Cuplex Rev. 1.3 & Silver Edition

[Jag]

Has anyone this cpu waterblock?
As is it made of .925 sterling silver, I suppose the C/W is quite good, so id someone has this WC, please say your opinion and temps.
Link:www.aqua-computer.de

[BillA]

sterling is a total waste
google it

[8-Ball]

As I understand it, the german blocks haven't really taken off in the states, due to a conflict of philosophies with regards to how watercooling should be done.

Since most of the members here are from the states, you may not get much input.

With regards to the block material, 0.925 sterling silver isn't very pure, and the price is too high as a result.

You can get a danger den silver TDX made with 0.99995 silver which is CONSIDERABLY more expensive to buy than sterling silver for $125. By comparison, the aquacomputer block is ~$170.

Also worth noting that the thermal conductivity of sterling silver isn't much higher than copper. Pure silver is only about 9% better than copper, and adding anything in small quantities has a significant effect on conductivity.

It's a rip off if you ask me.

8-ball

[jaydee]

Originally Posted by unregistered

sterling is a total waste
google it

Pure silver is a waste IMO aswell. 9% isn't even measurable on most systems. Don't know what this hoopla about silver is all of the sudden....

[|kbn|]

Thermal conducivity is not the only property of silver that differs to copper.
9% is measureable, but definaltly not worth the cost. I would much prefer a copper block, with maybe electroless silver plating for looks

Whats your thoughts on the specific heat of silver, its roughtly half. Im thinking this is good, because it will heat up quicker, bigger delta-t between water and so transfer heat to water better. Also I think it could have the disadvantage of giving higher waterblock temps, and so the cpu would be hotter, this would make differences between copper and silver a lot closer, and less measureable.
unregistered I think it was you possibly that said a while ago, that specific heat is irrelivant for the base material, as when it hits equilibruim, it makes no difference? anyway who said it doesnt matter, would it be fact?

Reson Im asking this is I got some silver for free, and made a block, it didnt turn out very well, and Im thinking of starting again with copper (as I have no more silver, I wil not be buying any, and so could not use more).

[jaydee]

Originally Posted by |kbn|

9% is measureable

Not when a PC's built in probes are +-10C. 9% is a misleading number anyway. That is not what the difference will be in reality. Cathar stated he got about .5C better out of the Silver Cascade verus the copper. That is not a 9% gain by any stretch. Certainly not worth the cash spent on it for performance gains anyway. Simply a gimick targeted at the "my dick is bigger than yours" crowd or the "I am to ignorant to realize I just pissed away a small fortune on no real gain" crowd (especially the one's to buy a sterling silver block) to put it bluntly.

The money spent on this is better spent on other things. You would gain a lower temp by increasing air flow through the rad than pissing away $100+ on a silver block.

[Cathar]

Originally Posted by jaydee116

Pure silver is a waste IMO aswell. 9% isn't even measurable on most systems. Don't know what this hoopla about silver is all of the sudden....

I guess it's like people with expensive watches. A gold wrist-band doesn't make it tell the time any better, but hey, it looks nice.

A gain is a gain, no matter how small. I always believe myself that it's a waste to use silver on any design where there was significantly more left to gain through better design. Using silver on a poorly performing design to get more performance is truly a tragic waste of the precious metal. That's like having that solid gold wrist-band on a $5 made-in-china watch mechanism that loses 5 minutes a day.

Sure it's "wank appeal", but people will do what they want, and obtain what they want, whether any of us approve or not.

[jaydee]

Originally Posted by Cathar

I guess it's like people with expensive watches. A gold wrist-band doesn't make it tell the time any better, but hey, it looks nice.

A gain is a gain, no matter how small. I always believe myself that it's a waste to use silver on any design where there was significantly more left to gain through better design. Using silver on a poorly performing design to get more performance is truly a tragic waste of the precious metal. That's like having that solid gold wrist-band on a $5 made-in-china watch mechanism that loses 5 minutes a day.

Sure it's "wank appeal", but people will do what they want, and obtain what they want, whether any of us approve or not.

My reply is pretty much summed up in my last post. I am probably more practical than most but I do not see spending an extra $100+ for 0C to 1C gain even in my most liberal state. If I were to be so inclined it certainly would not be a sterling block based on a poor (extremely outdated) design to start with such as the one in question here. Why doesn't Danger Den bring back the Maze 1 in silver and add an extra $100 bill to the tag?

Agreed though, If your going to buy a silver block then at least get a GOOD designed silver block made of pure silver. Common sense should prevail even over impracticality but to many these days take the advertizers word has the holy grail.

