Originally Posted by 8-Ball

Ok, so I haven't been around fo a long time, but I did do some calculations on heat pipes a while back.

Anyway, if you break a heat pipe up into a series of thermal restrictions, you get the following

1. Conduction from outside of heat pipe across copper wall
2. Vaporisation of heat transfer media
3. Transport of vapour throughout heat pipe
4. Condensation of heat transfer media
5. Conduction from inside heat pipe across copper wall.
...
The problem is the 2nd stage. While doing calculations on a waterblock incorporating a thermabase, I discovered that this step was limiting and for most processors, was already MORE of a restriction than some high performance waterblocks.

In other words, heat pipes will not rival watercooling for performance applications, but may offer some benefits for silent applications as with zalman.

The value of watercooling a heatpipe is negligable.

I hope this makes sense.

8-ball