Damanics Liquid Metal CPU Cooler

unknownsock

unknownsock

unknownsock

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The Damanics Liquid Metal CPU cooler, officially titled the Damanics LMX Superleggera, is one of those crazy ideas we never actually thought we'd get our hands on. Kudos go to Damanics then, for actually producing a product that's both scary and awesome at the same time.


For those who don't know the significance of this cooler the clue is in the name: liquid metal. Those metal pipes are not your standard wick/gas heatpipes, they are full of a sodium-potassium metal alloy (mixture) that is liquid at room temperature and forced around the tubes with a hardcore electromagnetic pump. Metal has a much higher specific heat capacity than a vapour change liquid, and when forced around rather than letting convection take its course, it acts more like a water-cooled setup.
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Perhaps the biggest eye-opener is the safety card we get with it. For the love of god don't break the bloody thing! It's not like spilling mercury everywhere, but it's highly flammable should you have an accident near water.
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We've generally found that direct heatpipe contact works better, however shaving down the copper is not an option here considering what the pipes contain.
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http://www.bit-tech.net/blog/2010/03/18/first-look-damanics-liquid-metal-cpu-hsf/

Gotta admit its an intrigueing peice of kit.
Although ill be waiting for the first article on someones death by lapping :p
 
I imagine I'd lap this. That's a very thick base between heatpipes and cpu. NaK though, that's not very safe. Combining this with watercooling could be really, really bad.

I really hope this makes it to market. The idea is quite mad but as an evolution from heatpipes makes some sense. I don't really follow why they're using NaK instead of water inside the tubing, an electromagnetic pump isn't easier or cheaper than a water pump.
 
I'm very intrigued to see what this can do, but suspect it's not gonna bring much more to the table than a high-end air cooler. I believe they've significantly upped the magnetic shielding from their first version; it's unlikely to pose a problem and wouldn't put me off buying one if I decided its other credentials met my needs.

I think watercooling has much more potential though. IIRC, the specific heat capacity of water is significantly higher than any metal excluding mercury (admittedly this is an alloy so properties will be different - possibly higher specific heat capacity). While heat may be transferred more efficiently from the CPU using this method, it's still fundamentally limited by the surface area for heat dissipation, which water wins hands-down on. If this works as it should, though, it's possible we'll have larger-scale kits utilising a model more akin to watercooling, with the heat-dissipating surfaces further away from the CPU - and more of them. That could then be very effective, although the self-build aspect is unlikely to catch on..
 
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