[Jag]

Well, on one point I agree with Cathar - it can be compared to buying a gold watch, and if the design is outdated then it's a bad choice.
On the other hand this "watercooling market" is a mix of DIY and technical knowledge, therefore if you don't grasp them both you're more likely to buy a product if the PR advertising is good.
If silver is better than copper, them maybe the results will be better.
Finally in Europe (where I'm at presently), the german manufacturers abound.
Swiftech doesn't hold well due to a french distributor that most of the times has no stocks, a Little River block is also very expensive to buy from Australia due to taxes, insurances and so on, Danger Den and D-TEK can be found but not in large quantities.
Also bear in mind, that it's not widely accepted that higher flows are an advantage in terms of results, and people ask themselves if it's worth, from a standpoint of cost vs. performance to upgrade all the setup just to gain 1ºC.

[|kbn|]

Originally Posted by jaydee116

Not when a PC's built in probes are +-10C. 9% is a misleading number anyway. That is not what the difference will be in reality. Cathar stated he got about .5C better out of the Silver Cascade verus the copper. That is not a 9% gain by any stretch. Certainly not worth the cash spent on it for performance gains anyway. Simply a gimick targeted at the "my dick is bigger than yours" crowd or the "I am to ignorant to realize I just pissed away a small fortune on no real gain" crowd (especially the one's to buy a sterling silver block) to put it bluntly.

The money spent on this is better spent on other things. You would gain a lower temp by increasing air flow through the rad than pissing away $100+ on a silver block.

Not all probes are that bad, internal diode readers iirc are +-2 or 3c, but that wasnt my point. dont quote out of context....
I was asking is the lower specific heat and advantage or not?
For people that want silver looking blocks, electroless silver plating can be done very cheaply (and im supprised its not already being done on commercial blocks, considering how little it costs...). Cant remember exactly but in total about 0.1 - 0.5gram of silver would be enough for a whole block.
As silver doesnt tarnish as quickly and has better thermal conductivity (in this case, not relevant, it wouldnt help..) im suprised it isnt being used as an extra for marketing blocks.

In the UK the only blocks that are easy to get are danger den, d.tek and swiftech, aswell as some form germany. The danger den ones are about £35, which is = to about $50 iirc. Swiftech blocks are about £55 each, about $80, not many people buy them for that reson. Thermochill blocks, that iirc are made in the UK, are selling for £20, why such a difference?

[8-Ball]

Originally Posted by |kbn|

I was asking is the lower specific heat and advantage or not?

Not

The only effect specific heat capacity of the block material has is to vary the rate at which the equilibrium temperature gradient is reached. In other words, a block made from a material with a higher specific heat capacity will not react so quickly to changes in thermal output. So if you suddenly increase cpu usage, it will take longer to reach the new equilibrium temperature than if the block were made of a material of lower specific heat capacity. However, the equilibrium temperature will be the SAME regardless.

8-ball

[pauldenton]

Originally Posted by |kbn|

Thermochill blocks, that iirc are made in the UK, are selling for £20, why such a difference?

thermochill blocks are actually made by the same factory as Dangerden's blocks iirc (hence the similar look to the copper....)

they are cheap now because (like Dtek's TC4 and spiral) they are old products that can no longer command the same price as when they were first available... when as you can see from this review they were about £40....
http://www.themodfathers.jolt.co.uk/...n=show&id=6201

[Butcher]

UK water cooling stuff is stupidly overpriced if you ask me - I got my last lot shipped from Canada and saved about 40% of the cost of buying it more locally, and that's including shipping.

[|kbn|]

Doesnt that depend a lot on if you have to pay import tax?

[Butcher]

Yeah. I didn't get charged.
Even so I think I estimated I'd need to pay about 75% of the value in tax for it to be more expensive, and import duty isn't that bad.

[Pureh20]

ive heard of the copper/silver alloy which has a thermal resistance much lower than that of pure silver (comparing 0.08c/w to 0.06c/w iirc)

[BillA]

Originally Posted by Pureh20

ive heard of the copper/silver alloy which has a thermal resistance much lower than that of pure silver (comparing 0.08c/w to 0.06c/w iirc)

TILT !
NOT Cusil I hope

[jaydee]

Originally Posted by Pureh20

ive heard of the copper/silver alloy which has a thermal resistance much lower than that of pure silver (comparing 0.08c/w to 0.06c/w iirc)

That is what those guys at CPUFX used in their blocks. Said it was the greatest thing EVAR!

[Butcher]

Pity it turned out to be flawed testing - the real numbers lie somewhere below copper (but above most other metals, including Al - around 350m/w-K iirc.