Silver Water Block?

[mawfia]

Ive been mulling around different websites trying to see which water cooling kits are the best and low and behold I come across a silver water block. I dont take chemistry untill my spring semester so i really dont know how it compares to say AL or Cu water blocks. I think that the general concensus is that Cu water blocks retain less heat and make for better water cooling components, but silver?

Here is the website were the silver polyblock is sold. And if anyone just so happens to own this piece of hardware id be glad if you could give me the 411 on it.

http://www.caseetc.com/cgi-bin/caseetc/scan/sf=display/se=yes/se=Water Cooling/sf=category/se=Waterblocks/sf=sub_cat/ml=15/tf=title/to=f.html?id=Txxv6z4y




"My Jesus is blacker than your Jesus"!

 

[FatBurger]

<A HREF="http://www.caseetc.com/cgi-bin/caseetc/scan/sf=display/se=yes/se=Water Cooling/sf=category/se=Waterblocks/sf=sub_cat/ml=15/tf=title/to=f.html?id=Txxv6z4y" target="_new">Silver</A> is the best metal for conducting heat, therefore it would make an awesome waterblock. Assuming it's well designed, of course.

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[Guest]

Copper. That's right folks, Copper. When all else fails, you have copper. Conducts heat better than the Ice queen herself.

 

[FatBurger]

<A HREF="http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/01q2/010521/cooler-02.html" target="_new">Not true</A>. <A HREF="http://www.ai.mit.edu/people/tk/tks/tcon.html" target="_new">Sorry</A>.

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[igottaknife]

I wouldn't jump to conclusions on the heat conductive properties for cooling blocks. You got to remember heat conductivity is one thing, but specific heat is a whole other story. A material may transfer heat well to air, but very poorly to water.

Your Signature Sucks

 

[FatBurger]

I don't think there would be any difference, but I could be wrong.

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[Giggles_of_Doom]

Actually, no it doesn't. Copper tends to hold heat for a good long time, which is why many HSF units only have a copper core. Personally, I'd love to see a silver HSF. Silver has FAR better thermal properties then copper. Of course material is only half the battle. Look at the vast difference in performance between well designed HSFs and poorly designed HSFs made out of the same material.

Never have I seen so many great minds bent on such small a task.

 

[Aeknor]

Gold is the best conductor of heat, then silver, then copper, then aluminum.

 

[HonestJhon]

umm, i think that there was a discussion like this going on in another thread....someone brought up diamond as being even better than metal at conducting heat....
but you have to consider the immense cost of a diamond big enough to dissipate the heat of a processor.
same with the gold.
same with silver.
i mean, copper is relatively cheap, and a solid copper heatsink costs an arm and a leg (for a good one).
so, it comes down to cost of the thing, and how it will sell.
i think that if you wanted one, you would probably have to make it yourself...

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

 

[Aeknor]

yeah, I agree...

 

[CALV]

but even so, with the temps/tolerances we are talking about with water blocks, would it really make a NOTICABLE difference?? I'l bet that 2 waterblocks, one copper and one silver on the same rig, would give very little, if any difference to the cpu temp.


If they squeeze olives to get olive oil, how do they get baby oil?

 

[Grifter]

silver is better than copper but not by a huge ammount, it simply has better thermal conductivity. yea i heared diamond is the best too, but who could afford it !
If you want to read an article that explains just about everything worth knowing on the topic of heat transfer check this out http://www.amdmb.com/article-display.php?ArticleID=105


Trying is the first step to failure

 

[CALV]

cant check the link just now as im at work, but heres a thought, surely its not just the conductivity, but also the (i think its called)latent heat capacity, this is basically how well it holds its heat, for example copper warms up quickly and holds its heat for a long time, whereas aluminium takes longer to heat up, but looses its heat very quickly, surely this plays a part in it too? (just a point, I dont really care since I like my copper water block and if I could afford a silver one I wouldnt still be running a 1400@1700 athy on a kt7a raid!!)


If they squeeze olives to get olive oil, how do they get baby oil?

 

[knowan]

Yes, silver is a better thermal conductor than copper, but it isn't astronomically better, just a bit better. Gold (I believe) is actually WORSE than silver. Gold is the best electrical conductor, but not the best thermal conductor. Diamond is the best of all.

Unfortunatly neither silver nor gold nor diamonds are inexpensive. That is why they aren't used.

I also seriously question whether any of these materials would give you a significant temp drop in a water cooled system. The water medium itself is just so dang efficient that I doubt you would get more than a 1 deg drop under the best of conditions. In an air cooled system on the other hand, I can see these materials being usefull. Partly because of the much larger surface area of the heatsink.

What about using a silver radiator? Since that's where the water's heat is transfered to the air, I would anticipate a more significant temp drop there than with a silver water block. Think about it. The rad has a much larger surface area then the water block and is trying to transfer heat to the highly inefficient air.

Of course, the only real way to find out is to test it. Does anyone have a few thousand dollars they can lend me so that I can run out and do this?

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[Guest]

Could somebody tell me what the idea behind getting a 200$ HSF is? Suppose there is a silver cooler for 200$. How much difference could it make over your copper cooler? 5 degrees under full load? For gods sake, instead of paying 200$ on a heatsink, go get the upper model of the processor and run it with stock speed.

In my opinion, the whole idea behind O/C is to pay less but to get the same performance of the more expensive CPU. Today, you can get a decent Athlon XP for about 150 bucks and any custom cooler more expensive than 30$ is definately a waste to me. I can't understand why people go spend 70$ on a cooler. My Volcano 7 can run my T-Bird 1GHz@1.3GHz at decent temps. Perhaps the 70$ cooler would allow the same temp at 1350MHz, so what? All the money for 50MHz? You get your 50MHz but I keep my 30$, thank you very much...

<font color=blue>Get a T-Bird...
Impressive CPU + House heater in one package. What do you need more?</font color=blue>

 

[CALV]

I also doubt it will make a big difference in temp, as for $200 cooler, I agree to an extent, you could just get a faster cpu, but of course this would NEED overclocking too!, <A HREF="http://www.calvsplace.cwc.net" target="_new">my setup</A> probably works out to less than $200, but apart from the cooling, its the noise (or lack of it) that makes it worthwile in my case.


If they squeeze olives to get olive oil, how do they get baby oil?

 

[knowan]

Also the fact that you can re-use the HSF (or at least the HS) when you upgrade the processor. A good HSF should last you for a few processor upgrades.

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[Crashman]

The only problem I see with Silver is that it oxidizes quickly, perhaps that could lead to a less conductive film lining the inside of the heatsink.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[Crashman]

Diamond is the best material for conducting heat.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[ben8128]

I searched Google for this and found that diamond is very good, however graphite is the best see <A HREF="http://hypertextbook.com/physics/thermal/conduction/index.shtml" target="_new">here</A>. Very interesting...I've never seen a graphite heat sink but it looks like it sure beats copper or silver.

Ben

 

[Crashman]

See how much worse it gets when the graphite is in the wrong orientation? Graphite only grows in one plane, so making a 3D heatsink from it would be extrememly difficult. And then it would probably break.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[bum_jcrules]

"What about using a silver radiator?"

If it would cost so much for just the heatsink, what do you think an all silver radiator would cost. (More surface area + more material) x (increased cost per ounce) = The US national debt.

<b>"The events of my life are quite inconsequential.." - Dr. Evil</b> :lol: