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Naked Pico Challenge Concludes |
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Written by Stew
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Monday, 09 June 2008 |
Hi there. And now, the moment you've all been waiting for. The conclusion of the 'Naked Pico Challenge'. Firstly, after two weeks of solid operation without any cooling at all, our naked VIA PX5000EG Pico-ITX board was still running and appeared perfectly happy to continue doing so. I decided enough was enough. I wanted to find out just how far he could go.
First we had a prize draw to decide the eventual winner of our ARTiGO builder kit. We placed all the entries that correctly guessed the Pico would go the distance and survive two weeks of naked operation - almost 8% of all voters - in a box and selected the winner.
That winner is a Mr Martin Lutonsky from the Czech Republic! Congratulations to you sir! An ARTiGO Builder Kit is on its way!
Next we decided to have a bit of fun and crank up the heat on our naked Pico-ITX board. I first attempted to cause a system failure by replacing the lid of my VIA ARTiGO case, thus removing a key source of ventilation. If this failed to produce enough heat, I also had a 1,800 watt hairdryer on hand!! Either way, the Naked Pico's days were numbered!
The video below is not for the faint of heart.
We had an excellent response to the Naked Pico Challenge from all corners of the world. This picture should give you an accurate idea of where our Naked Pico punters hailed from.
I'd like to give a personal thanks to all who took part in the competition. From Albania to Costa Rica, the Faroe Islands to Thailand, I thank you all.
Cheers.
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Supported by:
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Captain Obvious
Monday, 09 June 2008
Not to point out the obvious, but hot air can be used to solder/desolder components during component assembly and repair. That may have gone right past "overheating" and well into disassembling. Didn't look like he tried to boot the thing after it quit, so was it permanently dead or did boot again after it cooled off?
Visitor
Monday, 09 June 2008
What happened to the winner having to guess how long it would last once you started trying to kill it? Random was not how it was stated to be...and I happen to think my guess would have been pretty darn close if not right on
Stew
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
We did try and start it after letting it cool down and yep, it still came alive again! That's one resilient little Pico.
Sasha
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
Even if it melted the solder, so long as nothing moved it would probably resolidify in the right place and work properly.
Max
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
I would LOVE to pull that, an LCD and a laptop HD out of my slimline briefcase and fire up Q3 for my next Lan outting.
I'd earn more nerd points than I could count. =)
dan
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
to capt obvious:
A hair drier get no where near hot enough to desolder a chip. If it did, it would not be pretty, it would burn hair.
That was impressive, two weeks without a heatsink. I wonder if it would have lasted that long with the cover on tho.
Visitor
Thursday, 12 June 2008
HEY!! NO FAIR!!
If the pico lasted the two weeks, the competion was supposed to be judged on how long it withstood the final hairdrier challenge. The entry page required a figure to be entered and stated it would be used to select a winner- not a random out of the hat draw
Humanoid
Thursday, 12 June 2008
It was a box. And I was in it! I had the time of my life in that box.
Visitor
Saturday, 05 July 2008