Does viscosity make a difference in preformance?

[wun911]

Im new here.... my old fourm didnt have much pplz with water cooling..... I posted this queston and got only a few replies......

Introduction:

"Viscosity is a measure of the resistance of a fluid to deform under shear stress. It is commonly perceived as 'thickness'. Viscosity describes a fluid's internal resistance to flow and may be thought of as a measure of fluid friction. Thus, water is 'thin', having a lower viscosity, while vegetable oil is 'thick' having a higher viscosity."

Context in water cooling:

1 We would rather have fast flowing liquids in our water cooling system to quicky take heat away from the CPU..... (Yes or No)????

2 Will adding stuff like ethylene glycol make my water "thick" thus increseing the viscosity of the water in my water cooling loop????

3 Should we not start thinking of adding "thiner" liquids that have a lower viscosity than water???? (please fwd sugestions and thoughts)

[Captain Slug]

1. Having a higher head rate is more important than having a higher flow rate. And there is a limit to how high of a flow rate you can put through water cooling equipment. More is not always better if it means a reduction in other factors or ignoring the considerations involved.
2. Not enough to affect temperatures in any measurable way. Having algae buildup and lime/calcium deposits on the otherhand will definitely effect the performance of your loop.
3. You're not going to find anything with a higher thermal coefficient than water that will be cheaper or safer to use for this application.

[Aidenswarrior]

yes
yes
no
because of the low amount of antifreeze added to a loop, it doesnt change performance all that much. it performs fine for how much it costs and getting a more expensive alternative, in my eyes, is not worth it for 2 or 3 degrees (if that) of better cooling.