At CES today we saw what at first resembles a Cooler Master V6 CPU heastink and fan combo. The processor cooler features a red 120mm fan housed in a black shroud which is then attached to the heatsink itself. The heatsink is a tower design with six copper heatpipes attached to a copper CPU block. The heatpipes then lead into a tower of aluminum fins to dissipate heat.
On the back of the unit; however, there’s a little something extra in the form of a nano-itx motherboard and AMD E-350 APU based on the Brazos platform. The computer is self contained and provides a number of connectivity options. For more information on the Brazos platform and E-350 APU, see our preview and review articles. A quick run down of the E-350 specifications; however, is below.
- Two Bobcat CPU cores at 1.6 GHz
- A Radeon HD 6310 GPU with 80 processing cores running at 500 MHz
- A TDP of 18 watts
- DirectX 11 Graphics and DDR3 Memory Support
The bottom of the rear of the CPU cooler is the location of the nano-ITX motherboard’s rear IO panel. The motherboard features Wi-Fi, HDMI, two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, VGA(?), and e-SATA(?) connections.
A side view of the Cooler Master heatsink is available below.
It’s certainly a new idea, and it will definitely hit home for people that don’t need or want to run their power hungry main desktop all the time. Because the system is self contained it does present some usability issues. Mainly that you will need to have a KVM or VNC connection to control it and the inside of the computer case is going to become a lot more crowded with cables. Further, it would be a pain to have to open up the main desktop system just to plug in a flash drive or cable. On the other hand, it’d make for a nice media or file server and would not require the desktop be on 24/7 without needing yet another box crowding my desk so I’d give it a shot. (The inside of my computer case is already a mess of wires so what do I have to lose?)
What are your thoughts on this somewhat strange CPU cooler?
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It would be more logical to
It would be more logical to embed it in to PSU or case, more ergonomic, more options. What about coolers air flow, MB blocks the air? I doubt it will ever come into production.
Why not use the device as a
Why not use the device as a stand alone mini-computer? Add a SSD and wireless keyboard / mouse and you are good to go. Not obvious where the power is coming from in this rig?
That cable on the left. My
That cable on the left. My guess is one of those external DC power supplies.
The power cable is the one
The power cable is the one all the way on the right (look past the USB ports).
The one on the right is the
The one on the right is the WIFI antenna, the power is on the LEFT side of the image. Though from the front view (fan), it would appear the opposite, but in the pic of the backside, the power is on the left, the wifi on the right. Also, I agree that this could make for a rather interesting mini-pc all in and of itself. Very interesting 🙂 I also now smell a mod idea brewing… lol.
This is where something like
This is where something like Thunderbolt could come into its own, with a single cable going from this unit to a 5.25″ drive bay fascia with the various sockets on it.
Trouble is, that makes it a separate computer to the one it’s installed in. Hard to see a real good use for this thing, unless it’s as a standalone nano-PC.
Cute though! 🙂
ye! you get to cook a mini pc
ye! you get to cook a mini pc with your main pc, how about putting in in a spare drive slot? that is far more appealing.
or mabee its just a joke that im not getting…
Given the price of similar
Given the price of similar mini pc’s (about $300) I think this would come in too expensive to use as a heatsink.
That said, I like the idea, and would consider the option at about the $100 price point.
It could be quite attractive as a stand alone mini pc, if you do something about the colors.
Err, this is only for novelty
Err, this is only for novelty no? It’s like facing a fan towards a brick wall, and the tiny size of it surely would get red hot. There’s no room at all.
Weird looking also. Very very tacky imo :s
Did they just hear the Xzibit
Did they just hear the Xzibit meme? Yo dawg, we heard you like computer so we put a computer in your computer….
lol! I was thinking that
lol! I was thinking that exact same thing when Ryan showed me this 😛
That looks more like a Cooler
That looks more like a Cooler Master V6 to me.
http://cheezburger.com/View/5
http://cheezburger.com/View/5684493312
I’m not sure if this belongs
I’m not sure if this belongs under the “inception” or “Xzibit” meme.
hmm….
realy itz nic.but if dz
realy itz nic.but if dz cooler smaller more dan dz vt da same perfomence.i think no word to say abt dt
Looks cool, but wouldn’t it
Looks cool, but wouldn’t it be easier to do with a V10?
Wouldn’t it make more sense
Wouldn’t it make more sense to put such a PC in a 5.25 bay? I was actually looking into building such a tiny PC along with an array of 2.5″ HDDs. It could serve as a constantly on file/backup/media file server.
Ninja Pc totally, For the
Ninja Pc totally, For the discerning secret agents everywhere
Yo’ dawg, we heard yo’ like
Yo’ dawg, we heard yo’ like computing so we put a computer in yo’ computer so yo’ can compute while yo’ computer computes.
With a wireless keyboard and
With a wireless keyboard and mouse, this would be perfect for the majority of people. It’s perfect for internet access without the expense of the Smart Phone price
Well…I personally built
Well…I personally built this at AMD as a pure case mod for fun…and to show how small and cool running the new APUs can be. As noted, it started as a CoolerMaster V6, then got a lot of Dremel work. Thanx for Xzibit meme poke! Last year was stranger: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4-dx0PRNio