What material is best for Heatsinks???

[ToF]

I am confused between which heatsinks are better? Is Copper or Aluminium better? Or is a combination of both better??? eg. Copper base with Aluminium fins/pins. Also what does Anodized Aluminium mean, and is it good? Because that's what the GlobalWIN FOP38 heatsink is made of, and I am interested in getting it. Your opinions are appreciated.
Thanks. :confused:

[Hoot]

It is generally believed that Copper is the best, commonly available material. Aluminum is a good second choice, but falls short of copper. The FOP38 was a good, but loud choice back in the days when processors only developed 50W of heat. With faster, hotter processors and with overclocked processors, there are many better HSF choices available today and the field grows larger every week. For a good understanding, read the "Sticky" I posted at the top of this forum. That's why it is there.

73, Hoot

[ToF]

Thanks, but what if noise wasn't a matter?
Would the FOP38 be able to support an overclocked AMD Athlon XP 2000+ ??? And again, what is Anodized Aluminium?
Thanks

[Hoot]

Anodizing is a chemical process that deposits a finish on aluminum that provides a nice finish and prevents corrosion. In my honest opinion, anodizing does not belong on the bottom of an HSF, where it contacts the core. It will just add another thermal boundary to overcome. I have an FOP-32, which is the same as the 38 with a slower fan. The performance benefits a lot from lapping the base. I would not recommend it for an XP2000, especially an overclocked one. If you're going to drop that kind of money on a CPU, for Gods sake drop a little more on an HSF to protect it and allow it to achieve its fullest capability.

Hoot

[ToF]

I recently went overseas, and bought a heavy all copper heatsink with a 7200RPM fan on top. Do you think I could use that safely, or should I look for a better brand name one?

Thanks

[Hoot]

With a mystery HSF, about the only way to tell how it will perform is to try it and see. At least you have the right material and a fast enough fan for a good start.

Hoot

[ToF]

Alright, Thanks a lot for your help Hoot. I really appreciate it.

ToF :)

[ButcherUK]

I have a fop32... does a great job on my northbridge :D

[ThePunkGeek]

alolt of the top heatsinks contain both CU/ ALuminum.
Copper is a better conductive meterial then alumium tho.

[adamtekh]

something like the swifty is the best

coper to ALuminum fins, poles/pins


the 6cu+ is like that but how good is the joint between the copper and ALuminum we dont know seams prety crapy to me

and the swiftech has more copper , more surface area

:beer:

[Intraveinous]

Copper takes the heat away from the core faster, aluminum gives the heat up to the surrounding air faster. Therefore, a combination of the two is best so long as the joining point of the copper and aluminum is efficient...
Or so I've heard...
Peace
John

[ToF]

Thanks All for your contributions.

[soil]

Originally posted by Hoot
Anodizing is a chemical process that deposits a finish on aluminum that provides a nice finish and prevents corrosion...The performance benefits a lot from lapping the base...

Would there be corrosion to the lapped base then?:rolleyes:

[dreadlord79]

Hey there Soil, there would only be corosion after a very long period of time even if you live in a humid area. Think about how long it takes the copper which is on most capital buildings to turn green. If you have a HS which still performs good enough to keep for the next 30years+, we need to give the company and creator of it the Noble Peace Prize! :D

[ButcherUK]

Originally posted by Intraveinous
Copper takes the heat away from the core faster, aluminum gives the heat up to the surrounding air faster. Therefore, a combination of the two is best so long as the joining point of the copper and aluminum is efficient...
Or so I've heard...
Peace
John

Copper conducts better, Both are equal for convection ("giving the heat up"). Al is much lighter and easier to machine. That is why it's used.

[res0r9lm]

Originally posted by ButcherUK


Copper conducts better, Both are equal for convection ("giving the heat up").

If that was really true that copper conducted better than aluminium but both were equal in convection. copper would keep gaining more and more heat until fried cpu. don't see how a material could have good heat conduction without having good convection. basicly your just changing one cooling medium with another.

