Heatpipe Question

[Judaeus Apella]

On any type of hardware for a computer, I've always wondered why the end of a heatpipe is shut. Heat travels up, so wouldn't heat escape a heatpipe faster, if the end is cut off and that same end is up higher than where it touches the hot chip it's drawing heat away from? Just curious. :)

[W0nderb0y]

the liquid would evaporate.

[Judaeus Apella]

Liquid?

What kind of liquid?

What's it for?

[Disposibleteen]

there is liquid inside of heatpipes i imagine it is something water based and it is used to pipe the heat (they made a creative name for them didnt they) from one spot to another.

[Judaeus Apella]

If someone did cut off the end of a heatpipe, could the liquid be kept from evaporating by cutting off the tip of the heatpipe so it's even, then screwing in a really tight screw? :D

[Ugly n Grey]

why would you do this? and to answer your question, anything is possible, but you notice most of these are soldered closed for a reason.

[Judaeus Apella]

Um... hehe. *scratches head* I um... kinda... cut down the size of my XP-120, cause it was hitting my vcard... I was told it would definitely fit, by someone who has the same board and an XP-120. *cusses* I had already worked really hard on modifying it by lapping off the nickel to get to the copper, and buffing it smooth. Then I realized the graphics card wouldn't fit, and I can't turn it around, because then it doesn't cover the entire processor chip. I had already modified it, so returning it was out of the question, and I had no idea there was liquid in the damn thing, so I started experimenting, and tried to grind down the heat pipe a little bit. It worked, and it wasn't hollow all the way flush with the thin strips of metal that are lined up along it in rows. I thought, "Great!" and got out my Dremel and cut off the one next to it at the same length. This time it was hollow though! I posted on the forum, wondering why they were sealed shut in the first place, not knowing heat pipes had liquid. Well.. I figured if worse comes to worse I could always go through my VAST collection of thousands of screws and find one that fit really tight.

Well, at this point I figured there’s no turning back now and went for two out of three, and cut off another heat pipe. This one WASN'T hollow. I tried the last two, and both of them were hollow. :(

A tight fitting screw can stop the liquid from evaporating right?

[Ugly n Grey]

OK that's a great story :) Thank you for sharing it.

A heatpipe works by having a liquid at low pressure boil into vapour, the vapour rises up the pipe and the heat is taken away from the CPU faster than a regular cooler.

The problem you now have is that the liquid is sealed into the heatpipe under a vacuum so that it boils easily (at a low temp) when in contact with the heated area (CPU region). I am not an expert, but I'm pretty darn sure that's not water in there if it's boiling at such low temps even in a partial vacuum.

Therefore, resealing your heatpipe with anything will not fix the fact that the pressure is now wrong inside the heatpipe. Basically, I'm saying it's toast. And I'm really sorry to say that. That's an annoying thing to have happen to you.

[Judaeus Apella]

You know... I don't think theres any liquid in it. Nothing comes out, no matter how long its on its side. Also, the last ones I cut I did with a file and I never heard any sounds like what you would hear when breaking open a vacuum seal. Are you 100% sure about this?

I just put it near a lamp so it would get a little warm, and still nothing comes out, I dont smell or see any vapor... Im going to go to the Thermalright sight and look around.

[Judaeus Apella]

If I had spend more than $50 and didn't have a back up this I'd be in tears right now... but fortunately I was smart and got an AMD +4000 retail, so I have a back up heatsink I can use until I can find something else.

Man this really sucks... I feel like beating the tar of the person who told me it would fit...

:cussing: :cussing: :cussing: :cussing: :cussing: :cussing:

And what did we learn from this! :D

BUILD YOUR SYSTEM AND MAKE SURE ALL THE PEICES FIT BEFORE YOU MOD ANYTHING!!!! ...NO MATTER WHAT MR. KNOW IT ALL TELLS YOU. :fact:

I think this rule should be posted for modding newbs or something. I'm not a newbie... but that was a newbie mistake if I ever saw one, and a result of lack of sleep... and the desperation of finally having my own computer again. Live and learn I guess...

[Ugly n Grey]

Yeah I'm 100 percent sure about the partial vacuum, as far as not hearing it, recall the tube is pretty small, even at complete vac you wouldn't hear much. At partial with the dremel, your cat farting would more likely get your attention. And yeah, you're dead on about the making sure about stuff part. I tend to just ask on the boards, see what peeps have to say in order to help. I notice most places have a no return policy on heat sinks, so when I buy something that ends up being crap I just pass it on to the next person via ebay :) .

As an aside, heat tubes working or not, that should still be a decent heat sink in places where it might fit.

[IYP]

the xp-90c and a good fan cools better infact (pretty sure thats right) just get a seperate fan for your ram and hook it on to the locking mechinisms with a few rubberbands. should work better then a XP-120