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Danamics LMX breathes new life into liquid-metal CPU coolers

by Parm Mann on 26 October 2009, 15:15

Tags: LMX, Danamics

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Remember Danamics? Back in 2008, the Danish manufacturer arrived on the scene with a liquid-metal CPU cooler that threatened to cast traditional water-cooled setups into memory.

Known as the LM10, it used an electromagnetic pump and liquid metal to provide thermal performance that Danamics claimed would "exceed most water coolers in a single device". Unfortunately for Danamics, it wasn't cheap, and its £235 price-tag led to it being discontinued some two months after retail availability.

That was way back in January, and though Danamics has always promised to be back with a new range of high-end computing products, it hasn't shown us anything else worth talking about... until now.

Unveiled today is the company's second-generation liquid-metal CPU cooler, the Danamics LMX.

Measuring 158.2mm x 170.5mm x 90mm, the nickel-plated aluminium heatsink alone weighs 1,180g. Despite using similar technology - namely an electromagnetic pump that circulates liquid metal through the LMX without the need for moving parts - Danamics claims its enhanced second-gen pump results in a flow 300 per cent better than the erstwhile LM10.

Power consumption remains under 1W, and a new iron core promises to reduce the unit's magnetic field by a factor of up to 1,000 when compared with the now-discontinued LM10. The LMX also supports a variety of sockets straight from the off - including AMD's AM2/AM3 and Intel's 775/1156/1366.

The new-look cooler ships with two SilenX 120mm LED fans, and though a launch date remains unknown, we do have a price. Danamics tells us to expect the LMX to hit retail priced at €159 excluding tax - that's roughly £145 + VAT.

Still undoubtedly pricey, but we're looking forward to seeing how this one performs. Want to know more? Head on over to the official product page for an animated tour.



HEXUS Forums :: 9 Comments

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Danamics mk2 eh, it certainly looks more refined than the first one.

You aiming to get one into the lab? It would certainly be interesting to see if it does any better than the Corsair H50, and that wasn't even around when they first tried to bring their liquid metal cooler to the market.
If I remember right the reason these didn't sell isn't solely down to the ludicrous pricetag but more to do with the performance, while Danamics claimed it was more efficient than ‘water cooling’ all real world reviews showed performed reasonably close to Thermalrights Ultra120 and other air-coolers that cost less than half as much, demonstrating that heatpipe technology is a far cheaper and more elegant solution.

I don't believe the liquid metal cooling technology is ever going to be either as efficient or cost effective in a stand alone format as conventional coolers, maybe a chassis incorporating it to cool the major components but not a HSF.
JCBeastie
I don't believe the liquid metal cooling technology is ever going to be either as efficient or cost effective in a stand alone format as conventional coolers, maybe a chassis incorporating it to cool the major components but not a HSF.
I wouldn't say it is that cut and dry. This is only the second iteration of the product, I would expect performance to increase with each release. Regular heat pipe coolers have been around for years now, with many design improvements and changes along the way, increasing performance at the same time. I would expect the same from liquid metal solutions, especially if other manufacturers introduce their own variations.

If only Dynamics have products like this then obviously their competitors don't see the technology having any traction…. or they have it tied up very tightly with patents.
Funkstar
I wouldn't say it is that cut and dry. This is only the second iteration of the product, I would expect performance to increase with each release. Regular heat pipe coolers have been around for years now, with many design improvements and changes along the way, increasing performance at the same time. I would expect the same from liquid metal solutions, especially if other manufacturers introduce their own variations.

If only Dynamics have products like this then obviously their competitors don't see the technology having any traction…. or they have it tied up very tightly with patents.

I'm not just making arbitrary proclimations, the issue is that the form-factor is ultimately limited by surface area, it doesn't matter if the liquid metal is more efficient at moving heat from the CPU at the end of the day it's still aluminium/copper fins that are dumping that heat into the air, and that'll happen at the same rate as an equivalent heatpipe tower which is cheaper to manufacture. Exactly the same reason why tower type water-cooler units failed.
JCBeastie
I'm not just making arbitrary proclimations, the issue is that the form-factor is ultimately limited by surface area, it doesn't matter if the liquid metal is more efficient at moving heat from the CPU at the end of the day it's still aluminium/copper fins that are dumping that heat into the air, and that'll happen at the same rate as an equivalent heatpipe tower which is cheaper to manufacture. Exactly the same reason why tower type water-cooler units failed.
That's actually a really good point, something I hadn't considered either :)

If that is the case, then however clever this technology is, it is ultimately pointless.