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Brass Or Aluminum Top???

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Liquid_Cooled

Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2004
Location
San Jose, CA
Im about to make a new water block top for my 6800 GT. Itll use the dangerden maze4 GPU base.

Heres my questions:

1. Should i make it out of aluminum or brass. (corrosion concerns)
2. Wouldnt the brass be alot heavier?
3. Are their any reasons why i shouldnt make it out of brass??
4. If i make it out of aluminum, ill sandbalst it as a finish. i wont be able to anodize it. if i use distilled water/15% antifreeze , how will the bare aluminum react?
 
You should use at least 25% antifreeze. On many water cooling components, that is required to not void your warrenty.
 
Aluminum. The thermal conductivity of Brass is less than HALF that of aluminum, and aluminum is only very slightly less than that of pure copper! As a matter of fact, pig iron is closer to brass than aluminum, and that's not good, from a themal point of view. I realize this is a top, not a plate but you will not have any corrosion probs with alum if you use a slightly higher ratio of anti-freeze, like more like 30-50%.
 
Jibjo said:
Aluminum. The thermal conductivity of Brass is less than HALF that of aluminum, and aluminum is only very slightly less than that of pure copper! As a matter of fact, pig iron is closer to brass than aluminum, and that's not good, from a themal point of view. I realize this is a top, not a plate but you will not have any corrosion probs with alum if you use a slightly higher ratio of anti-freeze, like more like 30-50%.

holy smokes

wrong on SO many levels

1.) VERY little heat is dissipated through a top, in fact, the case air is usually warmer than the water temperature anyway
2.) Using a ratio of 50/50 antifreeze will SIGNIFIGANTLY affect flowrates, which WILL result in a noticeable temp difference

my opinion on tops:

Best to worse:
Copper-->Brass--->Alumnium--->poly (will crack)
 
i will be using 25% antifreeze (pentosin) in my distilled water. So what should i make the top out of? Brass or aluminum??? Brass will not react with copper right???

What are the down sides of using brass? Besides the thermal capabilities (which doesnt really matter, its just the top).
 
It'd be the best, It won't tarnish if you use brasso on it, or you can even clearcoat it.
 
Because it is the top and not the plate, I yield to the argument of Greenman100 on the brass issue... There is really no reason to argue against using a brass top, and I don't think weight will be an issue. However I don't think that using less than 30% antifreeze is worth it from strictly a corrosion point of view as the manufacturers recommend 40-75% typically to guarantee no corrosion in car radiators.
 
I would recommend copper or brass. Definately NOT alluminum.
Wow JibJo that was some crazy talk back there, whew....
I personally would probably go with brass if your just covering up the initial maze-baseplate.
If however, are you looking to create channels over the ram, perhaps inside the top, make the top with a thin copper ram-baseplate and brass over that.
Ahh what the gheck just make the whole darn thing out of copper.
 
Brass.

Or heavy duty plastic.. Easier to work with. BTW i wonder why waterblock mfgrs don't offer this option (black plastic like Laing's Noryl, stronger than poly...)
 
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