PC Construction - Guru Tips & Comments Wanted!

Copper is one of the best heat conductors and is what I would look towards but the bottom transfer plate maybe be another surface and as long as it's super flat or domed to tighten flat with a mirror finish you'll be go to go.

madcratebuilder said:

Dreadstar said:

I'm going to double post, and take the heat for it, but I do have some questions.


Whats the major difference between;

Copper/Chrome/Steel (Looks like it) Water Blocks for the CPU?

Which gives the desired results?

There can be compatibility issues with mixing different types of metals in the cooling loop. This may cause corrosion on the metal components and/or a build up of contaminates in the coolant that can cause a blockage or reduced flow.

linnemeyerhere said:

Copper is one of the best heat conductors and is what I would look towards but the bottom transfer plate maybe be another surface and as long as it's super flat or domed to tighten flat with a mirror finish you'll be go to go.

I planned on using all copper. Spoke to my Cisco instructor, and he said to use copper for any water cooling project.

linnemeyerhere, what do you mean a domed or super flat? I thought they were all flat, lol.

Don't mix metals in your water cooling system, some are copper and some are copper coated with aluminum. Alan is right, copper conducts heat better than most any metal. But, make sure the tubes inside the radiator are copper if you use a copper block, which I believe most are. It does not matter what the outside of the rad is. The rad has tubes inside that the water runs through, make sure they are copper as most are. If the block is copper coated with aluminum, it is usually OK as the water only comes in contact with the copper inside the block. But, Madcratebuilder is correct, check all these things before you buy. It is usually in the description. Mixing metals in a watercooling system can cause all kinds of problems.

Lay a straight edge, like a razor blade accross almost any CPU. You will see they are not perfectly flat. You will be able to see light from beneath the razor blade. Some manufacturers try to make the heat plate on CPU coolers to match the shape of the CPU. Best case scenario is 100% metal to metal contact with no gaps, which will never happen. So, we use thermal paste to fill in those gaps.

Many premium block manufacturers are making the bottom of their plates domed so under normal mounting pressure they flair out flat, some just go for a super flat to start. As essenbe mentions the proper high performance thermal paste will fill those microscopic gaps and aids heat transfer.

Before I purchase any of the parts, I'll post here, so I can have an experienced person check out my build. I'm still not 100% sure on exactly everything I would need. Like I said, I've never done Water Cooling before, I've looked at diagrams and what not of exactly what parts do what, and I'm confused to hell.

Things like, what size tanks do I need? How many tanks do I need? What kind of connectors do I need? What sizes? That type of stuff. I'm trying to learn as much as I can.