A 15-year-old boy has developed an innovative CPU cooler device based on water evaporation. Called the Heat Buster, it can be installed on any ATX cabinet, and can keep the processor cool without an air conditioner even in temperatures as high as 45 degrees Celsius.

Computer heating is such a problem that even the latest processors that claim to run cool, wind up overheating in the height of the Indian summer. To cope with this problem, chipmakers continue to improve heat sinks and increase the number of fans, but chips continue to heat up, even when the processor fan speeds are 4500 rpm. However, young Ambud Sharma from Varanasi, an avid gamer, decided to do something to address this problem. He developed an evaporative water cooler - or, as he calls it, a 'Heat Buster', for which he has won prizes at the international level, along with a scholarship.

Cool technology!

The Heat Buster has three basic components: a heat sink, a pumping chamber and a cooling chamber.

The heat sink is a modified air-cooled version. Ambud re-engineered it, enabling it to carry water safely over the processor. The heat sink has been particularly modified for the Intel-based LGA-775 socket and the PGA-478 socket processor, so it supports both the old and new generation processors.

The pumping chamber is the device's water reservoir, which has a pump running on a 5 volt SMPS (switched-mode power supply). The chamber also contains water level indicators, and an alarm to alert users when they need to add more water.

The cooling chamber is the device that cools the water by means of evaporation. With this, a computer remains cool without an air conditioner, even during summer temperatures as high as 45 degrees Celsius. The Heat Buster is compatible with all ATX cabinets.

Enumerating Heat Buster's key features, Ambud reveals, "So far, I have been able to modify the heat sinks of only Intel processors, as I have used only Intel's processors at home. But in the future I intend to make an AMD heat sink also. Heat Buster can completely remove processor heating and maintain the temperature as low as 25 degrees Celsius even in the peak of summer without an AC." Installing Heat Buster

As regards installation, the Heat Buster is to be fitted inside the cabinet. According to Ambud, the device uses the space in the cabinet very smartly, and doesn't hamper future expandability (addition of PCI and PCIE cards). It doesn't even cover the optical drive bays. "The device is easy to assemble; it takes just ten minutes to fit the device and get it working," he continues.