Mobo maker MSI has come up with a novel way of keeping processors cool and conserving energy at the same time: use the CPU to drive its own fan.
It"s actually a new implementation of an old discovery. MSI"s Air Power Cooler uses the energy inherent in the expansion of air as it warms up to drive a fan. As the CPU gets hot, it causes air in a piston to expand. That pushes out the piston rod, which turns the fan rotor, pulling air over a heatpipe-fed heatsink. The heatsing helps cool the piston, so the air inside becomes more dense, pulling the piston rod back to its original position.