Gold Or Silver?

[raventy]

Which is better for a waterblock... to be coper coated with gold or coper coated with silver? Was wondering which gave better preformance... thought the gold would but now im unsure.

[Shocker]

i think copper coated with silver would be better.

[Since87]

The thickness of the gold or silver plate is almost definitely too thin to make a meaningful difference in temperature.

However, because gold is not very reactive chemically, it might help to have the water channel gold plated. It might eliminate the need for anticorrosive additives when using an aluminum radiator. Any chemists out there?

[JFettig]

silver would be better,

i just got some silver plated copper bar, but its kinda pointless to have it silver plated, cuz you lap it for half a second and all the silver is gone, i just got it cuz it was cheap and what i needed...

[The Overclocker]

Silver conducts heat better then gold, even though gold appeard to be a good thermal conductor, it is not.

[MajinSSJVegetto]

Originally posted by maskedgeek
i just got it cuz it was cheap and what i needed...

Was it that foot long piece on ebay? I was gonna bid on it, but I forgot to=(

[athlonnerd]

yeah, for thermal conductivity us esiulver, however the only advantages would be due to it slightly flattening out the surface. however, gold is an excelent non correder, so you can use it to protect your metal.

[raventy]

hhmm to me it seems that cause its just platted 21k gold or silver seems like the heat dif might not be that much at all.. but im thinking about goign with the silver cause every little bit sometimes matters... does the silver have alot of corrosive properies.. I asume its better than copper or aluminum right?

[athlonnerd]

silver is not as good as gold, im your talking about the outside of the wb, then dont worry. as for the inside, i coudnt tell you. aluminum is also good at not corroding, a very thin yaler of aluminum oxide forms, which blocks further oxidation.

[Inept]

Platings do not affect thermal properties. They're far too thin. Don't waste your time or money, particularly with precious metals. If you want something that won't corrode, use Aluminum for the block or use nickel plated copper.

As mentioned already, plating = no lapping becuase it will come right off.

[martindemon]

I think raventy is talking about the Koolance 200W CPU cooler. I myself consider it not as an easy, good looking, enough efficient kit. I would choose gold. First, gold is not as good to conduct heat as silver but like a few said, the thickness of the plating makes that negligeable. Now if i remember all the things i had that were made with silver, they all oxyded (spelling?) quite fast. The oxyde make a bad conductor and i don't know about the thickness it can grow with time. What i know is that gold will not oxyde. With 5$ difference, it's an easy choice for me.

[raventy]

Bingo! MartinDemon got me convinced thier. Yes I was talking about the Koolance 601 200W Gold and Silver CPU waterblocks.. sorry I didnt mention that part b4.. :o I think I will go with my original choice which was the gold one.. its only 2 bucks more at www.frozencpu.com than the reg silver one and because its gold it wont realy corrode like the silver might.. and I dont think that such a thin layer of either gold or silver will realy matter that much in detemening the temp. Thanks for all your help guys! :)

[JFettig]

Originally posted by MajinSSJVegetto


Was it that foot long piece on ebay? I was gonna bid on it, but I forgot to=(

yeah it was, the same guy gots more and he is selling it there still.... theres a 3foot long section there also..

[Tecumseh]

Platings don't make a measurable difference in heat transfer,
at least on at PC cooling levels.

Therefore the choice of plating should be dictated by other
concerns. Silver easily corrodes. Look at your Grandma's
silver collection. Volunteer to help clean it. :D

Gold would be a good choice for plating, but you may
have to go to a jewler for this...expensive.

The best corrosion-resistant and good-looking plating
is nickel. This metal can be plated on copper via
classic methods, but is most often plated onto base
metals with an electroless method. This later method
is superior for complex shapes because it makes a
very uniform and even coating. There are a lot of
industrial places that can do this.

Make your HS or WB perfect first and then have it plated.

[Since87]

Originally posted by Tecumseh
The best corrosion-resistant and good-looking plating
is nickel. This metal can be plated on copper via
classic methods, but is most often plated onto base
metals with an electroless method. This later method
is superior for complex shapes because it makes a
very uniform and even coating. There are a lot of
industrial places that can do this.

Make your HS or WB perfect first and then have it plated.

Good point. The local plater here has plated small lots of parts for the company I work for, for next to nothing. People might be able to get their local plater to toss their waterblock into their nickel plating process for free or a couple bucks. Can't hurt to ask.

And all you WB manufacturers out there - screw the silver and gold plating. Give us Nickel in the water channel.