Quote Originally Posted by highoctane View Post
I think its the same principle as a heat pipe, moisture/liquid in a vacuum boils/turns to water vapor at a low temperature which then condenses on the cooler surface thereby transferring heat to a larger area faster than conduction. The only difference I see with what is being termed vapor chamber is rather than reduce cooling fin area and impeding airflow with heat pipes they've created a base chamber which allows for better airflow and more cooling fin surface area.
Yes and no.

The main benefit of a vapor chamber is surface area. With a typical heatpipe setup, the pipes themselves only make minimal contact with the cooling fins. Thus, the effective transfer of heat from pipe to fin can become a bottleneck in the cooling process.

With a vapor chamber ALL of the cooling fins make equal contact with the top surface of the condensation chamber. This means even distribution of heat over a larger area which in turn leads to higher cooling efficiency. Think of the chamber as a giant, flattened heatpipe.