CPU / GPU cooling mechanism - anyone?

[The_Big_K]

CEans,

Currently I see two types of cooling mechanisms used in most of the PCs -

• Using a FAN
• Using a Heat Sink

I've not yet done a comparative study of both these mechanisms, but I think there could be a better solution. In my opinion, CPU/GPU heating is one of the major issues manufacturers face.

Do you have any other kick-ass mechanism in your mind? Post it here. Let's discuss.

[PS: I'm not an expert on computers (especially hardware).]

[kidakaka]

Water
Recently I read in one of my feeds that IBM has found a way to cool their hardware with water ... actually built in a cabinet with watervents et al. Also, sometime back I had seen on some Discovery, or some other channel where some geeks had actually managed to pull this off with water being pumped into plastic tubes and plastic bags to cool off the cabinet.

Gel
Back when the AMD processors were notorious for heat generation, the firm had agreed to ship this heat absorbing gel to all users of AMD Athlon. You can try to get your hands on one of those gels.

Multiple Fans
If your cabinet is big enough, then you can setup multiple fans to drive out the hot air and bring in cooler air. It would make sense to take some time out and study the exact wind flow through your cabinet. Placing the multiple fans so that the wind flow goes over your GPU and Processor will help reduce the heat.

If all else fails, keep the cabinet open

Hope this helps!!

[ash]

Liquid cooling systems are usually the norm for those hardcore computer gamers. They are pretty effective! I've read an article on Tomshardware about them using a Nitrogen cooling system to break some speed records (I believe 5Ghz.. which was a big thing back then!)

However, heatsinks and fans are here to stay. Some modern GPU's have passive cooling systems that use uniquely design heatsinks to do the cooling, and have no fans at all. I suppose the main focus is on reducing the power consumption on the IC's themselves.

Few months ago, MSI devised a way to power fans using the heat itself, pretty much using the sterling engine idea:
MSI Adds Stirling Engine to Motherboards - GoodCleanTech