Quote:
Originally posted by BillA:
The heat removal capability of the coolant is (among other things) a function of the temperature difference between it and the object being cooled. By initially applying the coolant, when it is at its coldest, to the center of the waterblock (which is presumed to be the hottest area), the heat transfer is optimized for that specific area of the waterblock.
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Ok, maybe I'll be shooting myself in the foot here, being pretty new to all this, but I think this paragraph summed up the entire thing, and perfectly illustrated why (IMHO) either of the coolers would be a fine choice.
On the one hand, we have an aluminium waterblock, with the water doing -most- of it's action near the center.
On the other hand, we have a silver waterblock, with the water acting more equally over the entire surface.
If you spend just a moment thinking about that comparison, and going back to some other data that was presented on the thermal transfer properties of these two materials.. I don't know about you, but something jumped right out at me.
Because of it's lower thermal conductivity, the delta (center to outside edge) on the aluminum block will be higher than that of the silver block, by a great deal possibly.
With that in mind, to me anyway, it makes perfect sense to concentrate more on the location where heat is being applied to an aluminium block/plate. With a silver block or plate, because of it's greater thermal conductivity, the delta will be smaller, and you will have to cool the entire surface effectively.
I think the material used is directly related to the kind of fluid circulation pattern you will aim for. For example, using a centrally focused approach on a silver block would probably be a bad idea, because the silver would be more evenly heated (and thus need more even cooling) than the aluminium does.
Hope this made some sense to someone besides me.. it is 5am..