[MadMan007]

ALL COPPER= the bestest. read this (http://www.amdmb.com/article-display.php?ArticleID=105) abd bookmark it too :)

[Arkaine23]

Silver has better thermal conduction than copper, but it's more expensive and the difference is fairly small. I have always heard that aluminum has better convection than copper.

[Silversinksam]

Originally posted by Arkaine23
Silver has better thermal conduction than copper, but it's more expensive and the difference is fairly small. .


I didn't want to say that for fear of being ridiculed :p


Thermal Properties of Materials
Thermal Conductivity, W/cm-K
Metals
Aluminum 2.165
Beryllium 1.772
Beryllium-copper 1.063
Brass 70% copper, 30% zinc 1.220
Copper 3.937
Gold 2.913
Iron .669
Lead .343
Magnesium 1.575
Molybdenum 1.299
Monel .197
Nickel .906
Platinum .734
Silver 4.173
Stainless Steel-321 .146
Stainless Steel-410 .240
Steel, low carbon .669
Tin .630
Titanium .157
Tungsten 1.969
Zinc 1.024
Cusil: Misled for 30 years is all I'm gonna say

[UserName]

There is no measurment in the entire field of physics for the ability to give up heat to the air.

It is a myth that AL gives up heat faster. It is equivelant to saying the earth is flat. Not only is it wrong it's just silly.

If you don't agree change your mind.

[Aesik]

The amount of convection ("giving up heat" to the air as everyone is hell-bent on continuing to say) is determined by the medium which has the lowest thermal conductivity. In this case, the air.

[ButcherUK]

Originally posted by res0r9lm


If that was really true that copper conducted better than aluminium but both were equal in convection. copper would keep gaining more and more heat until fried cpu. don't see how a material could have good heat conduction without having good convection. basicly your just changing one cooling medium with another.

No, not at all, you're confusing absorbtion and conduction. Conduction is how well the heat is tranferred across it, absorbtion is how well heat the copper gains heat. Copper has higher specific heat capacity for a given volume so it'll abosrb more heat than Al. However in a steady state system this is irrelevant, just means it'll heat up and cool down a little slower when you power on / off. Conduction is how well the heat can be spread to the the edges of the base / fins. Obviously higher is better here. The actual cooling is based on convection which is entirely dependient on the surface area and the air flowing over it (as Aesik notes) and also the temp difference. Because of this higher conduction means more of the surface area is hot and therefore you get better convection. This gives lower temps and hence copper being the better material.

[res0r9lm]

Conduction: Heat transfer through a solid material. A heat sink conducts heat from the die to its fins/pins. Conduction increases with increasing temperature differential, increasing conduction coefficient, increasing cross-sectional area, and decreasing material thickness.

Convection: Heat transfer from a solid into a liquid or gas. The energy transferred through the heat sink leaves via convection to air or water. Convection increases with increasing temperature differential, increasing surface area, and increasing convection coefficient.


If that was really true that copper conducted better than aluminium but both were equal in convection. copper would keep gaining more and more heat until fried cpu. don't see how a material could have good heat conduction without having good convection. basicly your just changing one cooling medium with another.
All I'm tring to say is that aluminum doesn't give off more heat than copper

[UserName]

Note that in the definition of convection no mention is given to any quality of the surface. All properties of convection are concerned with the fluid medium only.

And if that didn't make sense, Copper is always, in all ways, better than aluminium.

[res0r9lm]

Originally posted by UserName
Note that in the definition of convection no mention is given to any quality of the surface. All properties of convection are concerned with the fluid medium only.

And if that didn't make sense, Copper is always, in all ways, better than aluminium.
I agree, got any Idea on what to make pins out of for watersink? was think of heavy guage wire

[UserName]

if you use wire you create a thermal barrier in the block.

Any time you change materials you create a barrier for the heat flow. You are best to mill groves in a solid block, as these have no barrier.

[res0r9lm]

thay was my original idea another one was to convert my swiftech mc462