Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware,alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (
More info?)
"JT" said in news:f24f792c8ca269b96997ad805fb96dfe@news.teranews.com:
> On Wed, 28 Apr 2004 04:31:29 -0500, "*Vanguard*"
> <no-email@post-reply-in-newsgroup.invalid> wrote:
>
>>>
>> Gold?
>>
>> Hmm, just had a thought but no time to think it through. Silicone,
>> zinc, aluminum, and silver, in that order, give increasiningly better
>> heat transfer rates. Wouldn't gold be even better? But imagine the
>> price for gold-filled compounds!
>>
>> Oops, never mind. Did some searching to find the thermal
>> conductance of some metals, which are (along with some other
>> materials):
>>
>> Diamond = 1000 to 2600 W/mK (wow!)
>> Silver = 430 W/mK
>> Copper = 390 W/mK
>> Gold = 320 W/mK
>> Aluminum = 236 W/mK
>> Platinum = 70 W/mK
>> Glass = 1 W/mK
>> Air = 0.035 W/mK
>> Styrofoam = 0.03 W/mK
>>
>> The above are for solid materials, not for pastes filled with
>> micronized filler using the above materials. Just imagine the cost
>> for diamond-filled thermal paste! Ouch.
>
> Gold might actually be a good alternative in the form of Gold Leaf.
> Relatively inexpensive at hobby shops, and Gold leaf is one of the
> thinnest, most malleable materials available. A sheet smoothed onto
> the top of the processor would need no paste to hold it, would be
> soft enough to be crushed into the little crevices and gaps, and has
> very good heat conduction. Gold leaf is only a few atoms thick, so
> excess is unlikely. Just have to make sure there was no extra that
> would overhang and short. Will have to experiment with it when I get
> a chance.
>
> JT
I had actually thought of using gold leaf (several sheets) and
originally had it in my post about putting *pure* (24 karat) gold leaf
on the heatsink or on the CPU plate (smaller area) because it would be
soft and malleable. Maybe under pressure with the heatsink clipped onto
the CPU the gold leaf would mold into the cavities and microscopic pits.
But then I realized that what looks perfectly flat to your eye would
still probably end up with microcopically huge air bubbles, and while
malleable the gold would probably not ooze into the pits completely.
The only way it might work would be if there was a means of sending a
high electric current just through the gold leaf to flash melt it (to
minimize any generated heat that would conduct back to the CPU's die),
but I doubt the CPU die is electrically isolated from its heat plate,
and somehow I don't think consumers would have the necessary equipment.
Someone would have to find out if this idea worked and start a service
where users could get their selected heatsink flash fused with gold to
their CPU (or buy them that way as a package).
That's a bit of a dream at this time so I've started to look into the
Peltier cooling systems. I don't want to go with liquid cooling (which
still has a fan somewhere or else you listen to pumps and gurgles, have
to deal with leaks, and route all the plumbing [I like my innards very
neat]). ThermalTake has their SubZero solution but I don't like having
to surrender a PCI slot.
--
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