OCZ Phase Change Unit - $299?

E

el rolio

2[H]4U
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Jul 8, 2004
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guys. im losing my mind here. i looked for other threads by the way, but anyways, AT has dropped the info on the MSRP for the ocz phase change unit. i dont care if its "old" news, its NEWS to me right now! and its a whole lot less than i thought it was gonna be! $300 for sub ambient cooling!?!?!?

http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/showdoc.aspx?i=2669&p=2

like omgwtfbbq!

so uh, i love my storm block and all...... but yea wow. im excited. what say you [H]ardforum goers?
 
are these units really loud? Like the compressor etc? Thanks in advance
 
well thats something i would LOVE to know myself. i mean half the reason i went WATER was for the quiet. i spend half my time quieting down my system!

waitin on reviews or info from OCZ insiders
 
Perhaps its not guided to being quiet as it may be marketed for Extreme Cooling... Just a thought, but I would still love to know!
 
THATS THE NEXT COOLING IM GETTING! OMGWTFBBQ!? Jesus, Im getting this and never turning back! :eek:
 
I want to see a review. If it turns out to be an awesome product......I guess I will be out $300!
 
I want one!

I always shyed away from water, it just didnt provide enough of an advantage over high end air. But this, oh boy, i want it
 
Warmonkey said:
I want to see a review. If it turns out to be an awesome product......I guess I will be out $300!
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FX57 at 3.2 running 3d05 loops at -25c

Id say its looking good :cool:
 
Was thinking about phase change, and looking at vapochill, but the OCZ unit is much better priced, and knowing OCZ, it should be a great, well backed product. I will probably get it.
 
Will be good for the market for Asetek to have some competition again in this field :)
 
$299 MSRP? Holy crap, I was going to spend probably $350 on a water setup...guess not. I'll gladly wait a bit.
 
yea definitly looks like a killer deal.

(1) will it handel the heat from duel core chipz since thats becomming the norm.

(2) hurry up so i can buy one.

(3) make it in black so it matches my case.
 
This just made getting a prescott core cpu make sense again :D , all the oc'age......O.O
 
Snap. Phase change cooling that isn't $500+

Definetely a good buy, and i'm willing to bet you can perform some tweaks on it that will yield you a better overclock and better temperatures.
 
Actually the OCZ guys at xtremesystems.org are saying it will be 349.00, or close to it. From what I have read it will consume much less power (meaning cheaper to run 24/7) and should be pretty quite.

I will be all over one or two of these...
 
It is a very nice unit indeed, great for overclocking, but for 24/7 usage...I shudder at the thought of the power bill. Watercooling still rules in terms of silence and everyday usage.
 
Erasmus354 said:
It is a very nice unit indeed, great for overclocking, but for 24/7 usage...I shudder at the thought of the power bill. Watercooling still rules in terms of silence and everyday usage.
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Should only cost 20 or so per month to run 24/7. That is nothing considering my electricity bill is already 200 plus per month.

Don't know if you noticed but this is an attempt to make phase just like watercooling in regards to cost. Most spend more than 349.00 to watercool and can't achieve nearly the OC potential.
 
^^^ Which is exactly what makes this so attractive. OCZ is trying to make it so that more of the general crowd can share in massive clocks and not have to spare an arm and a leg for it. An intresting idea would be to couple this with an anti-freeze watercooling loop, insulate it, and be able to cool more parts at once. Ive only seen direct-die systems, and a setup like that would be more realistically applicable. Even though cooling of the GPU and such can be taken care of with a good aftermarket cooler and some silent fans, its the only way I see as being able to make it multi-purpose.
 
are we gonna have to do crazy thing to the mobo for protection as well as put silicone everywhere and big black insulation?
 
Damn, will I be less 1337 with all you noobs running around? :eek:

jk... looks good. I'm sure they will have a decent moutning kit. I have to use "black gunk" with my prometia, and it's not even that big of a deal. Mine gives me ~350MHz.... these things are the shiz for the addicted.
 
el rolio said:
are we gonna have to do crazy thing to the mobo for protection as well as put silicone everywhere and big black insulation?
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Um well, if you dont want to fry your system then yes.
 
Heh, never thought I would start lurking these Extreme Cooling boards...But this thread really caught my attention.

A few questions:

How do these phase change units affect system lifetime? Would the extremely low temps actually cause a significant decrease because of the enormous temperature changes?

If I were to go in on one of these, I would be looking to run it in a system 24/7 for at least 2 years.

And is there any way to use these phase change coolers to cool the GPU/Northbridge/etc as well?

Noise? As someone already asked, are phase change coolers noisy? I would imagine the compressor has to make a bit of noise...

Efficiency? Since phase change coolers are essentially heat pumps, it's probably not going to be even close to the efficiency of watercooling.

Failures? A watercooling system can leak, what's the worst that can happen with phase changing? Shorts from condensation? Anything else?
 
How do these phase change units affect system lifetime? Would the extremely low temps actually cause a significant decrease because of the enormous temperature changes?
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No. Heat actually is more detremental.

