IBM Doubles CPU Cooling With Simple Change 208
Ars Technica is reporting that IBM has discovered a new cooling breakthrough that, unlike several other recent announcements, should be relatively easy and cost-effective to implement. "IBM's find addresses how thermal paste is typically spread between the face of a chip and the heat spreader that sits directly over the core. Overclockers already know how crucial it is to apply thermal paste the right way: too much, and it causes heat buildup. Too little, and it causes heat buildup. It has to be "just right," which is why IBM looked to find the best way to get the gooey stuff where it needs to be and in the right amount, and to make it significantly more efficient in the process."
Sadly (Score:5, Interesting)
Each tube of thermal paste we get contains about 4CCs worth of thermal paste - MORE than enough to handle about seven or so CPUs. Instead, the entire tube gets shot onto the proc, because the syring is labeled "Single use only" (Yea, that's what I thought.)
Roughing the surface of the core casing seems like a good idea, but I dunno, most thermal compounds are rather gritty as is and wont' fit into those uber-tiny grooves. A more liquid thermal ahesive would see to be a better idea if you're going to mar the surface of the core's protective casing, I would think.
Stirling Engines (Score:5, Interesting)
cores aren't exposed anymore (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Good, it was the worse part! (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Did you read the article? (Score:5, Interesting)
2 or 3 minutes? I work for Toshiba, and I fix laptops every day. It only takes me 5 seconds to apply thermal grease, if that. It is also compulsory for us to perform hardware stress testing if we change the motherboard, RAM, CPU or graphics card (if present). The report tells us how quickly the core heats up, to what temperature, how fast it cools once the CPU steps down to its slowest speed etc. Provided those figures are satisfactory, I don't have to reapply thermal grease.
Please don't think I'm calling you incompetent or anything, taking your time on this sort of thing is ideal, you don't want to over- or under-do it. I'm just used to re-greasing CPUs every day.
The way I was taught was (provided you're squeezing it out of a syringe or something) to make a Hershey (as in Hershey's Kiss). Put a Hershey of grease in the very centre of the core, and the flat surface of the heatsink will spread it across the entire core. It takes a while before you realise what is a good sized Hershey. Just about all of the time when I run the stress test on a good sized Hershey the report will return "optimal performance". I've been told by other laptop technicians that this technique is crap, but even after a year, the same grease will still return "optimal performance".
I got a better idea! (Score:3, Interesting)
One of those why didn't I think of that moments... D'oh!
Re:I don't think I'm reading this the same way... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Good, it was the worse part! (Score:3, Interesting)
Leaks and condensation are real problems. Corrosion and biological growth are easily solvable problems; hell, rubbing alcohol (often available at the dollar store) is an acceptable additive. Personally I plan to just use something meant for automotive use. Mineral deposits can be a problem as well except that I have a reverse osmosis water filter. So all I have to do is change the coolant every few years and I should be just fine.
Heat exchangers are not themselves complicated, although they can have leaks. But so long as you take care of your coolant this is a non-issue.
If I were designing a CPU water block product I'd take the approach that many vendors have taken and I'd make it a two-piece part. It's much easier from a manufacturing standpoint and it allows for disassembly for cleaning. You add a silicone seal (which can be replaced with silicone goo if the part becomes unavailable, I'd use aquarium silicone because it cures quickly and completely) and screw it together. The block will probably be aluminum, and the threads tapped into it. If they fail, you can use thread repair material on them, because the block is made of metal. The cover would be clear plastic so you can see WTF is going on, if it's getting crusty, et cetera.
Water cooling systems ARE more complicated and expensive than just using some fans, but they have numerous advantages as well. My next desktop PC will be water cooled.
Re:And people thought they were cool polishing.... (Score:3, Interesting)
What if, after lapping both the heatsink and the CPU (to a mirror flat finish, or not, probably worth experimenting) instead of thermal paste you used gold leaf foil? Basically it is gold pounded ultra thin (in the 100 nanometer range, such that one square meter is made from 2 grams of gold), flat, would flex/bend to conform to the two surfaces and has the thermal transfer quality of
Try it with a system you are retiring anyways, see what kind of difference it made. Never know, since a piece of gold leaf isn't prohibitively expensive (a small piece would cost you less than a dollar, get a few pieces while you are dialing in the process.)