A heatsink with a temperature controlled fan – Joe
SUMMARY: A good implementation for a temperature controlled fan.
The kind folks at CoolerMaster were nice enough to send a sample of their latest temperature controlled heatsink, the CoolerMaster HSC-V62. This is an all copper skived heatsink.
In response to what I think is a growing consumer backlash against intolerable fan noise, manufacturers are adopting thermally controlled fans using a number of techniques.
CoolerMaster adopted the easiest to implement, a thermistor located in the fan hub:
According to CoolerMaster:
“The thermal sensor actually protrudes from below the fan motor so it is in the region which isn’t directly cooled by the intake air; this way, the thermal sensor can detect the temperature of the top of the heat sink precisely. Our R & D team has worked out the temperature difference between CPU’s core and the heat sink’s top from idle state to full load state in order to construct a special curve line on Speed vs. Temp. graph.”
This allows the fan to vary from 16 cfm @ 3000 rpm at about 40 C to 36 cfm @ 6800 rpm, 47 C. What I noted is the relatively narrow range of the thermistor: 7 C. On others I have seen, the narrowest range was 30 C, far too wide to make much of a difference. How effectively this translates into cooling performance and noise will be seen shortly.
Related posts:
- CoolerMaster Aero4
- CoolerMaster Hyper N520 Heatsink
- CoolerMaster Jet 7 CPU Cooler
- CoolerMaster CB5-6G52-01
- CoolerMaster Musketeer
Tags: Cooling
