Comments on: Sparkle moves beyond heat-pipes, introduces Diamond-Like Carbon

By: theovalich

theovalich — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:09:11 +0000

Well, we’ll see where the limits are. For now – I want to see the performance on the same product, with aluminum cooler and with this DLC-enhanced one.

By: George

George — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:03:20 +0000

Agree! There is work being done on aluminum-graphite/carbon alloys that have potential to increase the aluminum’s thermal conductivity 2X but there are reliability concerns with the current materials.

By: George

George — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:45:22 +0000

It does look as an interesting innovation, though as the omonymous George stated, physically speaking applying even a very thin (microns) coating of any given material to any other given material, will affect it’s thermal conductivity performance pointing more to the worst side of the scale.

If the DLC, on the other side, is used in “mixture”, as alloy of the alluminum or copper of the heatsink, there could be an improvement in thermal conductivity, provided that the alloy is properly manufactured. I could see it fit on Aluminum plates of the heatsinks rather than as coating for the copper fins. IMHO.

By: theovalich

theovalich — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:09:40 +0000

They have their claims… I know what is the current use of various DLC materials, especially in fiber-optics. They made a bold claim, it is up to us, journalists to prove them right or wrong

As soon as I get the card(s), I should be able to find out myself.

By: George

George — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:48:23 +0000

hmmm, look at the physics… how can a surface coating possibly improve the performance by 5 degrees? Thermally even a heavy coating of 1 to 2 microns would make an immeasurable difference in the perforamnce of the heat sink.

I must say, from a marketing perspective it sounds really neat!