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I came across a thread with some light-shedding data on the titled subject.
As the original thread is in Chinese, I take the liberty to translate and abstract some important data/graphs/pics and migrate them here for easier reading.
Abstract
The 4-step thermal cycle of a typical heatpipe is shown in pic 5 below (taken from wiki). This study aims to investigate the effect of gravity on cooler with heatpipes.
When a heatpipe is oriented vertically (as shown in pic 5 below) with the evaporation end higher than the condensation end, the return flow (ie steo 4) will slow down due to gravity pull. The cooling efficiency is reduced and load temp rises significantly.
Hardware
CPU: i5-2500K @ 4.2Ghz 1.288V
CPU cooler: Coolermaster Vortex Plus
http://www.coolermaster.com.tw/product.php?product_id=6648&category_id=3573
Result (Core temp at idle and after 15 min Linx load)
Direction 1 (heatpipes horizontal) 33.5C 75.8C
Direction 2 (heatpipes horizontal) 32.8C 75C
Direction 3 (heatpipes pointing up) 32.3C 78.3C
Direction 4 (heatpipes pointing down)34.0C 84C
Summary
1. As expected, gravity does have an effect on the cooling efficiency. Direction 4 gives the worst thermal number.
2. It affects both Steps 2 and 4, with a much more severe negative effect on Step 4 (the return flow)
Implication
This affects the choice of a chassis, the motherboard, the graphics card and the CPU/GPU coolers.
(And this confirms Silverstone's recommendation for their chassis with rotated motherboard design.)
Anyone wishes to get to the original thread and use the link below.
Original thread (by Olympian) link: (Google translated from Chinese...funny English as usual)
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hkepc.com%2Fforum%2Fviewthread.php%3Ftid%3D1666604%26extra%3Dpage%253D1%26page%3D1
As the original thread is in Chinese, I take the liberty to translate and abstract some important data/graphs/pics and migrate them here for easier reading.
Abstract
The 4-step thermal cycle of a typical heatpipe is shown in pic 5 below (taken from wiki). This study aims to investigate the effect of gravity on cooler with heatpipes.
When a heatpipe is oriented vertically (as shown in pic 5 below) with the evaporation end higher than the condensation end, the return flow (ie steo 4) will slow down due to gravity pull. The cooling efficiency is reduced and load temp rises significantly.
Hardware
CPU: i5-2500K @ 4.2Ghz 1.288V
CPU cooler: Coolermaster Vortex Plus
http://www.coolermaster.com.tw/product.php?product_id=6648&category_id=3573
Result (Core temp at idle and after 15 min Linx load)
Direction 1 (heatpipes horizontal) 33.5C 75.8C
Direction 2 (heatpipes horizontal) 32.8C 75C
Direction 3 (heatpipes pointing up) 32.3C 78.3C
Direction 4 (heatpipes pointing down)34.0C 84C
Summary
1. As expected, gravity does have an effect on the cooling efficiency. Direction 4 gives the worst thermal number.
2. It affects both Steps 2 and 4, with a much more severe negative effect on Step 4 (the return flow)
Implication
This affects the choice of a chassis, the motherboard, the graphics card and the CPU/GPU coolers.
(And this confirms Silverstone's recommendation for their chassis with rotated motherboard design.)
Anyone wishes to get to the original thread and use the link below.
Original thread (by Olympian) link: (Google translated from Chinese...funny English as usual)
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hkepc.com%2Fforum%2Fviewthread.php%3Ftid%3D1666604%26extra%3Dpage%253D1%26page%3D1
