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From: Paul on 7 Mar 2010 20:03
Susan Miller wrote:
> On Thu, 18 Feb 2010 01:29:47 -0500, Susan Miller
> <2.sue.miller(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:30:44 -0700, "peter" <peter(a)nowhere.net> wrote:
>>
>>> its called lapping... usually persons who Overclock do this.
>>> They want 100% contact. The Thermal Paste that is placed between the heatsink
>>> and the CPU usually cover minor imperfections....and most heatsinks have those.
>>> My Thermalright heatsink consistently places in the top 3 in cooling performance
>>> and each review states that the bottom is not level... Go figure!!
>>>
>>> peter
>> It wasn't sanded down to polish it. They ground metal off the bottom.
>> Before they removed the metal off the bottom it cooled worse than a
>> stock unit.
>>
>> I know the really obsessive cooling types will polish heatsinks until
>> they're reflective. That wasn't what they did in this review.
>>
>> I have to figure something out soon though, because the fan sound is
>> too annoying for words.
>>
>>
>> Sue
>
> I finally settled on: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 Copper
> Core/Aluminum Fin Heat Sink & Fan w/4-Pin Connector for Intel & AMD
> CPUs
>
> It literally _JUST BARELY_ fits in my case. The copper tips at the top
> touch the case cover. But, it does fit. I may remove it at some point
> and see if I can use a hacksaw to cut the copper tips off. Would this
> cause any problems (does it help cooling to have the copper tips
> extend past the last fin)?
>
> On the plus side, it's whisper-quiet. If the TV is off and the PC is
> on, we now just hear a quiet purring noise (I think that's my power
> supply fan). If the TV is on, we can't hear the PC at all.
>
> Thanks again for the explanation of heatsinks and why they matter. It
> was very informative reading.
>
> Sue

A heat pipe is a "sealed system". Cutting the tip off the end, would break
the seal.

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

Further picture of a heatpipe here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Heat_Pipe_Mechanism.png

The instant you cut into a heatpipe, the ability to move heat is
reduced by a factor of 100 to 1000. In other words, your heatsink
becomes useless. Ahh... don't do that.

A good reason for having more than one heatpipe on a cooler assembly,
is for redundancy. There have been failures on CPU coolers before,
where the fluid has leaked out of one of the pipes. (All it takes
is a tiny pinhole in the pipe, for this to happen gradually.) So
if a heatsink comes with two or four pipes, this is good from a
redundancy perspective. The remaining pipes carry the load.

Once in a great while, a cooler is shipped to a customer, where
none of the heatpipes are working. And this shows a lack of
quality control, on the part of the manufacturer. I doubt very many
of them, test that the heat pipes are functional, before shipping
the product.

Heat pipes do not contain a large amount of fluid. Only a drop or two
is inside there. But that quantity is very important to the ability to
move heat. The copper tube itself is virtually useless at conducting
heat, compared to the power of the fluid. A similar mechanism is at
work on your central air conditioner, and you can see how much heat
that moves, through a relatively small pipe. And you'd never consider
cutting the pipe on the air conditioner with a hacksaw :-)

Paul
From: John Doe on 8 Mar 2010 00:54
Paul <nospam(a)needed.com> wrote:

> Susan Miller wrote:

>> I may remove it at some point and see if I can use a hacksaw to
>> cut the copper tips off. Would this cause any problems (does it
>> help cooling to have the copper tips extend past the last fin)?

> A heat pipe is a "sealed system". Cutting the tip off the end,
> would break the seal.

!!!

Right, it is not solid copper.
From: ToolPackinMama on 11 Mar 2010 19:13
On 1/21/2010 4:47 PM, Susan Miller wrote:

> I've never had a case fan as loud as the stock CPU fan that came with
> my new processor (bought for the new motherboard mentioned in my
> flurry of earlier posts).
>
> It's horrible. It lets out a LOUD, whooshing noise as well as a high
> pitched "whine". The whole family is sitting around grousing about it
> and two of them have ended up with headaches.
>
> I'd appreciate suggestions, I've never gone with a non-stock fan
> before.

I am surprised at your report. I just built an AM3 system, used the
stock heatsink/fan, and I am getting no noise from it at all. Mine is
silent as far as I can tell.

I have a large case fan in front that I hear, and that is still the same
after my upgrade.

It might be good to check if any wire is touching it and vibrating - or
if the label on it is loose - or something like that.

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