Thermalright Previews the IFX-14 CPU Cooler

[malware]

Thermalright yesterday updated their page with an additional high end CPU cooler, called the IFX-14 "Inferno Fire eXtinguisher". According to the site specs this cooler has larger surface area than any other heatsinks (140mm x 120mm) with option to install one or even two 140mm fans. It also has four large 8mm heatpipes to distribute massive amount of heat fast and efficiently. The IFX-14 cooler attaches to the CPU socket with the help of multi-platform compatible backplate which includes a back-side dual heatpipe heatsink (patent pending), which not only additionally cools the CPU but also takes care of the heat coming from the back of the motherboard. The IFX-14 heatsink weights 790 grams and can be rotated 90 degrees for maximum compatibility.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[KennyT772]

Oh My GOD

 

[DR.Death]

thats not very small nor light

 

[Zubasa]

I bet that will rip a mobo off a cheap case.

 

[RickyG512]

y not make it all copper so it will cool better

currently the best air cooler is tuniq tower 120, but i still dont understand y they didnt make it all copper to make it even better

 

[HousERaT]

y not make it all copper so it will cool better

currently the best air cooler is tuniq tower 120, but i still dont understand y they didnt make it all copper to make it even better

If it were made out of copper it would probably be too heavy. It's already heavy enough.

 

[randomperson21]

that thing is MASSIVE! holy crap....
but how well does it work? prolly really well with the 2 140mm fans (dear god! 140mm!) i'd like to see some load numbers tho.

 

[pt]

y not make it all copper so it will cool better

currently the best air cooler is tuniq tower 120, but i still dont understand y they didnt make it all copper to make it even better

the ultra 120 already beats the tuniq by a 2ºc or 3ºc, cooper isn't exactly the best, cooper trasnfer heat fast, and aluminium spread it faster, so the fins are usually better of being from aluminium and the heat pipes from cooper

 

[Bull Dog]

Holy SHH*****T!

 

[Completely Bonkers]

copper transfer heat fast, and aluminium spread it faster

Nope. What rubbish. The thermal conductivity of copper is higher than aluminium which means that is transfers heat faster = spreads heat faster.

The issue is that copper is much much more expensive than aluminium. Its also a lot heavier and a lot softer. Thin copper fins are likely to bend too easily.

A heatsink needs to balance cooling ability against cost and weight.

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-conductivity-d_429.html

In fact, aluminium isn't such a bad conductor at all. Look at the link. What good is that the fins are aluminium and not steel which is the cheapest way to make a "thin fin" cooler.

 

[pt]

Nope. What rubbish. The thermal conductivity of copper is higher than aluminium which means that is transfers heat faster = spreads heat faster.

The issue is that copper is much much more expensive than aluminium. Its also a lot heavier and a lot softer. Thin copper fins are likely to bend too easily.

A heatsink needs to balance cooling ability against cost and weight.

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-conductivity-d_429.html

In fact, aluminium isn't such a bad conductor at all. Look at the link. What good is that the fins are aluminium and not steel which is the cheapest way to make a "thin fin" cooler.

guess my old info was wrong
thanks for the new one

 

[Completely Bonkers]

In fact, to improve thermal transfer, the cooler should be electroplated black. It would be evn more efficient if it had a rough and not a polished surface.

 

[OnBoard]

copper transfer heat fast, and aluminium spread it faster

Nope. What rubbish. The thermal conductivity of copper is higher than aluminium which means that is transfers heat faster = spreads heat faster.

The issue is that copper is much much more expensive than aluminium. Its also a lot heavier and a lot softer. Thin copper fins are likely to bend too easily.

A heatsink needs to balance cooling ability against cost and weight.

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-conductivity-d_429.html

In fact, aluminium isn't such a bad conductor at all. Look at the link. What good is that the fins are aluminium and not steel which is the cheapest way to make a "thin fin" cooler.

