During CES we saw a demonstration of a new genre of processor cooling that truly wowed me. That is tough to do – heatsinks and even self-contained water blocks appear to be a dime a dozen these days. Cooler Master has partnered with CoolChip technologies, a start up that promises to make processor cooling more efficient, 2x smaller and quieter too. The secret is kinetic cooling.

Kinetic cooling works by removing the typical fan in a heatsink design and replacing it with a piece of rotating metal. This top metal has fins that resemble that of traditional fans that move air UP and away from the heatsink assembly. These fins are mated with a cooling plate, a base piece of metal that comes in contact with the processor and transfers the heat away.

The key is the connection between the top and bottom metal: using a very thin layer of air that resides between a set of interlocking grooves, the small motor in the center of the cooler spins the groves inside each other without touching, drawing heat from the stationary portion to the rotating one.

This is a prototype of a hybrid cooler combining heatpipes and CoolChip

The result is a cooler that is just as efficient as today's but can be small and generate less noise. Because the top half of the heatsink is actually rotating to provide air movement, you no longer need a fan, lowering z-height. And because you are halving the number of places air is making contact (just fan blades versus fan blades and heatsink fins), sound levels are significantly lower for similar TDPs.

Oh and they look damn cool too. CoolChip says that pricing and build cost will be in line with current heatsinks, alleviating worries of high prices.

Check out the video we did with CoolChip for a demonstration!

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