waterblock design ?

[ROBOPEZ]

why arent the inside of waterblocks similar to the design of cpu heatsinks? with fins and stuff? and maybe larger in volume? wouldnt thin fins inside the block improve thermal dissipation into the water? Hmm, just a thought....

[redleader]

Fins are used to compensate for the poor thermal conductivity of air. Notice that fins are never beyond a certain length on HS. Thats the length at which normal airflow will have removed nearly all the excess heat before it can pass farther down the pin/fin.

With water the thermal conductivity is probably high enough that the thermal conductivity of copper is matched just by the surface area of a Maze-type design. If thats true then pins would be unneeded.

At least that would explain why waterblocks are so different from sinks.

[hielko]

That not the case.

The problem however is that constructing a copper waterblobk with fins isn't easy and therefor cheap.

[redleader]

No, but moding an Sk6 (or even a cheaper Cu sink) into a waterblock wouldn't be too difficult. Nor too expensive, at least not compared to the Maze2 or the Silverblocks. I'd think if the performance was there people would be doing it.

Afterall they go so far as to make silver blocks that cost 2x as much as Cu for a 5% increase in thermal conductivity.

[ROBOPEZ]

yea, see, thats what I mean-- the sk6 review said it sells for 45 bucks- i mean, if that thing was enclosed, and had two water plugs, couldnt it cool better than the thick waterblock design they are using now? of course, a little consideration would have to be given to ensure proper circulation in there, but with 36 very thin fins, i just thought it would be possible to remove more heat faster. I dunno, just a free idea for somebody to try maybe.....?