Think pt ment "Copper conducts heat better than aluminum, but it does not have the ability to release the heat as quickly as aluminum." thing, where aluminium radiates it's heat to air faster than copper. Found even a long dabete from years back about the issue.

http://episteme.arstechnica.com/6/ubb.x?q=Y&a=tpc&s=50009562&f=77909585&m=8490955581

I'd say this is true, but with current heat levels and heatsink sizes too small of an factor to give aluminium any edge. Thus it's only used to lighten a heatsink and make it cheaper (and we are also running out of copper=making it even more expensive, because of the current heatsink trend. Heatpipes do help, redusing the amount copper that is required).

 

[Completely Bonkers]

where aluminium radiates it's heat to air faster than copper

Nope. What rubbish. Please look up the concepts of thermal capacity on a wiki.

Here's a starter: http://www.ibrtses.com/electronics/cooling.html

 

[SK-1]

Why don't we make a generalized solution including both options, and let the administrator decide with a config-file setting?
No, that would break object encapsulation.
Just my 2 cents.

 

[OnBoard]

Nope. What rubbish.

Seems like it's an urban myth.. This was a nice page, tells it so that you can actually understand it

http://www.physics.ubc.ca/outreach/phys420/p420_04/kenneth/theory.htm

"Specific thermal capacity indicates how much heat energy a kilogram of material can take when it's heated up by 1 Kelvin. In another word, in order to heat up a kg of copper by 1 Kelvin you will need 386 Joules of heat

Material Specific Thermal Capacity (J/kg K)
Aluminum 900
Copper 386

Now we have seen two properties of a material. Thermal conductivity k and specific thermal capacity. Thermal conductivity measures how fast a material can transfer heat and specific thermal capacity measures how hot a material get when a certain amount of heat is transferred to it.

In computer cooling, we want material to be good at heat transferring, but we don't want it to stack up a lot of heat. Aluminum has a good high k value, but also has a high specific thermal capacity. This means that the although aluminum will transfer heat efficiently, it will tend to "stack up" the heat inside. Copper, on the other hand, has a higher k value than aluminum but a lower specific thermal capacity, meaning that it will get much hotter than aluminum given the same amount of heat. As we've seen before, conduction depends on the different in temperature. So copper getting hot easily actually helps the conduction to transfer heat faster."

Myth might have orginated from that copper getting hotter part and why old coffeepots were also made of copper.

 

[Completely Bonkers]

That's a nice link OnBoard, but I'm actually lost at what we are trying to prove? Come again?

 

[KennyT772]

That's a nice link OnBoard, but I'm actually lost at what we are trying to prove? Come again?

what material is better for heatsink fins, aluminum or copper.

 

[Completely Bonkers]

OK, thanks Kenny. It's a bit late here.

1./ We want to get the heat to the edge of the fins asap (highest airflow)

2./ We want the maximum fin area (highest conduction fin to air)

3./ We want the roughest surface... without losing airflow (highest surface area and contact with air)

4./ We want maximum turbulence... without losing airflow (highest contact with air)

OK, Copper vs. Aluminium

1./ Copper wins

2./ =

3./ =

4./ =

Seems like copper wins... but the fin design could probably make a major impact. If I remember correctly, (another metal property here), copper can be made into thin fins more easily than aluminium which is quite brittle.

Which is why aluminium fins are usually chunky (e.g. Intel coolers) whereas copper fins are much finer (e.g. Zalman).

(Those last 2 para's are a bit amateurish. Someone might need to apply a fresher mind to the problem)

 

[KennyT772]

not really, zalman makes aluminum coolers with the same fin thickness as the copper ones. its just chunky fins (stock coolers) are cheaper to produce instead of finely stamping fins and assembling them such as zalman.

i'll speak with my ap chem teacher tomorrow and see if he has any other insight we haven't thought of.

 

[tkpenalty]

Um if you have not noticed, this is a Nickel Plated Copper product and not aluminium. NO WAY aluminium can be this flexible and heavy. My CNPS7700CU is nearly 1kg so wtf are you guys on about it ripping the socket off the mobo? Its exactly like the zalman mounting system where you remove the retention clip (on AM2) then put the backplate on.

 

[C.Ash]

That isnt SO big. Its only about 10mm bigger than the Tuniq Tower.. and thats only a single side.

 

[WarEagleAU]

I love that cooler. I dont think it will cool better than my liquid...but its massive. Is it nickel plated or what?