[Solved] Engineering flaw for heatsinks?

Actually this is two questions in one...correct me if i'm wrong but here it goes:

1. How do heatpipes work? I kind of already know: there is a fluid inside with a low boiling point and it evaporates as soon as the CPU heats up right? So then it rises and when it reaches the heat fins at the TOP (we'll get back to this) it cools down and it goes back down again right? and it's this cycle of cooling and heating that makes the heatsink so effective at cooling? (like i said, correct me if im wrong)

2. If the heatpipes DO work the way in question #1, then let me ask: most heatsinks are mounted sideways in mid towers and full towers, that means that take the Typhoon for example, if the cooler is mounted so that the heatpipes go up and down, the fluid in the ones initially going down will stay at the bottom and never reach the CPU and the ones initially going up will stay on the horizontal area near the top. As with most of all the other coolers out there, they are mounted sideways and there is no telling where the fluid flows. Take the Zalman 9700...it's the one i have. The heatpipes cross each other and there isn't much of a chance that once the liquid has evaporated the liquid wont ever reach the cpu again. So therefore the fins aren't at the TOP anymore. is this how it's supposed to be or what?

The liquid is as much a gas, I'm guessing. And it does not so much rely on gravity at all but temperature change/exchange. I read there can be a wick inside the pipe as well. Of some material design.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_pipe
A heat pipe is a heat transfer mechanism that combines the principles of both thermal conductivity and matter phase transition to efficiently manage the transfer of heat between two chemical interfaces.

At the hot interface within a heat pipe, a pressurized fluid in contact with a thermally conductive solid surface turns into a vapor by absorbing the latent heat of that surface, resulting in a phase transition. The vapor naturally flows through the system and condenses back into a liquid at the cold interface, releasing this latent heat. The fluid liquid then returns to the hot interface through either capillary action or gravity action where it evaporates once more and repeats the cycle. In addition, the internal pressure of the heat pipe can be set or adjusted to facilitate the phase change depending on the demands of the working conditions of the thermally managed system.

I think the misunderstanding has to do with incorrect ideas about convection. Most people learn a highly simplified statement about convection - hot air rises. In a forced air system that is not accurate. Forced air systems negate the effect of convection, sometimes on an unusually large scale.

im also talking about GRAVITY. do you really think that condensed liquid will go sideways by itself?

okay, i believe you....but CAN SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN WHY SOME OF THESE COOLERS ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS?

i mean like why are some heatpipe coolers better than others

A basic heatpipe cooler would have a single heatpipe cooler would have a single pipe that touched the cpu and went up into the air.... you can imagine how that wouldnt be very effective.

^exactly.

Add a faster fan and maybe a shroud over it to direct airflow.

jeff77789

AAAARRRRRGGGHHHH! There, I feel better now!

Sometimes I mention that I am growing old disgracefully and forget stuff. This is one of those times. I had the answer in my references.

Overshocked had it right! The reason the horizontal heatpipes in a pc case work exceptionally well is definitely capillary action. The capillary action is much more powerful than gravity, sometimes on a massive scale by a factor in the hundreds. Throw in a forced air system with a wind tunnel effect and you have one heck of a system for moving heat.

EDIT - I'm need to organize my references. Divided them into categories or something. Maybe a web site with a brief synopsis for each item and links to sites with more info.

AFAIK All new heatpipe designs use wicking action.

To the OP, if you haven't gotten the info you're after by now consider water cooling, but there again is a choice either the high flow or low flow systems and another decision to make, you can always go LN2, overshocked is our resident expert in that field IMO.

U designs are better? i agree but is that why the 9700= bad? cuz the heatpipes on the 9700 is curved?

No. They are just old designs. Basically, the 9700 is a larger 9500. And the 9900 is a really large 9500. I suspect that they are still popular because they look really neat. I have a 9500 (bought on eBay for $15) - sitting on my knick-knack shelf. Visitors just can't resist it.

Best answer selected by jeff77789.