Reviews - Deepcool GamerStorm Lucifer

[balaam]

I don't know anything about the actual fluids used in coolers, but I'm sure that they would rely upon density/temperature variation, or even low boiling points advantaging the gas/liquid phase change - gases are lighter than liquids... so why did you mount the cooler on what appears to me to be its side? I would have thought the correct orientation for a vertical board would have been as depicted in this image?
http://img.hexus.net/v2/cooling/Deepcool/Lucifer/lucifer-04b.jpg
Notice that they have gone to pains to ensure that pipes either rise to the finned section, or are flat in this orientation?

[stoatwblr]

Are the fins pressed on or brazed onto the heatpipes? (It makes a big difference to thermal conductivity)

[stoatwblr]

Regarding heatpipes. The original designs relied on gravity, but modern heatpipes have a wick inside them which enables them to work any way up. That innovation is a direct result of needing heatpipes to work in spacecraft, to get internally generated heat out to radiators (I have a flight spare near my work desk which was one of the first examples of the technology in space)

They do work better with the cpu down, but they will work in any orientation.

Take a look at http://www.electronics-cooling.com/1996/09/heat-pipes-for-electronics-cooling-applications/ for a few pretty pictures. The working fluid is usually water but can also be acetone or any other substance.

[balaam]

Thank you for that information and link, stoatwblr... it was a subject I hadn't much considered, but was intrigued enough by the trickling noises coming from mine when stressed moderately to reason that they were gravity operated. I've only purchased models which enable gravity flow through all pipes when mounted so. Wicking makes sense; it would allow use in zero-G and adversely mounted situations as you say whilst only moderately interfering with free flow. I would have thought that a refrigeration fluid with a phase change in the temperature range involved (60 - 90degC ?) would have been employed, but even so, water ticks a lot of boxes.