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Originally Posted by unregistered
eek, wrong statement
should have been "I do not believe that brass/copper rads are inherently superior to aluminum.
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for the tube of a Rad, material is not the key of performence, but for the fins it is.
Like the fins in aircooling, aluminum fins of a rad never can be "longer" than copper one, check a 90's HC made in aluminum, the length of the fin between the tubes is much more shorter, u can easy tell it by comparing the numbers of the tubes in almost the same width of a copper fin HC and the aluminum fin one.
However, these fins in a HC are still shorter than 1/2" usually, further more the heat is conducted from the two sides(tubes), unlike the fins in aircooling only from one side(the base), all of these contribute to restraining the superior of copper fin 2.
IMO, the reason of brass/copper is a good combination for a rad includes:
1. brass can get along with the copper base of waterblock and other copper parts in the loop better than aluminum; if only concerning performance copper is the best, even aluminum tube easily beat the brass one, but considering the thickness of the tube, its not a big deal, brass tube is not as soft as copper one and can make the liquid snake;
2. for the junction of the fins and the tube, I am not familiar with soldering, but brass and copper should be better. copper fins can be longer, which is helpful to maximum the air flow inside the rad.
so, brass/copper is still a good choice expecially for its low cost.
Sorry for my poor english expression.