solidworks flow simulation[/citation]

Nice to see a fellow engineer who understands just what is involved in designing a great heatsink and how hard it is to make it perfect! Good luck with your submission :)
 
I want a heatsink that turns the very air we breathe into platinum. I want it to make sure the platinum we breathe doesn't kill us, but only makes us rich. I want it to be 2006 again so I can sell my home. I want the heatsink to teach my daughter how to walk, because she's taking too long and we've got places to go. I want to teleport. I want a good Indian restaurant within walking distance of my home, and I want it to serve crispy hashbrowns at all hours, just because I like crispy hashbrowns, I like the smell of Indian food, and I get hungry late at night. I want the heatsink to cure hepatitis-C. I want it to provide new kidneys for all in need, and I want it to bring back granma. The heatsink should also come equipped with a nail file, a pair of scissors, and a can opener that only barely opens bottled beer. The heat sink should play unstoppable goalie for an international soccer team. It should be condescending to American soccer, and insist that you call it "futbol." The heat sink should bail out Chrysler and help Ronnie give missiles to the Iranians. The heatsink should get an academic job and learn bowling, java programming, and Farsi for free. It should never pay back its student loans. The heatsink should get older, more rigid, and uncomfortably paranoid. It should hang out at gun shows, verbally abuse its wife, and show its genitals on chatroulette. It should lighten up later in life and, though embarrassed about its past behavior, be ready to supplement its retired life with a part-time, "people job." It should hate its job and go back to verbally abusing people. It should decide that it's going to die alone on a glacier and nobody should stop it. And somebody should try, but they should realize that the heatsink should probably just die on the glacier and leave everybody else alone, in a sort of noble Gran Torino sort of way, but not in a declining Detroit neighborhood, but rather on a suburban block of ice slowly melting away, that in no way reflects human activity.
 
I'd really like Zalman to introduce a compressor-based cooling system that actually uses the heat of the CPU as part of the cooling process. Basically a sterling engine combined with a Vapor-compression refrigerator. That way the entire computer case would be kept internally cool, and the exterior would have copper pipes to show it off!
 
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