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MC · 03-21-2004, 08:39 AM

Okay first off I am new to this site so don't shoot me...

I am confused by my data...about a year ago I built two cpu water blocks, one in 6061 alu. and the other in Cu110 and see no difference in water temps.

Both blocks were attached to the same mobo/cpu/rig setup and heatercore/fan setup with a hydor L30. The pump/heatercore were external units in a custom steel enclosure with its own fan/ps etc.

both blocks were cut with same g-code(cnc milled) the only difference was the material Al vs. Cu. I saw absolutely no difference in temp between the two. I put both setups through the same torture test. Both were attached(at diff times obviously) to a P2.4c HT enabled/overclocked 30% 2.4-->3.12Ghz, 2xf@H running and the highest temp I got was 34c, recorded temp via asus probe.

So over the christmas break my nephew comes home with a dead computer...beer&PC's don't mix...some fool spilled a beer sitting on top his case and fried his mobo...me being the nice uncle gave him mine. I want to upgrade to the 875 chipset anyways. As I write this I am using one of my dinosaur pc's an amd 1.0 oc'd to 1100 using scary air cooling. Unfortunately the block I milled was for a P4 and am bored so I figure why not mill a new amd mountable block.

Considering the expense of copper vs. aluminum I am wondering why bother using copper at all? I am also wondering if maybe it was because the block was milled from 1" thick stock with 1/4" channel down to .3 inches. (max z depth was .3 in.) Maybe its the just mass of the block. Has anyone ever tested the similar block designs milled from thicker stocks? Is it possible that there is a plateau I reached in water cooling...the heater core is a one fan 120 mm size and maybe I will see a difference if I hook the blocks to a double-fan-size heater core?

Thanks for any input/insights.
-MC

03-21-2004, 08:39 AM	#1
MC Cooling Neophyte Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 26	Why copper? Okay first off I am new to this site so don't shoot me... I am confused by my data...about a year ago I built two cpu water blocks, one in 6061 alu. and the other in Cu110 and see no difference in water temps. Both blocks were attached to the same mobo/cpu/rig setup and heatercore/fan setup with a hydor L30. The pump/heatercore were external units in a custom steel enclosure with its own fan/ps etc. both blocks were cut with same g-code(cnc milled) the only difference was the material Al vs. Cu. I saw absolutely no difference in temp between the two. I put both setups through the same torture test. Both were attached(at diff times obviously) to a P2.4c HT enabled/overclocked 30% 2.4-->3.12Ghz, 2xf@H running and the highest temp I got was 34c, recorded temp via asus probe. So over the christmas break my nephew comes home with a dead computer...beer&PC's don't mix...some fool spilled a beer sitting on top his case and fried his mobo...me being the nice uncle gave him mine. I want to upgrade to the 875 chipset anyways. As I write this I am using one of my dinosaur pc's an amd 1.0 oc'd to 1100 using scary air cooling. Unfortunately the block I milled was for a P4 and am bored so I figure why not mill a new amd mountable block. Considering the expense of copper vs. aluminum I am wondering why bother using copper at all? I am also wondering if maybe it was because the block was milled from 1" thick stock with 1/4" channel down to .3 inches. (max z depth was .3 in.) Maybe its the just mass of the block. Has anyone ever tested the similar block designs milled from thicker stocks? Is it possible that there is a plateau I reached in water cooling...the heater core is a one fan 120 mm size and maybe I will see a difference if I hook the blocks to a double-fan-size heater core? Thanks for any input/insights. -MC Last edited by MC; 03-21-2004 at 09:00 AM.