Has anyone seen any literature discussing where the greatest thermal resistance occurs in cooling a cpu. I have been thinking about cooling a CPU as a basically a circuit with resistors, where each resistor represents a a thermal resistance that is impeding heat flow from leaving the chip.
The major resistances I can think of in a cpu system include the resistance from the chip/chip housing thingy to the base of the heat sink (thermal grease zone), the resistance to conduct heat from the bottom of the heat sink to the fins(heat pipe zone), and then the resistance brought on by trying to remove the heat from the fins by way of airflow(fan zone). I was wondering if anyone knew which is the biggest problem when trying to cool a chip.
Is it transfer from chip to sink?
Transfer from bottom sink to top?
Transfer heat from sink to air?
The major resistances I can think of in a cpu system include the resistance from the chip/chip housing thingy to the base of the heat sink (thermal grease zone), the resistance to conduct heat from the bottom of the heat sink to the fins(heat pipe zone), and then the resistance brought on by trying to remove the heat from the fins by way of airflow(fan zone). I was wondering if anyone knew which is the biggest problem when trying to cool a chip.
Is it transfer from chip to sink?
Transfer from bottom sink to top?
Transfer heat from sink to air?