Question about not "mixing metals" in a loop

So I understand that mixing copper with aluminum in a loop is bad and causes corrosion, and for that reason people suggest going full copper.

So here is the question would there be any problems in going full aluminum?

Thanks guys.

Can you even find aluminum water blocks? Even if you can, aluminum won't cool near as good as copper..... Any water block worth owning is going to be copper.

Cost, skillset and availability come into the equation at that point. If you're trying to heat and bend aluminum you'll find it very difficult to work with as opposed to copper which is quite malleable. And available. Finding aluminum fittings is doable but you'll need a fat wallet.

Aluminum is a bad choice all together. No modern blocks are made of it, and the few rads that are, are several gens old. If you can't pony up the money for modern parts, water cooling may not be the way for you to go.

Problem is going to be fittings.

If you have an ALU rad, you could mill a waterblock base out of ALU, after all nobody says the WHOLE block needs to one material. Most current blocks are not CU either, they are plexi or delrin or the like; just the cool/base plate is copper.

So, you could mill a WB out of ALU. Although it will need to be thicker, just as with the (rolled) steel cases, milled ALU lacks a certain "strength" , so the baseplate would need to be thicker to avoid excessive flex. And since its thermal properties are already less as copper, you'll loose performance twice.
Not to say it can't be done.. it was done in the past (eg Zalman).

But, the main problem is fittings... either go all plastic fittings, or stainless steel, because for ALU fittings.. i wouldn't even know where to look for them.

Now, if you want *real* performance edge... Sterling Silver is an option Although it might require a custom build radiator.

Interesting stuff guys, let me go into more detail, the gpu I have "see Sig" the liquid cooling channel is made of anodized aluminum, which would create a galvanic corrosion.

My plans are for a dual bay split reservoir with two loops, I figured I could use a aluminum rad to avoid any problems with the gpu.

Thoughts?

Guess I'll need to start looking for aluminum fittings...

Guy don't leave me hanging.

Also if I were to say using a copper rad what could I do to prevent corrosion? Antifreeze?

The swiftech mcr320 drive rev3 is looking very interesting...

You can mix metals. It is best if using aluminum to seek aluminum to get the best galvanic match; but you can use stainless steels in various grades with good success. And you can use copper as well. Copper with a nickel or cadmium coating, maybe chrome as well, would last for longer than you will run this card as long as you monitor the connections, looking for oxidation (doubtful) and don't try to use much in the way of additives to distilled water in your loop.

I see some homework in your future.

ASUS page for your card. Note the fittings are G1/4. You will need to contact their support team to find out what the material is where the threads are tapped. I suspect aluminum or copper, but they should know for sure.

http://www.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/ROG_POSEIDONGTX780P3GD5/overview/

Some G1/4 fittings to peruse. There are other sites to visit for shopping as well. Note that there are available several materials and various coatings. Contact their support team as well for more info.

http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l3/g30...Cooling-Fittings-Barbs-14_ID_Barbs-Page1.html

Antifreeze works too. Minimum 30% antifreeze, the rest water.
Do be aware that antifreeze conducts heat at roughly 50% the rate water does, and aluminum conducts at roughly 50% the rate copper does.

You could even introduce a sacrifial anode in the loop.... like in a waterheater & general plumbing

However, most important to find out is the material of the waterchannel & fittings
Is it just a "chromed" copper tube, or is it an alu tube? Are the fittings/port copper/alu/brass .. or plated brass/alu/copper?

I suspect its just a copper tube running through/on a copper plate/HS which sits between the card and the (alu) HS/Fans.... But it might just as well be an ALU tube or Stainless Tube, or just a drilled channel in the copper...

ASUS must explain what they've used in this hybrid cooler solution!

You can get aluminum blocks on E-Bay in many sizes from numerous sellers, mostly in China. These were originally made for scientific equipment cooling, but also get listed as PC water cooling fittings. I have no experience with their use in a PC though, and as noted above, an all aluminum loop isn't going to be very thermally efficient.

Asus 101 @ Watercooling = FAIL

They finally came out with a copper based VRM water cooling MB. It's about dam time they woke up.

CrossChill Copper