I couldn’t pass up a chance to pick the brains of two of Advanced Thermal Solutions engineers when Intel announced it’s Intel DBX-B Advanced Thermal Solution for the Core i7-980X EE processor. First, it was our name afterall, Advanced Thermal Solutions, Inc. Second, from my work in the past with Intel on the Itanium program I thought, “what are they doing, this thing is near the size of my lawn mower engine”. But Joe Mennucci, Direct of Engineering, and Dr. Ning Lei, Senior Thermal Physics Researcher, schooled me in the hows and why’s.
John: So tell me, Ning and Joe, this Intel DBX-B, it’s really useless isn’t it? I mean look at this thing!
Joe: (Looks at Ning and smiles. Then looks at John, eyes looking over the rim of his glasses like he’s looking at one of his first year mechanical engineering students at RPI)
Ning: Well, the Intel DBX-B is not useless. In fact, it might be one of the most efficient heat sink designs of its type. Both cost-effective and it pushes the limits of thermal physics.
Joe: Here’s how these kind of heast sinks work. Heat sinks like The Intel DBX-B or the Scythe Yasya Heatsink use an embedded heat pipe approach. Basically, heat pipes are embedded into the aluminum fins of the heat sink, as the CPU heats up, the liquid in the heat pipe heats up, turns to steam, rises and transfers its heat to the aluminum fins. Once it cools, it condenses and seeps back down the pipe. It’s a very efficient cooling approach.
Ning: That’s right Joe. Also, the fans on these kinds of heats sinks are often custom made for the heat sink or the heat sink is designed to it fits to the fans. Convection cooling is then used to further cool the heat sink.
John: These must cost a mint though, look how much metal is there!
Ning: (Rolls eyes )not really, about $40 to $70 per heat sink system.
Joe: When you think of it, it’s a good deal.
Ning: Here at Advanced Thermal Solutions in our labs, we have developed a similar heat sink to the The Intel DBX-B or the Scythe Yasya Heatsink. We used heat pipes embedded into copper skived fins to create a similiar and as efficient approach. The key design point though is heat pipes of some number and the vapor release of heat energy through the fins.
Joe: So, John, do you still think these big heat sinks are useless?
John: (Light dawning on marble head ) Yes I finally do see how cool these big heat sinks can be!