This seems like a great idea, but wouldn't you need a constant stream of water? Otherwise wouldn't the water heat up as well?

Why don't we try this:

http://inventgeek.com/Projects/IonCooler/Overview.aspx

Wow, i wish my computer was a fraction of that. great price too.

REZBIT -=> Presumably the water is pushed out of the chip, and then circulated outside of the CPU in some sort of radiator (not unlike a car's) or cooling device, and then re-circulated through the chip.

Bill-=> Cool link.

Oh, yeah. That makes a lot of since, I was wandering how they kept the water cold, that picture doesn't really do much for that.

@Rezbit - I would guess so, that was what I was thinking...What I think they should probably do, is perhaps have it so there is a place outside of the chip, where the water will all eventually go, which of course, would be a lot cooler than inside the chip itself. To increase the effectiveness, have that area water cooled (since it'd be thin, traditional water cooling would be effective there)....

And yeah, Ion coolers sound good, but I'm not sure how effective they will be when it comes to the multi level CPU architecture. That is internal, not ambient, heat....

Hmm, how bout a nice slow drip drip of liquid hydrogen?

I just found the solution to all of our cooling needs!!!!!

http://img.hexus.net/v2/internationalevents/computex_taiwan_2005/zalmancooler/zalman_big_cooler.jpg

Draws 1400Watts of power!!!

Whoa. I was like "meh" until I noticed the cigarettes.

Wow. That's insane.

I can't image many people would actually buy it, but that's pretty cool.

That cooler is epic. lol. You do realize it probably crushes any CPU you apply it onto?

They don't actually use water in water cooling systems, despite the name. They use coolants which are efficiently engineered to conduct more heat, evaporate at higher temperatures, etc. Water is also ionized which causes it to conduct electricity, something you don't want around electronics (though there is deionized water); whereas the coolants used aren't ionized so if there are any leaks your system won't get fried and just needs to be dried. That's why I call them liquid cooling systems.

Some coolants are even safe enough for you to submerge your system though without a current the heat won't be transfered away that well and I'm sure you don't submerge any drives since they have moving parts.

Typically though, your bare minimum liquid cooling system consists of a radiator or thermoelectric cooler to remove the heat from the coolant stream, a pump, tubing, coolant, a water block (liquid block) on the CPU, and thermal paste between the block and the component to better facilitate the transfer of heat to the block. Further setups can incorporate reservoirs for additional coolant so you don't have to replenish it as often, as well as water blocks for the GPUs, bridges and even RAM.

The only new thing here is having the coolant run through the chip rather than through a block to the side of the component. I wonder if you'll still need some type of block or if the chip actually has it's own connections for tubing.

@ tallteen86:

I think ion coolers would be just as effective as fans since they both move air. The only difference is that ion coolers don't have moving parts and I'm pretty sure they don't use as much energy. As for internal/external heat, since they move air outside the components they're not as effective as internal cooling as discussed in this article.

@ Bill Gates03:

WOAH HAHAHA! FREAKING HUGE FAN AND HEATSINK FTW!! It looks like it could lift off with something XD. Maybe the 360 won't overheat with one of those?

Liquid hydrogen's for industrial applications. The closest you'll get to that by yourself is liquid nitrogen but even that is only for insane, momentary overclocking. I don't know the price of liquid nitrogen though and you'd need a special container. I don't even know how exactly you'd apply liquid nitrogen if you had any.

Wow dude, thanks for the info, that make a lot more sense. But it would suck to have to replace the coolant all the time.

@ Bill Gates03. That is to cooles fan i have ever seen

HAHA, yeah, its a pretty sick looking cooler.

I wonder if you can get your CPU to run at lower than ambient temps on air with that?

XD

Thanks for your verbose elucidation, -x-acious.

more technology = happier humanity