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Do heatsink material differences matter?

J

JeffCos

Golden Member
I'm considering the Zalman CNPS-7000 Cu, which is the all copper heat sink. I was just wondering what the difference is between that model and the same model with copper core surrounded by aluminum. I'm not really worried about getting more efficient cooling from the new HSF, because my p4 2.66 already runs at 32-34 idle and 40-44 full load. But I sleep 10ft from my computer and the fan sound is somewhat annoying.
 
Yeah... heat transfer is impeded between dissimilar materials, especially if it's aluminum soldered to copper. Unless the price difference is huge i'd go for the all copper.
 
At SVC the Cu is 36.99 and the AlCu is 29.99, which is a lot cheaper than other places, selling the AlCu for 44.99 or whatever. I vote for the copper.
 
In most reviews i have read the copper one is does not do any better than the combo one it one review i read the mixed one did better and in another the cu did better but in both reviews the differance was minimal i will try to find a link to one of them.
 
I believe copper contact will extract more heat from CPU.
As far as copper fin vs aluminum fin, there is still some debate about this.

I do believe a same shape all copper heatsink should yeild better result than aluminum fin w/ copper core.
 
Sounds great everyone, thanks for the Input. I was always leaning towards the all copper one even though it's a few dollars more. Now that pretty much everyone on here has agreed that copper will cool better I'm completely sold on it. Thanks again.
 
I do believe copper conducts heat better, but aluminum trabsfers heat quicker
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And you would be correct, but the issue is in the transferance of heat from the die to the copper to the alu. To many interfaces between materials is where the problem lies.
 
Originally posted by: Mingon
I do believe copper conducts heat better, but aluminum trabsfers heat quicker
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And you would be correct, but the issue is in the transferance of heat from the die to the copper to the alu. To many interfaces between materials is where the problem lies.
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very true
 
Not enough diff betweej all Al and all Cu to justify the price diff, IMO... Just lap your all Al unit, add some AS3 and be happy!
.bh.
:sun: !
 
Originally posted by: shady06
the all Copper is supposed to cool better. generally, copper is the best material for cooling
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The BEST is gold, but a gold HS would be very very expensive. So Copper is the next best thing.

 
I do believe copper conducts heat better, but aluminum trabsfers heat quicker.
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You've just said the same thing twice and contradicted yourself. Heat transfer between one point and another is related to the thermal conductivity (how well the material conducts heat).

Apart from the size/shape of the heatsink and the airflow over it, the only other relevant factor is thermal conductivity. This determines how quickly heat is removed from a heat source, and how quickly it is transferred to the air.

In this case copper is better than aluminium. If the only factor you are interested in in a heatsink is efficacy - then copper is always better than aluminium.

The best heatsink would have the highest possible conductivity - if you were talking about pure materials then diamond is the best, followed by silver. Gold and copper are almost as good as silver.

'Heat pipes' can have thermal conductivities of hundreds of times higher than any pure material, and are used as heat spreaders in modern designs to conduct heat from a small core to a large array of cooling fins.
 
But, gold leaf applied onto the H/S, then a nice lap with P1500 paper would be interesting, don't you think?

Michael.
 
Silver is better than gold and so is copper. There is a blend of copper and silver that is better than both (Cusil), but I imagine its pretty expense.

I think a big key that is often overlooked is surface area when your dealing with conduction to air. And not just the ruler measurements. A rough surface can have significantly more surface area than a polished shiny one. I believe that is why aluminum is thought to conduct heat better to the air as it is typically a rough surface in its finished state. Copper heatsink manufacturers need to find an easy way of roughing up or grooving copper fins for the next stage of heatsink improvement (or thats where I would be trying to improve as it involves little or no extra material costs).
 
Originally posted by: BoomAM
Originally posted by: WarCon
Silver is better than gold and so is copper.
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Ive seen on several thermal conductivity charts that its Gold, then Silver, then Copper.
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You might be thinking of electrical conductivity charts.

Aluminum - Thermal conductivity [/W m-1 K-1]: 235 (All the following from www.webelements.com if your interested)
Gold -Thermal conductivity [/W m-1 K-1]: 320
Copper - Thermal conductivity [/W m-1 K-1]: 400
Silver - Thermal conductivity [/W m-1 K-1]: 430

On a side note, looking these up I discovered that Cusil has been retested and re-evaluated to only have a Wmk value of 371 so silver is still the best we have to work with.
 
Pure carbon is supposed to be better than silver. Back on the topic I would get the Al_Cu model of the heatsink due to the Al-Cu one being lighter. This might not matter to you but if you move you case around alot it does matter.
 
Originally posted by: Lizardman
Pure carbon is supposed to be better than silver. Back on the topic I would get the Al_Cu model of the heatsink due to the Al-Cu one being lighter. This might not matter to you but if you move you case around alot it does matter.
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That's the one I want - the giant diamond heatsink!

 
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