the question is which one is better? copper or aluminum ???? i know some people are trying to pretend smart by start saying something like copper is better at conducting heat and aluminum is good at dissipating heat so they are paired up and bla bla bla and most forum i've seen are also like that....which is not answering the question at all!!! just want to know if fully copper and aluminum, which will be better given the same size and geometry in two circumstances? 1) passive cooling 2) active cooling? thanks a lot. And for those who still insist on telling placing the copper core at the base and aluminum fins on the top (so-called expert opinions) can make the best heatsink, thanks but no thanks your opinions are not helping at all.

p/s: i may sound rude because the previous thread i opeded a lot of people keep repeating the same stuff which is not answering the question. sorry again if i offended anyone.

for PURE alu/copper coolers...

1/ passive cooling
id say aluminium would be better since it dissipates heat better than copper

2/active cooling
copper due to the fact that copper is a better heat conductor but not as good at aluminium at dissipating heat. only thing is.. with a pure copper cooler like the xp-90c, a high powered fan is needed to make it really shine. so depends on how much noise u can tolerate. sadly...weight is also another issue....

and as for copper base and alu fins heatsinks...u do realize that some of the best cpu heatsinks in the world are made that way right??

EDIT: before u turn into hardass ...lemme just say these are personal opinions only..not expert

This post has been edited by mADmAN: Apr 6 2006, 05:15 PM

Copper heatsink
[PRO]
- good at absorbing heat
- can hold massive amount of thermal energy
[CONS]
- bad at heat dissipation compare to aluminium
- need a good fan to remove heat, the better the air pressure, the better the dissipation is (contribute to noise)
- heavy

Aluminium heatsink
[PRO]
- light
- good at heat dissipation
- suitable for passive cooling that does not involve too much heat
[CONS]
- less effective at absorbing heat compare to copper
- needs bigger size to store more thermal energy

so the conclution..for passive cooling better get alu and for active cooling just get cooper..

think copper wil be better gua, since high end heatsink all built using pure copper

we must use the right material at the right place.

like the base, we need a high capacity metal to absorb heat more to lower down the temperature, therefore good heatsinks used copper as base.

as for the fins, it's Alu fins.

besides that, we must also know that heatsinks are now coated with nickel, hence if u see shiny metal, it could be either aluminium or copper.

if people would only read properly before posting, the answer that i wanted is very simple which is better as a heatsink for the two circumstances that i've mentioned...that's it!!! not repeating what i've already mentioned.

if what i wrote above is still not clear, let me put it this way, if i'm to place heatsink on my gc rams and mosfet probably with passive cooling only, which is better?

u wan tat answer then we hav answered u, decide urself la!copper and alu have their advantage, we r jus telling u, learning no harm!
dun jus blame ppl, or u try tell us, wats wrong wif our answer?anythin we said is wrong?if a thread full wif answer:"copper better", "alu better", dun u think it is much like spamming?

hurmm..i think alu will do good job for it..

120% agreed!

btw sonic_darkknight use alu heatsink is the best for ur gc ram and mosfet.

for passive, use alu.
for active, use copper.

both works better with some airflow,
alu : doesnt need/affected much by stronger airflow. having is enuff.
copper : better airflow = better performance. go as strong as u can.

personal experience = forgot to connect hsf power cable, crash pc after 2mins, with temps reaching 80degree+ when using jet4(full copper). never crashed with intel stock(full alu) when forgot to connect fan's power, just turtled..

copper + alu will be good

We do scientific research. You want answer only. Don't care what is going on.

Then very very easy for you.

Setup up a poll and ask for votes and no opinion allow.

choice 1 : copper only
choice 2 : alum only
choice 3 : copper + alum

Easy what.

I did say for active cooling the combination of both will be better, since copper draws out heat faster and transfers it to the aluminium fins for the fan to dissipate heat faster.

For passive cooling its better to use Alu material

sorry guys...

i think u have all got it wrong...

there is no such thing as allu being beter at dissipating heat than copper

it is just a myth that alot of ppl spread.

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=-105


Hohoho.. time to get some experimenting started!

myth? prove it lor... r u an engineer? took materials science b4?

Theres no need to study be an engineer

http://www.procooling.com/index.php?func=a...es&disp=71&pg=1

It doesnt need an engineer to know about material science and thermodynamics....
and not all engineers know about material science and thermodynamics...

but because of your inquisitiveness....yes

I am an engineer

and yes i did material science.



And i havent came across anything that says radiation of heat is based on material. The only variables are surface area, temperature difference, colour ....

