Query On Water Block Design

I've done a little looking at water blocks and have seen some really loopy water paths. I think the Maze water blocks are like a maze. What benefits do different designs have? I would think that a block that had fins like an air heatsink would work best because it works well in air(a fluid), and it would not effect the water velocity or pressure very much.

I would agree with your last statement. I built myself two water blocks, one with the maze design and one that was basically a white water clone. The white water clone beats the maze by alot but other factors such as channel size in the maze and the restriction of the turns could have contributed to that. Being homemade designs and builds I couldn't make either perfectly but in my opinion a fin design that is lower restriction is better than a maze.

Just to let you know the actual temperature difference at 32C system temp was 39-40C for the maze and 34-36C for the WW clone.

Come on people! A little what and why, PLEASE!
Like turbulence. How does that affect things? etc.
Zaz has started it but I really would like an in depth what and why.
Or at least tell me I'm an idiot and should not think about it (but good starting place to look would be better)

The waterblock design section of the forums at procooling.com has very in depth discussions on this.

http://forums.procooling.com/vbb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=37

You made the analogy of air to water, keep going with it. The most successful heatsinks are designed with surface area as the most important concept. Why does a heatsink work in the first place? If you took a 3-inch copper cube and sat it on top of a processor, you have greater surface area, right? So, this should help out with the cooling... but this wouldn't be very effecient because there is hardly any turbulance created on the smooth surface of a cube. Fins, pins and grooves! Make the air move around, through and over the copper and you have better cooling properties.

Take that same view and put it into a contained space. Now swap out air with water. If I had the same 3 inch copper cube, except it was hollow and had 2 holes in the top... you have a water block. Water goes in, water goes out. But, like the air analogy above, the cooling sucks. Add some fins, change the input/output locations, add TURBULANCE... the water then has more chances to hit the metal and cool it down. Bingo, a more effecient waterblock.

Doing that was the easy part back in the day... everyone could just slap a copper shroud around a normal heatsink and have a working waterblock. Lots of time spent and effort have been spent in research and development on creating just the perfect amount of turbulance, resistance and surface area... and a lot of great waterblocks have been produced. If you look at the old waterblock designs and compare it to now, you will see the results of all that research.

Better turbulance... more surface area... better flow design... it all adds up to better cooling.

vonkaar said:

The waterblock design section of the forums at procooling.com has very in depth discussions on this.

http://forums.procooling.com/vbb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=37

If you took a 3-inch copper cube and sat it on top of a processor, you have greater surface area, right?

Click to expand...

more surface compared to what?

nothing.

A 3 inch cube sitting on top of a processor gives more surface area than a bare cpu.