Stop your computer from overheating by stacking copper coins

[chazus]

Try it out yourself, get a paperclip and bend it outwards leaving part of it on a table and the other part hanging off then put a copper coin or some other piece of copper on it. Hold a lighter to the paperclip and see if the copper gets hot.

I know this works.. But this is applying a completely different situation. You're applying a heat source directly to it, effectively.

Stacking coins on the outer top casing of a laptop is.. no. I mean, if you used thermal conductive glue and attached them to the BOTTOM near the CPU.. that might be marginally better.. But just stacking them on top does nothing.

Several people have reported success with this.

Who?

[Lathais]

Think of it like this, why use heatpipe technology instead of a solid copper pipe?

Because copper is denser and more expensive than aluminum. Due to being denser, the same amount would weigh a lot more and weight is a large concern on heatsinks. I can only imagine if my NH-D14 was made entirely of copper how much stress it would be placing on the motherboard. The heatsink would likely also cost 3 times as much at that point, which would defeat the purpose as at that point it would be cheaper to just go water cooling.

Another example, cause this just happened to me, if a water cooling systems pump fails, won't the fan on the radiator be enough to keep the system from overheating? Water does conduct heat.

Yes, water conducts heat, but it does not spread heat throughout itself as fast as other materials, hence the pumps designed to keep the hot water moving away from the CPU with the cooler water replacing it. Water absorbs heat well, it just does not spread it very quickly, like say aluminum or copper or even mineral oil, which spreads the heat it absorbs across it's entire area much faster. Ever swim in the ocean and notice that cold spot you walk in to? Ever heat a piece of aluminum and feel how quickly the entire piece gets to the same temperature almost instantly?

I know this works.. But this is applying a completely different situation. You're applying a heat source directly to it, effectively.

Stacking coins on the outer top casing of a laptop is.. no. I mean, if you used thermal conductive glue and attached them to the BOTTOM near the CPU.. that might be marginally better.. But just stacking them on top does nothing.

But it proves that the heat will transfer to the copper coin. You know that the case of a laptop gets hot, you can place your hand on it. So removing that heat and taking it out of the case means it is radiating less heat back in to the laptop, therefore making the airflow to the CPU cooler allowing it to cool the CPU better.


Once again, I am not saying this is going to make huge difference, or even be practical. But it will make a measurable difference, which some people seem to not believe.

Who?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...nted-heat.html

Several other japanese twitter users after seeing the initial twitter post.

Again, it's not highly effective, but effective to a certain degree. Yeah, it's not directly cooling the CPU, ut the aluminum case is absorbing some heat from inside the case, and the coins absorb some from the aluminum allowing it to absorb more from the case. This makes the airflow inside the case a little cooler, allowing the CPU cooler to release more heat into the air inside the case. Basically all it is doing is making the inside of the case a little cooler for a little longer. It's not much, but apparently enough to prevent the MacBook from throttling as quickly.

[slayerbuffy]

While that's true, they might find a way to make it work in some other form.

Ya, it's called thermal paste, a heatsink and some fans.

If anything, they would wind up with a homemade version of such things. Why would that be of any interest? lol

[Vash The Stampede]

Because copper is denser and more expensive than aluminum. Due to being denser, the same amount would weigh a lot more and weight is a large concern on heatsinks. I can only imagine if my NH-D14 was made entirely of copper how much stress it would be placing on the motherboard. The heatsink would likely also cost 3 times as much at that point, which would defeat the purpose as at that point it would be cheaper to just go water cooling.

That's not how a heatpipe works. There is circulation that helps transfer that heat faster.

Yes, water conducts heat, but it does not spread heat throughout itself as fast as other materials, hence the pumps designed to keep the hot water moving away from the CPU with the cooler water replacing it. Water absorbs heat well, it just does not spread it very quickly, like say aluminum or copper or even mineral oil, which spreads the heat it absorbs across it's entire area much faster. Ever swim in the ocean and notice that cold spot you walk in to? Ever heat a piece of aluminum and feel how quickly the entire piece gets to the same temperature almost instantly?

The MacBook Pro is made of aluminium and the heat produced isn't evenly distributed either. The link shows the MacBook with a thermal image. Most of the heat is near the LCD end towards the middle.

[chazus]

Most of the heat is near the LCD end towards the middle.

And, you know, INSIDE the computer. Not at the surface, on the chassis.

- - - Updated - - -

Several other japanese twitter users after seeing the initial twitter post.

Eh. ONE person said 'it did' and that was literally it. No evidence, no information. Nothing. Someone else said "I'll try it". And someone said "It helped our server" with a picture of test bench on a low power GPU that looks like its for fun.

[Ennvina]

Frankly, unless people think there is a conspiracy from the computer lobby, there’s no reason to give credit to this miraculous trick.

Maybe you will have a positive effect under certain circumstances. Or maybe you will chain coins on your motherboard and short-circuit it. Either way, you will have a wobbly and ugly setup that has very little utility. If your setup is well crafted, you don’t need to lower the temperature by a few degrees (granted it provides that). If your setup already overheats, then you have a big problem and —if I were you— I wouldn’t rely on pseudo-solutions such as copper stacks to fix the issue.

As for the aluminum housing, as a matter of fact it is a heat sink for the CPU. Well, it’s not a direct heat sink, but housings are often designed with that in mind, especially for laptops. Manufacturers are very well aware that heat transfer is going to happen through this medium.

[Ealyssa]

This reminds me of people saying if your room gets too hot, switch to water cooling.

Silly ideas from people who don't know better.

They probably mean "watercool your room"

jk

[Vash The Stampede]

As for the aluminum housing, as a matter of fact it is a heat sink for the CPU. Well, it’s not a direct heat sink, but housings are often designed with that in mind, especially for laptops. Manufacturers are very well aware that heat transfer is going to happen through this medium.

Some laptops do this, but not that particular MackBook Pro. Regular Macbooks would use the housing as a heatsink. Samsung phones also do this as well. More importantly is that laptops are starting to see their thermal limits. Which means that faster laptops will require new cooling technology. Cause thermal throttling is not a honest solution. The speed of the CPU is going to enter the same situation as cars with MPG. Does the car get 35 or 40 MPG? Does the CPU run at 1.6Ghz or 2Ghz?

[DeltrusDisc]

Or... here's a crazy idea that won't cost you many pennies but arguably should perform better, as it actually MOVES AIR...

Get a cooling pad with fans in it.

Wow.