Usually that should mean it cuts the difference ambiant and CPU in half. Anything else would just be stupid or a lie.
Comment on Half as Hot
frezik@midwest.social 4 weeks ago
This knowledge comes in handy with marketing BS around CPU coolers. If an aftermarket cooler gets a CPU to 35C when the stock cooler is at 70C, marketing will sometimes claim it cut temperatures in half.
fallingcats@discuss.tchncs.de 4 weeks ago
rain_worl@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
perhaps it cuts generated temperature in half, ie idle cpu is 50C, stock 70C, and aftermarket 60C
fallingcats@discuss.tchncs.de 4 weeks ago
That’s not how it works, an “idle” CPU is already generating a not insignificant amount of heat. That why you measure the difference against ambiant air if you’re at all serious about it.
neatchee@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
For anyone questioning this logic, try running your “idle” CPU without a heatsink of any kind.
jws_shadotak@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
I mean… that’s literally half though
chiliedogg@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
But it’s not.
Celsius and Faernheit are interval scales, not rational scales. The absolute change from one number to the next is consistent, but since you can go into the negatives, 1 is not double 2.
Kelvin and Rankine are rational because they use an absolute zero.
FiskFisk33@startrek.website 4 weeks ago
to make the argument even simpler, that phrase wouldn’t even mean the same thing to an english person as it would to an american.
tetris11@lemmy.ml 4 weeks ago
But °C was mentioned in the units, and its well understood that 0°C is a cold temperature for humans.
I’m not a fan of marketing doublespeak either, but I think the right scale and right terminology was used here. They cut the temperature on half, in Celsius, on the basis that 0°C is very cold.
FiskFisk33@startrek.website 4 weeks ago
Thats where the physics comes in. if the temperature is halved in terms of celsius from 70° to 35°, if in your case the temperature starts at 100°, the same energy difference would only bring the temperature down to something closer to 65° than 50°.
the specific cooling capacity of the cooler in question only “halves” the temperature if you start at a very specific point.
TonyOstrich@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
But centigrade isn’t a measure of absolute units and is disingenuous. Using your argument it requires the consumer/reader to make a number of inferences or assumptions which isn’t a good method of communication in general. It is perfectly valid to say that the cooler took CPU temperatures from 70°C to 35°C.
Why not just say that. It’s an impressive stat!
Scales exist for a reason. Cutting 70°C in half is by definition -101.5°C. But let’s assumed somehow everyone is on the same page and that anything below 0°C should just be ignored in this specific scenario and not any other (confusing right?), saying the temperature was cut in half is still confusing! Half from where? Did it go from 20°C to 10°C? From 80°C to 40°C? It just doesn’t mean anything and as said before I would argue just stating the numbers is more impressive and informative.
frezik@midwest.social 4 weeks ago
If you convert those temperatures to Kelvin, they become 308K and 343K. Since Kelvin is absolute and we’re measuring the same material, this tells you how much more thermal energy is there and their actual proportion to each other.
jws_shadotak@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
thanks, this makes a lot more sense.
That being said, 70C down to 35C is a huge difference, relative to the temperature ranges we live in
chiliedogg@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
I just want to chime in and say I appreciate your willingness to absorb knowledge, as well as not doing the “I was mistaken so I’ll delete my comment” thing so that other people can read along and learn as well.
frezik@midwest.social 4 weeks ago
It would certainly be a good CPU cooler. Marketing just ran away with claims they can’t back up.
Here’s an actual example of this sort of thing (starting around 3:22): www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8kprUGy57E&t=233s
LordGimp@lemm.ee 4 weeks ago
308.15K is not half of 343.15K
fallingcats@discuss.tchncs.de 4 weeks ago
Do you also say 'the temperature in the freezer has doubled" when it goes from -12°C to -24°C in the freezer? Any thing else would be disingenuous.