Neat design....more airflow, less noise. Looks like it will continue to be an expensive alternative to traditional design. I just can't see these things ever being cheap...we'll see.
FWIW....I'm finishing up a completely new I-Opener setup. Had to change traditional cooling methods, right? This latest setup of mine is the coolest running yet. I guess you could always get a monster, noisy fan...but I couldn't stand that. Here's the setup: A low-profile, solid copper heatsink, exactly the same size as a Lasagna fan/heatsink. The bottom is shaved and polished, as is the top of the K62+450. This heatsink has a small, traditional fan...sticks out only about 1/4" from the back of the case. What makes the setup different is the airflow. The fins on the heatsink radiate out from the center...air out of the heatsink leaves in four directions, so there is airflow directed over q16. To make use of this, I mounted another even smaller fan directly over the ram door...this fan sucks air out. The other fan blows in. So I now have constant airflow in on the cpu heatsink, over the hot q16, over the ram stick, out the ram door (deflected to the sides, rather than straight out). Right now I'm trying different voltages, using an external power supply to drive the fans. I'm also trying different heatsink compound...artic silver is the best so far, but I got some new (secret) copper based compound I'll try next.
Trying to strike a balance between acceptable noise and a cool-running machine....I have done no soldering on the mainboard. At 245mhz this k62+450 runs at 27/28c.....high cpu usage runs it up to 37/38c. The back of the case is completely cool. I expect to finish this up shortly.
