PhilM

Anyone else run it??? I've just setup my Vapochill PE, its awesome, really nice case, quiet as (noisiest thing is my old 40gb HDD ).

For those who don't know, its a method of CPU cooling, rather than air cooled with a heatsink and fan, or watercooled with a waterblock and rad....it uses the vapour cycle cooling principal, just like your freezer/air-con in the car

Mine sits the CPU at -20degC pretty stable, a big improvement on the 45degC I had with my old heatsink and fan! and its nearly silent (If anything it sounds a bit fridge-like but its very quiet).


The case with sides/top off, you can see the Compressor at the top, with the condensor infront of it.


A picture of the evaporator (stripped of its socket kit), it's a big copper block, and when exposed to air, you get frost (was about -11 here).


Big case....


Chilly....


The Vapochill Control software, showing the evaporator temps, you can adjust fan speeds, compressor rpm, heater load (there are heater elements you fit the to the mainboard underneath, to prevent condensation).

Tis good stuff....don't need it at all, but its cool (literally ).....just another toy and an excuse for a new case I guess....

BM08

Good work chap

I take it your a gamer then?

whats the spec of the whole pc?

Dan B

How much was the whole VapoChill setup, then, minus any non-related parts?

May be interested in something like this for my next gaming-rig...

CosRush

Whats it cost out of interest???

PhilM

I'm not a gamer no, don't really need it at all, just fancied it

I use the PC mainly for a bit of web development work, and notepad isn't exactly cpu intensive!

It's currently just a baby spec;

Athlon XP2500 (overclocked to the XP3200, ie, just turn the FSB to 200mhz)
AOpen crappy motherboard
512mb PC3200 ram
200gb IDE disk
Lightscribe DVDRW

Nothing special at all, will probably upgrade to a Pentium D 805 (dual core 2.66ghz - as again, just turning the FSB up will give you 4ghz on both cores!) sometime in the near future, wanted to get the cooling/rest of it sorted beforehand though.

The Vapochill case was around Ł500 new, I picked mine up on eBay for Ł130

Only other thing I needed was a new power supply as the compressor is 12v. The decieving thing is, most of the 500-600W PSUs are no good for the job, as they have dual 12v rails, only able to supply ~15A on each.

Got an XPro 460W power supply, as although the overall wattage seems low, it's only got one 12v rail, supplying a massive 30A!!!

So apart from the new PSU, it didn't need anything else

Turbocabbie

I used to run a modified vapochill a few years back before I went to watercooling and a pelt setup.. Ive had a few extreme cooling based systems but Ive sold most now and am more into the SFF and Linux boxes these days.
If you get any issues with it or want to modify it I know theres a few guys who run them over at the forums im a moderator off that could help you

www.ocforums.com

AndyRST

I was once told that running a cpu out of its temperature performance range actually slows it down. Something about the silicon in the chip stops moving and causes the chip to slow down.

Bit like running a car engine too hot or too cold

Turbocabbie

Technically its correct however its also a bit of an old wives tales based around older and more fragile technology, silicon processes have improved greatly through the years so they do not suffer from this to any extent these , likewise its supposed to reduce processor life but to be honest ive never had a processor die on me without over volting or modifying the way in which it runs by clipping pins.