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Originally Posted by Jag
I've been thinking, would it be possible to manufacture a waterblock with heat pipes pins(inside the block or protruding from it) something in the style of Swiftech?
I mean, is it a viable possibility?
I know that heat pipes pins exist, and they are very similar in shape to those utlilized by Swiftech in their air cooled heatsinks.
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A typical water cooling has several interfaces to think about
: air to the exterior rad surface, conduction through the material the rad is made of, water to the interior surface of the rad, water to the block, conduction through the material of that block, and lastly the TIM joint from the block to the CPU. Of all those junctions the TIM joint is the weakeast.
In the setup you propose poorer performance would probably result unless the heat tube were directly immersed in the water on the cold side and directly on the die on the hot side. In that case you might get close to water cooling with a block alone but not exceed it. The reason for this is, while the tube has excellent conduction, but many more interfaces are created.
The proposed system would include all of the above plus: a TIM joint where the heat tube is fastened to the water block, the conduction of the heat tube, possibly another TIM joint where the TIM joint is fastened to the CPU block, and the conduction through the material of that block.
Optimally the cold end of the heat tube could extend directly into the water block allowing it to have direct contact with the water, and the hot side would contact the die directly. But there are a couple of problems to overcome with that scenerio.
If the water block is to be of the impingement type- How is the heat pipe to accept the jet(s)? Keep in mind that if the pipe does not have the cold side above the hot side it must have some sort of wicking material inside to get the liquid back to the cold side. So the interior of a machined baseplate for the waterblock would probably have to be coated with a sintered metal to allow liquid return. Also the tubes are usually made of copper and are quite thin. We have seen how thin baseplates on waterblocks can distort under the clamping pressure required to create a good TIM joint. So attaching the tube directly to the core becomes a problem as it will distort when pressure is applied. Also note that most tubes use water under a vaccum which may further induce distortion under pressure.
Finally consider that the tube will probably be made of copper. Just because it is a heat tube does not alter the conductivity of the shell material. As in the Cascade, the baseplate is already close to, if not at, the minimum thickness to avoid distortion. If the tube must be that thick what have you gained? The conductivity of copper remains the same at the base plate and at the block on the CPU. Between those you have the added thermal resistence, however good, of the heat tube. Lots of work...lots of cost...the one advantage would be being able to relocate the water block in cases if severe hieght restrictions within the case.
Yup, I did think about this a fair amount when I first found out about heat tubes. I had thought about incorparating one inside a water block. But the same applies, water cooling is close to it's pinnacle with impingment blocks like the cascade. A large conduction area within the block is not required and adding more components beyond the the impingment surface only adds more thermal resistance.