Sapphire brings Vapor-X tech to CPU cooling

November 30, 2012 | 09:23

Tags: #120mm-fan #air-cooling #cpu-cooler #heatpipe #vapor-x

Companies: #sapphire

Sapphire has announced that it is to bring its Vapor-X cooling technology, used on the company's graphics card products, to CPUs with the launch of the imaginatively named Sapphire Vapor-X CPU Cooler.

Shrouded in black plastic and featuring a version of the company's Dual-X dual-fan design in a push-pull configuration, the Vapor-X CPU Cooler can dissipate a claimed 200W of heat - enough for even the meatiest processor, the company claims. A universal mount provides compatibility with all current AMD and Intel sockets.

Sapphire's Vapor Chamber technology is, the company explains, based on technology originally developed for high-end servers and aerospace applications. Similar in principle to heatpipes, the system works by holding a reservoir of liquid coolant inside a metal block. This block is placed in contact with the item to be cooled - previously a GPU, now a CPU - and the heat causes the coolant to vaporise. The vapour then rises, hits the cooler upper surface, and condenses back to a liquid - falling back to the base of the reservoir for the process to begin again.

Measuring 135mm x 110.4mm x 163.5mm, the cooler features a vapor chamber in direct contact with the CPU and four 7mm heatpipes leading to aluminium fins. There's certainly plenty of metal in there, too, with Sapphire's cooler coming in at a hefty 925g in weight. The two 120mm fans provide a claimed 77 cubic feet per minute (CFM) airflow at their maximum 2,200RPM speed, and can drop to 495RPM under pulse-width modulation (PWM) control. At full throttle, the fans hit a claimed noise level of 40dBA. Built-in blue LEDs provide some bling for those with a windowed case.

The heatsink's size means it should fit in most standard ATX cases, while its width has been kept to a minimum in order not to foul RAM sockets on most motherboards - with particular attention to Intel's enthusiast-level LGA 2011 socket, which has RAM slots on either side.

'Sapphire is extending its portfolio into areas aligned to its core business of PC graphics,' claimed Adrian Thompson, vice president of marketing at Sapphire, of the launch. 'We are harnessing our expertise in advanced technologies to deliver better performing products for the enthusiast which will then push down into an expanding product line for the mainstream.'

The Sapphire Vapor-X CPU Cooler is available now, priced at around £60.
Discuss this in the forums
YouTube logo
MSI MPG Velox 100R Chassis Review

October 14 2021 | 15:04

TOP STORIES

SUGGESTED FOR YOU