Date: 07/25/07 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: no keywords

Before rushing out to get a water cooling setup, check out heatpipe coolers (sometimes under-labelled as just another variety of "air cooling") first.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heatpipe

As one can see, heatpipe vapor cooling is kind of like liquid cooling. The wick "pumps" cool condensed liquid with capilary action along the lining of the tube to the heat source, and the hot evaporated vapor travels back towards the direction of cooling.

I saw the founder of Overclockers.com saying in the Ars Technica forums that he gave up water cooling for heatpipes when they came out.

Many heatpipes/heatspreaders are so cheap nowadays that they might be mistaken for plain metal tubing/plating when they aren't.

I think I read about the operation of heatpipes a long time ago but forgot all about it until I read about it again.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/1091240.html