One thick heatpipe vs. multiple thinner heatpipes - cooling capabilities?

[chubbyfatazn]

Hey all,

I'm busy doing a few mods to my laptops and came across a question that my google-fu couldn't help me with.

Given the following two HS/Fs:

A, top

A, bottom

B, top

B, bottom

In terms of heat dissipation potential, is there a significant or noticeable difference between one thicker heatpipe and multiple thinner heatpipes? In hs/f A, the main heatpipe goes to the CPU, with the smaller one going to the dGPU. Same deal with hs/f B, except there are 2 heatpipes going to the CPU.

The heatpipes have approximately the same height (z-axis). These are cooling mobile CPUs (so bare die).

Thanks to anyone who can help me out.

 

[Mr Evil]

The thermal resistance of a heatpipe is inversely proportional to its cross sectional area. The two small heatpipes in B will have a slightly smaller cross section in total than the single big one in A. Thus I would expect B to perform slightly worse, all else being equal.

 

[JEDIYoda]

The thermal resistance of a heatpipe is inversely proportional to its cross sectional area. The two small heatpipes in B will have a slightly smaller cross section in total than the single big one in A. Thus I would expect B to perform slightly worse, all else being equal.

It`s nice knowing the equation, but there are so many variables.....