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What a better way to end the summer season then to write a
review about CPU cooling, in this case about the latest
Vapochill unit from asetek, the Vapochill XE. For
the uninitiated, asetek, based out of Denmark, has been
producing the Vapochill line of CPU cooling units since
1997. The technology behind these units is called
Vapor Phase cooling, and although you may not know the
name you should be quite familiar with its use.
That's because pretty much every refrigerator in the past
century or so is based on the same principle. In the
Vapochill, heat from the CPU is transferred via an
evaporator into a refrigerant, causing a phase change from
liquid to vapor. In turn, the now gaseous
refrigerant is sent to the compressor where the pressure
is raised forcing a phase change back to liquid at the
condenser. This is a quick simplification of the
physics involved, but suffice it to say that the process
is efficient, and boy, does it work well. Vapor
Phase cooling has been shown to be 10 times more efficient
than water cooling measures, and up to 50 times more
efficient than air cooling. In a nutshell, it means
running your super-hot Pentium 4 and Athlon XP CPUs at
subzero conditions. It also leads to higher
obtainable overclocking speeds, since heat (the great
enemy of electronics) is no longer a factor.
Dave had a look at their Premium Edition roughly a year
ago, and had some really positive things to say.
This time, we will be looking at the Vapochill XE, short
for Extreme Edition, which comes with an extra 50 Watts of
cooling power over the Standard Edition (30 Watts more
than the PE), bringing the total up to 180 Watts.
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Vapochill XE Specifications |
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Cool on the outside, even cooler on the inside |
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Vapochill XE Chassis;
front, side, and close-up
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Case Design
Mainboard types supported: ATX and extended ATX
Full length graphics adapters supported
Slots for 7 extension cards
3 x 5 1/4' drive bays (external)
1 x 3 1/2' drive bay (external)
5 x 3 1/2' drive bays (internal)
Standard layout I/O shield
Mounting options for fan cooling of HDD, 120 mm
fan
Mounting options for fan cooling of case, 3 x 50
mm fans
Weight & Dimensions
Weight: 18 kg / 40 lbs.
Depth: 56 cm / 22 in.
Height: 56 cm / 22 in.
Width: 40 cm / 15.7 in.
Visuals
Case cover coated with black or white powder paint
(granular surface)
ChillControl LED Readout For Temperatures and
Clock Speed
Lucite Window panel
Standard and Optional Equipment
Designer front bezel
Power and reset switches
Blue LEDs for power and HDD indication
120 mm fan (optional)
Power supply (optional)
Thumb Screws For Case Side Panels
ChillControl Protection Circuit w/ LED Display
ChillControl Software For End User Performance
Setup
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The Main Components of the Cooling Unit:
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CPU Kit
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evaporator is contained within the CPU-Kit, and
comes preassembled in the XE model. It is
responsible for the transference of heat from the
CPU into the refrigerant, where the refrigerant
then undergoes a phase change from liquid into
vapor. This process consumes a lot of
energy, which is extracted from the CPU in the
form of heat. When mounted correctly, the
CPU kit ensures an even and permanent pressure of
the evaporator on the CPU. |
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warmed gaseous refrigerant is sucked from the
evaporator along the hose into the compressor,
where the pressure is raised to the condensation
level of the refrigerant in order for the phase
change to occur. The Vapochill XE model
comes with a Danfoss variable speed BD35
compressor which has a low power consumption and a
higher Coefficient Of Performance compared to
standard cooling solutions. Nothing more
than an ordinary ATX power supply is required to
power the 12 VDC compressor - simply connect it to
the PSU using the supplied power cables. The
compressor also features overload protection and
calibration of the supplied voltage. |
Compressor
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Condenser
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To complete the phase
change back to liquid, the heat gathered from the
evaporator, as well as the heat added during
compression, is expelled through the condensing
unit. A large high quality fan is mounted in
the rear of the case to cool the condenser.
The fan speed is adjustable within the
ChillControl software, thus making noise control
easily accessible. From here, the
refrigerant is sent along a capillary tube back to
the evaporator. The capillary tube (a tube
with a small inner diameter) is used to lower the
pressure or the refrigerant allowing it to
evaporate at low temperatures. This
completes the cycle, as the refrigerant is now
ready to absorb heat again from the CPU. |
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Building a better
system
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