Water block Design
 

It seems to me that all water block designs are the same IE an inlet, flows around a little and an outlet. why are waterblocks designed that way instead of just putting a regular heatsink on a copper block and running water through that??



Yes i AM a nube:dome:

I have actually seen waterblocks that do just that:
http://www.overclockers.com/articles586/

i see that that heat sink design isn't as effective, what about turbulence, i saw an article where this guy did cross-hatching on the inside of a block and lowered temps 6 degrees.

the idea behind that is friction and surface area the more contact time the water has in the block the more heat that is released. I have an idea of making a very high pressure block with VERY small channels almost like the weave used for fuel cells to aceive greater heat transfer but I'm not sure I could cycle the water fast enough

would it be a good idea to etch lines in am existing WB design?? or is the thermal gain too insignificant

It shouldn't hurt...

Look at this:
http://www.octools.com/index.cgi?cal...ign/block.html

That (hand-made) design gives almost optimal surface area. It's very hard to make though...

Remember that the senfu block is alu at the bottom !

But i think this chould have been a really good block....sad it has the alu. What about buying an cobber heatsink, and make an waterblock out of it you own ?

In my opinion (I have seen several VERY long arguments about this) the copper is only needed where the water is coming in contact with the heatsink... I feel that Al is better at dispersing heat in to the air buy Cu does a better job with water. Also remember don't mix metals in the water system or you'll get corrosion ;)

thanks alot, its difficult to understand all of the factors that are involved in somthing that looks so simple!

Well, you go on believing that if you want...

Copper has a higher heat capacity, and heat dispersion than Alu, regardless of wether it's in air or water. The only substance that wil do better, without costing an outrageous amount of money, is Silver. Ask any of the old-timers here...

it sounds exspensive, does anyone no of a silver heatsink??

*know :D

I know one. The Highlander from DK has a little spot of silver right were the CPU core is placed. Some blocks has an layer of silver on an copper profil.

and a few nutsos have built one from scratch... I wish I was that rich!

Re: Water block Design
 

I know what you mean. Seems like crude science to me, but it works... About them heatsink modded blocks. Theoretically, a heatsink (HS for short) basic design yield much more surface area than any traditional waterblock/channel/maze design, but the problem occurs with flow rate and turbulence. If you could get the water to flow even somewhat evenly in the block and through the fins, it would most likely drop temps much more significantly than mazes etc... I'm going to order and older Copper HS and with a little brazing, make a block and see what it can do. Should work as well or maybe better than current trends... Only think, most people tap the top of the blocks and the water does get forced through the fins like it should if you did a side tap and exit etc... Oh well, it'll be fun, I hope. :rolleyes:

Just take an look at Innovatek rev. 3