MindDrive Posted June 7, 2004 Posted June 7, 2004 I hear a lot about people using different 'additives' for "water" cooling to keep algae out and whatnot and i have a few questions about what "CAN" be used as coolant: 1) can you use antifreeze (standard green, and/or the newer orange stuff) 2) can mineral oil be used for it draws more heat away than water does and it doesnt conduct electricity 3) can a normal/stock heatsink be mod'd to work like a water cooling block or are there "special" characteristics that blocks have within them that make them unique? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
airman Posted June 7, 2004 Posted June 7, 2004 i know the answers to 1 and 3... 1 - antifreeze won't help it cool better - the only good thing about it is it's anti-corrosiveness. 3 - yes, they can. all you really have to do, is just form a...'box' to be completely sealed over the heatsink, and just pump water through it instead of air. That would work really well, and it would cost less that a waterblock. (unless you get like an SP-97 or something) the special characteristics you are talking about...is i guess the metals of which they are made out of. For example...the best metal for cooling is Silver, Then Copper, then aluminum. keep in mind the metals have to be in pure elemental form, or else you will get a big performance drop. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCC10281982B Posted June 7, 2004 Posted June 7, 2004 Moding a heatsink would be really hard. Welding would prob be involved. There are waterblocks out there that use that concept. Distilled water and water watter or uv dye for water cooling work well. I use frozencpu water dye, good stuff, and looks cool. Keep in mind that this is not cheap. I spent about $300 usd on my setup. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sykocus Posted June 7, 2004 Posted June 7, 2004 i have doubts the mineral oil is better then water at conducting heat. if it is then you have the problem of pumping it though your system. i'm almost sure it would void the warrenty of the pump. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crash Posted June 7, 2004 Posted June 7, 2004 DON'T use mineral oil! It may degrade the tubing and cause internal damage to the pump seals - mostly neoprene. Mineral oil is generally used for imersion cooling, maybe that's where you got the idea? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastSS Posted June 7, 2004 Posted June 7, 2004 the special characteristics you are talking about...is i guess the metals of which they are made out of. For example...the best metal for cooling is Silver, Then Copper, then aluminum. keep in mind the metals have to be in pure elemental form, or else you will get a big performance drop. I would think gold would be better then silver. if your goodwith a drill press and welder you could easily make your own water block and to whatever spec you wanted. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agallion Posted June 7, 2004 Posted June 7, 2004 silver not gold is the most conductive element known to man however since it heats up rather quickly we use gold instead i made a thread asking why we dont use silver about 6 months ago i think its under general harware discussion Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
k1e1v1i1n Posted June 7, 2004 Posted June 7, 2004 the most conductive element knows to man is the fork just try sticking 1 into a wall socket and see for urself as always have a cam rolling Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardnrg Posted June 7, 2004 Posted June 7, 2004 so, if i'm hearing this right... a silver fork is the most conductive substance known to man... so get the silverware out, ignore the knives and spoons, they won't work, just the forks... pick out the shiniest one and then mod it into a waterblock! hey presto, best cooling ever. (edit: pewter silver won't work, it's gotta be pure silver... so if you don't have a 24-piece silver dinner set already, my advice would be to purchase a single silver fork from your local well-reputed silverware dealer) (edit 2: don't try kelvin's fork trick in the UK... cos at 240V you will probably die) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastSS Posted June 7, 2004 Posted June 7, 2004 at 120V it wont be favoable either. why not have a silver copper heat sink? silver isnt that expensive. I would make the contact patch copper, then make the rest silver. Hmmm if I was running water cooling I would make my own block. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackRussell Posted June 7, 2004 Posted June 7, 2004 3) can a normal/stock heatsink be mod'd to work like a water cooling block or are there "special" characteristics that blocks have within them that make them unique? I pondered trying the same thing. Considered the difficulty and time to make it and the risk it'll leak despite my best efforts and what it'll look like... then considered the cost of a really proper high performance copper block... just came full circle. Nice hobby project, but not practical alternative to just buying a proper block. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FollowerCTO Posted June 7, 2004 Posted June 7, 2004 about the whole silver better than copper better than aluminum: Arctic SILVER 5 (I rest my case there) Copper can pull heat away from something and hold more heat than aluminum, but aluminum dissipates heat faster than copper (copper base, aluminum fin hybrids) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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