And is there any way to use these phase change coolers to cool the GPU/Northbridge/etc as well?
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Not without modding your unit with maybe a more powerful gas and you'll also need more than one evap head.

Noise? As someone already asked, are phase change coolers noisy? I would imagine the compressor has to make a bit of noise...
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That's really subjective. It depends mainly on the type and make of the compressor used. Even not silent it's totally acceptable for me.

Efficiency? Since phase change coolers are essentially heat pumps, it's probably not going to be even close to the efficiency of watercooling.
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Going to cost more on your electricity bill...that's for sure.

Failures? A watercooling system can leak, what's the worst that can happen with phase changing? Shorts from condensation? Anything else?
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Short of condensation? Like watercooling, if the pump dies you're in trouble. In phase change, if the compressor dies you're in trouble too.
 
CoW]8(0) said:
How do these phase change units affect system lifetime? Would the extremely low temps actually cause a significant decrease because of the enormous temperature changes?
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Electronics generally run more efficient at lower temperatures actually. Hence why they would OC better...
 
Compressor used is slightly smaller HP. They planned this from start to mass production unit which can drive down the cost A LOT. (about half of what it cost me even using same components)
I've had chance to look at alpha prototype in action in CES and had mixed feelings.
Pros:

1) Pricing (which is to be from $300-400 aiming... no gurantee it will be $300... in fact, I think you guys are being too hopeful) even at $400-500 is very attractive.
2) Ready availability (kind of :p, I've seen some OCZ stuff running dry quite often :p)
3) It will be much better than peltier or watercooling system setup for similar amount of money.

Cons:
1) I personally think mounting can use better mechanism. It is using Chilly1's design which works fine once you know how. I expect them to have very well documented installation method handed out to user so new people won't burn things out. (which I am in process of making for my unit as well :p)
2) I can't say it really is con.... but what I've seen is unit I would call failure if I build such one. Limitation of compressor size unfortunately doesn't give as much capacity (or temperature). Still, regardless, it is excellent idea :) I can't disclose the temperature I've seen on CES at OCZ private party until I get a go from OCZ. In fact, it will be foolish to post up something about alpha unit.

Overall, I like them taking into more general market. It should help people to be more aware so for those who aren't happy with OCZ unit need better (like storm G4 block :p) units can find me :)
 
xenon expert said:
Short of condensation? Like watercooling, if the pump dies you're in trouble. In phase change, if the compressor dies you're in trouble too.
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You know, like the shorts you wear during the summer instead of pants? :D

j/k

Shorts from condensation meaning a short circuit caused by water condensing on the MB...Does the board need to be insulated a great deal?
 
im loving the questions and where the thread is going. these are the things that concern me tho it would only be a matter of time... its a good discussion now!
 
CoW]8(0) said:
You know, like the shorts you wear during the summer instead of pants? :D

j/k

Shorts from condensation meaning a short circuit caused by water condensing on the MB...Does the board need to be insulated a great deal?
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Let me go into depth about what has to be sealed.

1. The pin socket itself has to be grease sealed, grease needs to be applied on the socket speread through the pins and any other possible gaps under the CPU.

2. The outside of the CPU has to be sealed. This is in 2 ways. It has to be sealed on top where the evaporator head is applied, and it has to be sealed on the other side of the mobo, under the cpu, and possibly add a heater there to prevent condensation.

Those are basically the applied ways Phase-Makers seal their setups, so that would be how this one would be sealed. The pipe with the gas inside it running to the evaporator head is also sealed by a heavy insulator as you might be able to see in the pictures in the review.
 
Only thing I don't like so far is that I wouldn't be able to cool my video card and northbridge...

Do you guys LAN with your phase cooled machine? Strap the phase unit to the bottom of your machine or something?
 
^ thats basically the only way to do it. And if you built a complex heat exchanger setup with the phase running with a water system to cool multiple parts, it would SUCK to carry this thing to LAN's.
 
I don't know if you go to a lot of lans that it is a good idea. For one, just the power required. I can see a smaller one outright forbidding it.

I'd love to have my prommie modded but I wish someone was on my side of the seas. CT here.


Am I crazy or was this topic not always in extreme cooling?
 
texuspete00 said:
I don't know if you go to a lot of lans that it is a good idea. For one, just the power required. I can see a smaller one outright forbidding it.

I'd love to have my prommie modded but I wish someone was on my side of the seas. CT here.


Am I crazy or was this topic not always in extreme cooling?
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It wasn't always in extreme cooling.
 
Well, there are compact cooling concepts already out on the market. If anyone know about it, the TEC 52W air chiller for the case, I dont remember the make, but it was an external 5.25" unit that extended out of the case. This is already an awesome concept, and much lighter. Yea, there still needs to be lots of revisions with the system to be able to make it economical. It needs to be lighter, more power efficient, and still be able to chill a CPU to negative temperatures.
 
Will it require it's own Power Supply? Or Does it plug into the wall or something?

From the looks of it I will just be going wth liquid so I can eliminate noise and also cool video cards while still getting decent overclocks.
 
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