Now try proving me wrong......Il be glad if you do

ermmmm apparently selarc, you haven't been here long enough to know who's aleck and what he's doing now do you? And to your question, yes he is and a very accomplished one and a very long time contributor to LYN's extreme cooling community. See that avatar of his? It's a waterblock which he designed, built and sold to us.

And for the Aluminium Vs. Copper issue, here's a quick explanation of the pros and cons

# Aluminum. It has a thermal conductivity of 205W/mK, which is good (as a comparison: steel has about 50W/mK). The production of aluminum heatsinks is inexpensive; they can be made using extrusion Due to its softness, aluminum can also be milled quickly; die-casting and even cold forging are also possible. Aluminum is also very light (thus, an aluminum heatsink will put less stress on its mounting when the unit is moved around).

# Copper's thermal conductivity is about twice as high as aluminum - almost 400W/mK. This makes it an excellent material for heatsinks; but its disadvantages include high weight, high price, and less choice as far as production methods are concerned. Copper heatsinks can be milled, die-cast, or made of copper plates bonded together; extrusion is not possible.

the best material for
thermal conduction is diamond

~1800 W/mK

if anyone is interested



diamond are not forever

anybody in the processor industry ?

i always ask myself what is the material for the processor die, i mean the surface of the proc for then heatsink to lie on.

IHS, dunno, but some said copper
DIE, the die is using silicon + gemanium.
this two semiconductor making the wafer for all die.

ram is different bcause the packaging.

about thermo, heat dispassion rate is an important factor.
copper may absorb 400W/mk of energy, but how fast does it release?
yet we may see the comparison of xp-90 and xp90c.
i hope that may get a chance to test it, using different airflow and air pressure.

i believe that is the heatsink is good, it does not need to be full copper.
combination of copper + alu is great enough.

about nickel
90.9 W/(m·K) thermal conductivity
and
13.4 µm/(m·K) thermal expansion

This post has been edited by Westley: Jun 11 2006, 12:38 PM

please bare in mind that there is no dissipation characteristic of a material....

but there is thermal conductivity and specific heat..


try to ponder on it....and youll get the idea

another good material for thermal conductance is BN - boron nitride
hard as hell but good therm properties.

Aleck as always, the WC guru.

There is no such thing as difference in heat absorbsion and heat dissipation. Thermal conductivity is thermal conductivity as it is, regardless in absorbing heat or releasing heat.

The best metallic electricity and thermal conductor is silver. Not gold. In fact, copper has better electricity and thermal conductivity than gold. And yeah, the best thermal conductor is diamond. It is possible to make cultured diamonds, real ones, just not formed in a natural process. And its composition is even more pure than a natural diamond. So, yeah, you can make pretty large ones and make them into waterblocks or heatsinks

but on specific heat capacity.
is alu>diamond>copper

This post has been edited by Westley: Jun 12 2006, 12:22 AM

nicely explained...

Given 2 heat sinks with exactly the same design....one copper and the other allu.
The copper one will always be supperior except that it will be 3 times heavier


But ussualy we cant get exactly the same design when using copper or allu due the fact that both goes through different manufacturing processes.

U can easily find an allu hs made from a single chunk(extrution) but it would be rare to find a cooper hs made out of a single chunk of copper. They need to solder the fins to a base to get the surface area hence creating thermal junctions that hampers the conduction of heat.

Same goes to allu and copper radiators. Allu radiators are far more superior than their copper counter parts because the manufacturing process and technology of brazing allu radiators are far beter than brazing copper rads. Copper rads usses tin as its brazing filler and this creates alot of thermal junctions. Where else allu does not need foreign material as a filler but melts and clings together by itself at <400deg with the help of some brazing flux

aleck, that means water cooling, alu made radiator is much advance because of tech applied?

it's not tech, but the fins has got 2 layers of material.
the outer material is has a lower melting temperature

they are sent into an oven with temperature more than 500°C (something like a conveyer belt which passes unsoldered radiators thru a heater) where the outer layer will combine with the fins, i mean the fins in " NNNNNNN " with the bone structure with which either gas or water passes thru.

this technology is very old de. it's a cheap and a practical way.

but i have not seen manufacturers did heatcores as in heatsink style, due to the heavy cost ??
which is to cover every copper material with nickel and then the soldering comes in.

now i only know that the solder joints are called thermal junctions
i always see them in PDF files but i dont care to find out about them

the aleck is the guru of thermal stuff

This post has been edited by AllnGap: Jun 13 2006, 08:53 AM