Metal-Cooled Computing

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Indeed, the question remains whether difficulties with implementation will hinder this new technology from becoming a practical cooling solution for the PC. One competitor believes Sapphire Technology's use of liquid metal technology has more to do with marketing. "Because of the increased cost, size, and weight of the cooler, we don't think that this technology is ready for the market," says Lester Lau, spokesperson for a rival graphics card manufacturer, Abit Computer, of Taiwan. "The marketing value is intriguing, but the downsides seem to outweigh the advantages at this point."

An industry expert is also skeptical. "It's a big jump, introducing so many new components that are not proven," says Monem Alyaser, director of Applied Thermal Technologies, a Santa Clara-based engineering consultancy that has assisted in thermal design for Microsoft's Xbox 360 and the Apple Powerbook Titanium. Alyaser believes that water cooling would be a better next step for the PC industry, because it is tried and tested ("It has been around as long as there have been radiators in cars").

NanoCoolers' Mick Wilcox counters that liquid metal has significant advantages over water cooling, including its quieter and more reliable electromagnetic pump, as well as the fact that it has the same or better cooling ability.

Currently, almost all products in the PC market use air cooling. In contrast, water cooling is restricted to kits for enthusiasts. In tests with a laptop, Wilcox says NanoCooler's technology is about thirty percent more effective than a "heat pipe" air cooling system and five percent better than water cooling .

To be sure, such figures are considerably lower than expected, given the high thermal conductivity of liquid metal. The problem, says Wilcox, is in getting the heat out of the liquid metal before it is circulated back to the chip. Ultimately, that means using a radiator or fan to dump the heat energy into the surrounding atmosphere, the same method used in water and air cooling systems.

In fact, NanoCoolers is focusing its resources in other cooling technologies as well, notably, a thin-film, high-density version of traditional thermo-electrics to be used a variety consumer products. 

Meanwhile, graphics chip maker Sapphire says it will send its metal-liquid-cooled Blizzard graphics card to reviewers at magazines and online publications this summer -- the first public demonstration of metal-cooled technology in a PC.

Sources:

• NanoCoolers
• Cooling Technologies Research Center (National Science Foundation/Purdue)
• Sapphire Technology
• Applied Thermal Technologies
• Abit Computer