Cutting Open a Heatsink Heatpipe To See Inside

An anonymous reader writes "Frostytech gets to the heart of Zalman's CNPS11X heatsink by cutting a section of heatpipe from the CPU cooler to inspect its inner composite heatpipe wick structure. Now that's an in-depth heatsink review! Interesting photos of the dissected heatpipe's composite wick — sintered copper powder on top and axial groove wick below — that you're unlikely to see elsewhere. In the late 1960s the first commercial heatpipes were used by NASA to stabilize satellite temperatures; now they stabilize multi-core processors."

Before anyone else says it...

[roc97007]

> In the late 1960s the first commercial heatpipes were used by NASA to stabilize satellite temperatures

Why didn't they just use fans? ...um, what? ...Really? Oh. Never mind.

Re:Before anyone else says it...

[LastGunslinger]

The space program has been a giant government boondoggle that has produced nothing of value for the citizens of the United States. The free market certainly would've far surpassed the successes of NASA if not for regulations and taxation. /s

Re:Before anyone else says it...

[roc97007]

Or, rather, lack of Whoosh...

Re:Before anyone else says it...

[Thud457]

In space, no one can hear you Whoosh.