And strangely enough, we've all failed to answer your question...
"How much do you really lose by using aluminum for your waterblock construction over copper?"
Answer:
It's going to depend on the design of the block.
If you compared the exact same design in both metals (which one wouldn't do), you might see a difference anywhere from 5 degrees C to 20 deg C.
The trick is that the baseplate of the waterblock will have a temperature that will range from hot (against the CPU die) to cold (touching the coolant). In copper, you can use a very thin baseplate (again, depending on the design). In Aluminium, you have to compensate for the thermal resistance by using a thicker baseplate, which increases the hot side temp (Did I get that right, guys?).
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