The Airtop Is One Of The Coolest Linux-Friendly PCs Ever For Enthusiasts

[justmy2cents]

i wonder about the price...

[patrakov]

Well, they do have competitors. Albeit less powerful. http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=94 , for £1237.20 inc. VAT

[ruthan]

I wan to believe!

This is my dream, but there is HDPLEX similar product - you could order only case or whole computer - but i think that max for GPU is 60W.

If this would really working, i would be even better - i only wonder if it is max 100W cpu and gpu, or fox example 65W cpu and 135 W gpu are possible?

Theoretically i would be able to cool - Geforce 960 - 120W, Geforce 950 is slow, even better would be support MXM mobile GPU, these have probably even better per watt performac
-. im a bit dissapointed that on whole internet i cant find tests of mobile GPU in standard CPU with MXM adapter.. its same as mobile CPU - OEM only - i hate it.

[pal666]

They are bolting the CPU and GPUs directly to the heat spreaders on the outside sides of the case. They really do mean 0 fans, not a normal GPU bolted inside a sealed case.

it will overheat and throttle since it has less surface than serious active cpu coolers

[Doodzor]

it will overheat and throttle since it has less surface than serious active cpu coolers

They have heat pipes embedded in the side panels to channel the heat from the CPU and the GPU to the full extend of the dissipating panel which has fins and convection airflow channels. They claim 100W of heat dissipation per side (100 for CPU and 100 for GPU) and nothing about their design suggests they are making that up. It probably works just fine.

[Luke]

One problem here is that they are attempting to patent both their "virtual vapor chamber" network of heatpipes and the chimnied cooler plate sides themselves (patent pending). Lots of "prior art" in these patents, rather like when bicycle part maker Campagnolo sought a patent (think they had one for a while) on triplet-spoked bike rear wheels based on a design almost identical to the spoking pattern used on the wheels of a Model A Ford. In both Campagnolo 10 speed bike wheels and the Model A Ford the wheels used two spokes on the flat driven side for each spoke on the dished opposite side due to the wheels being highly dished (asymmetrical).

Campagnolo got that patent but I see triplet spoked wheels by other makers all the time. I think campy understands any attempt to enforce that patent would risk its invalidation, which could cause their archrival Shimano to use this system. If Airtop gets their patents they'd better hope somebody like Apple doesn't decide to copy their design and if sued go after the patents in court. Apple would probably win that case based on prior art.

Anybody lapping the ends of the fins of a conventional fanless system flat, then bolting aluminum plates over the fins with a bit of TIM will have nearly the same thing assuming good CPU and GPU coupling to the case. At least someone doing this for their own use need not worry about patent lawsuits as detection is effectively impossible.

[pqwoerituytrueiwoq]

They seemed fairly rigidly mounted. SSDs of course would be better, but you won't get 10TB of storage space then.

actually you could in raid 0, but you could just put a NAS in the other room

i guess the psu is in the top

i really think anything should have a fan, set to only turn on if temps are nearing the kill power safety level

[Compulab]

Hi all,

I'm Irad from Compulab. Michael asked if I can join the discussion.
Some points:

Patents: it has two goals: 1) making the life of competitors copying the technology we researched and developed a little harder. 2) Exclaim there is something unique. Patent lawsuits do not apply to DIYs.

GPU: It is difficult to replace by the user, but possible in some cases. Reasons:
1) Airtop is single slot. Most new GPUs are dual slot (at the connector level, not just the heatsink).
2) NVIDIA and AMD boards are not mechanically compatible. We have not made a heat-plate for AMD yet. Interestingly enough, Quadro and GeForce are mechanically compatible - we use the same heatsink for Quadro M4000 and GTX950.
3) We pre-install the best ones that fit mechanically, electrically and thermally. In most cases you will not improve anything by changing.

Best regards,
Irad Stavi
Chief Product Officer (proud father of Airtop)
Compulab

[Shimon]

ARM version should be easier to cool - I recommend Cortex-A5

[jarfil]

chimnied cooler plate sides themselves (patent pending). Lots of "prior art" in these patents

Where have I seen chimnied radiators before? Oh right, on my walls!