Heat dissipation

[Magura]

Originally posted by Nelson Pass
The SOZ was specifically designed to appeal to guys who
aren't afraid of big hardware but are a little shy about
circuit complexity. Interestingly this appears to comprise
a large segment of the DIY community.

.

Sure we love the Zen thing, but i guess mostly for a different reason.
A complex circuit just takes a little more time, but most of us would be able to make such.

I chose the SOZ because it stands out of the ordinary in any way possible :


It sounds great, once youve heard one of the Zen amps...youre impressed.

Its quite a challenge to make something like that, and make it look good.

They look impressive.

And last but not least, DIY people likes to be different, and they sure achieve that by having a SOZ in the living room.

Magura

[moe29]

I use these heatsinks in both my computers... I got tired of all the
freakin' fan noise about a year a go.

An arrangement of these would make a pretty cool looking amp,
and you can spin the fans at a very low RMP at which they are
very quiet. It sure would let you build the amp a lot smaller! Just
dedicate 1 FET for each heatsink. They would easily dissipate
25 to 35 watts i'm sure. I suppose the only trick would be to set
up an independent power supply just for the fans.

[moe29]

this is probably the heatsink Mr. Pass was referring to.

[Nelson Pass]

I have used this, and there is another, slightly more expensive
one, which is all copper, with no aluminum.

My figures indicate that you can run a Mosfet at 50 watts even
at minimal fan speed, and they are very quiet.

A little pricey, though.

[Mach_Y]

doing some research, CPU cooling solutions for computers can be much cheaper than those mushroom versions. Thermaltake for example makes a few models that can be had for about 20 bucks that can dissipate 50 watts or more with a 25 degree increase temperature. Could be a viable option depending on your needs. Certainly would be an interesting looking project

[AudioFreak]

The difference with the Zalman heatsinks is that they have either no fan or the fan runs at low rpm. Most other computer heatsinks rely on fans running at high rpm (noisy!) to achieve similar specs.

[Mach_Y]

thermaltake makes a few models with a temperature probe that attaches to the chip, and depending on the temperature changes the fan speed to keep it cool. They also show the noise of the fans on their website, with many at only 24db.

[Tensop]

It's best to be careful with thermaltake products. A few of them have gone up in smoke, due to the method they use to control the fans rotational speed. On user selectable models they simply use a 3 pole switch with 3 .5w resistors in parallel(and the fans draw well over this rating).

Has anyone considered the HSF units that Intel supply with their Pentium 4's?


These can be picked up for around $15 AUD($8-10US) and all the plastic junk from them can be removed leaving just the fan.. or if you're daring you can use it in the mounting system

[Nelson Pass]

That's a pretty noisy unit. Fan noise becomes everything
in an amplifier.

[Tensop]

Why not consider watercooling the amplifier, using a pump, radiator, drilled out copper and a fan?
It would be quite a viable option if you are able to supress the electrical noise generated by the fan and pump