SPCR

I saw this and thought I would post it here and see what you peeps thought.
http://www.frostytech.com/permalink.cfm?NewsID=51189
If it works passively it may very well be the answer to my Northbridge being partially covered by my NV5 cooler.

Holy crap. I'm certainly no expert on the torsional stress you can put on your northbridge, but that does seem like a lot of off-center mass for a horizontal board, and a lot of mass-period, for a vertical board.

It certainly has an advantage over the Zalman flower in terms of surface area and its use of heatpipes, and I would think the fan would be unnecessary in most applications SPCRers would utilize it in.

I'm curious to see what kind of dissipation they'll get with one center-mounted heatpipe running through the block and the fins.

I would not think stress would ne an issue. While it is off-center, if it attaches by screws or a wire clip , rather than push-pins, it should be help in place well enough.

My greatest concern would be how it mounts, and whether or not it gets in the way of stuff on many motherboards.

Cerb wrote:I would not think stress would ne an issue. While it is off-center, if it attaches by screws or a wire clip , rather than push-pins, it should be help in place well enough.

Well, they used to say that about CPU coolers, too. But I suspect you're right. Although northbridge chips aren't built to have a lot of weight on them - in any direction - this cooler shouldn't be /that/ heavy.

Cerb wrote:My greatest concern would be how it mounts, and whether or not it gets in the way of stuff on many motherboards.

I think the neat thing about it is that you should be able to mount it with the heatpipes pointing in any direction, so you've got four different directions to point the thing, to avoid obstructions and get the fins in some airflow. But people buying it will certainly want to spend some time with their heads stuck in their cases, looking to see if this will fit in some logical way.

If it can be mounted in any direction, yes. I did not see any mounting equipment, though. If it can be mounted any direction, it would offer a good, if costly, alternative to Zalman's NB series on boards where the chip that needs cooling is very close to a card (usually video).

I think the neat thing about it is that you should be able to mount it with the heatpipes pointing in any direction, so you've got four different directions to point the thing, to avoid obstructions and get the fins in some airflow. But people buying it will certainly want to spend some time with their heads stuck in their cases, looking to see if this will fit in some logical way.

With most heatpipe, gravity will determine the direction of the cooling. Remember that heatpipes works by evaporating the liquid and cooling off the vapor so it condenses. So you cann't mount this thing up-side-down. You might be able to mount it side way but that won't work too will. I believe the best position for this cooler is where the mother is lay flat so you can place it in any direction and still have the liquid flowing back to the base.

IceFire wrote:With most heatpipe, gravity will determine the direction of the cooling.

Yep. Hadn't even thought about that. That would severely limit its options on a number of vertically-mounted boards, because you'd have to point the pipe assembly upward, where many boards will have obstructions. Essentially, it drops your mounting options by 75 percent. Still, depending on the application, you may be able to get away with orienting it however you choose.

With most heatpipe, gravity will determine the direction of the cooling. Remember that heatpipes works by evaporating the liquid and cooling off the vapor so it condenses. So you cann't mount this thing up-side-down. You might be able to mount it side way but that won't work too will.

Most high-quality heatpipes have a wick structure on the inside of the pipes, so that the condensed liquid returns to the heat source (base) via capillary action; so orientation is much less important.