[SOLVED] Heat pipe efficiency confusion ?

[tek3195]

I am looking at a few air coolers and trying to decide on which heat pipe layout would be better. I'm looking at 6x 6mm, 5x 8mm and one with 2x 8mm + 4x 6mm. When I looked here I got in over my head, but it looked like smaller heat pipes were more efficient. That's where the confusion really started. Are some manufacturers using 8mm pipes on some of their coolers because they are better or is it more of a gimmick to make some of us think they are better. I believe most of us think in general that bigger is better, but looking at celsiainc.com has me thinking otherwise. Can someone help me to better understand the difference in performance of the different size heat pipes. I understand that different manufacturers will use different heat pipe manufacturing processes and two different brand, same diameter pipes will not necessarily perform the same. What are the advantages or disadvantages of 6mm vs 8mm from same manufacturer with same properties ?

I didn't include names or models that I'm looking at because my question is about the heat pipes. I am not wanting answers to be clouded by brand popularity, reputation or personal preference.

 

[4745454b]

I think your over thinking it. You can't look at one spec and decide which is best. Which car is faster, the one with a v8 or a v6? Without knowing weight, transmission, HP, etc you can't say. The end result of tech is the sum of the parts, and looking at only one spec will get you in trouble.

Look up reviews of the coolers you are interested in. Don't worry annoy number of pipes, fan speed, etc.

 

[tek3195]

I think your over thinking it. You can't look at one spec and decide which is best. Which car is faster, the one with a v8 or a v6? Without knowing weight, transmission, HP, etc you can't say. The end result of tech is the sum of the parts, and looking at only one spec will get you in trouble.

Look up reviews of the coolers you are interested in. Don't worry annoy number of pipes, fan speed, etc.

Thanks, I'm not basing my decision on any one element. The heat pipes were just something I was wanting to know about, which led me to celsia. Didn't quite understand it when I got there, but that's how I got there. The coolers I was looking at are lacking in the review arena as most are too new, have only one or two reviews or are older coolers and the reviews aren't as relevant for me as I plan on changing fans which will change the performance for the better on an already good cooler. In fact, the whole reason I began looking at number and size of heat pipes was the lack of reviews to compare. I'm looking at all of it, and they are a part of it.
Reviews have to be looked at rather closely also. There are those that test and review components such as fans, that have one brand clearly excel in every test and in the end, their conclusion is that Noctua was the better fan. Granted, up until now I have based every decision from reading and watching reviews. But even they can fall prey to popular opinion or advertising dollars. And to be clear, no, they were not tom'sHardware reviews.

I still have the question of which heat pipe has better performance, 6mm or 8mm ?

 

[CountMike]

Thanks, I'm not basing my decision on any one element. The heat pipes were just something I was wanting to know about, which led me to celsia. Didn't quite understand it when I got there, but that's how I got there. The coolers I was looking at are lacking in the review arena as most are too new, have only one or two reviews or are older coolers and the reviews aren't as relevant for me as I plan on changing fans which will change the performance for the better on an already good cooler. In fact, the whole reason I began looking at number and size of heat pipes was the lack of reviews to compare. I'm looking at all of it, and they are a part of it.
Reviews have to be looked at rather closely also. There are those that test and review components such as fans, that have one brand clearly excel in every test and in the end, their conclusion is that Noctua was the better fan. Granted, up until now I have based every decision from reading and watching reviews. But even they can fall prey to popular opinion or advertising dollars. And to be clear, no, they were not tom'sHardware reviews.

I still have the question of which heat pipe has better performance, 6mm or 8mm ?

Given same number of pipes, larger are better but that's just one element in cooler's construction.
In essence it's combined diameter that counts.

 

[4745454b]

I woulda argue that fin design and fan Ida more important. Who cares if you have 8mm pipes if the overall design of the tower is lacking? And reviews can have issues. But it's really all we have unless you want to buy a lot of xyz and test them yourself.

 

[Phaaze88]

8mm has higher surface area than 6mm. There's more to it than this, so which has better performance is over-simplifying it.
On top of what's already been said, there's also the weight of the heatsink.

 

[tek3195]

8mm has higher surface area than 6mm. There's more to it than this, so which has better performance is over-simplifying it.
On top of what's already been said, there's also the weight of the heatsink.

Thanks, with all the above I may should have asked in a different forum. Maybe an engineer or thermal engineering forum as I was wanting to learn about the pipes themselves. The cpu cooler is what got me started, but quickly faded as my main focus. I found what I was looking for at celsiainc.com, what better place to learn from than a thermal engineering solution company with tons of information free for the taking.
Weight of a heatsink is widely influenced by design and manufacturing processes. The type of sinterring and diameter of pipes, the density of the fin stack, whether soldered or pressed,solid base plate or vapor chamber would all effect weight. Too dense of a fin stack would be heavy but restrict airflow causing the heavier cooler to suffer in performance compared to a lighter one.
That's why I say I should have asked somewhere else. You can't single out any one element of a cooler without it being picked apart. Yes they all have to go together and viewed as a whole component.

 

[USAFRet]

That's why I say I should have asked somewhere else. You can't single out any one element of a cooler without it being picked apart. Yes they all have to go together and viewed as a whole component.

I am looking at a few air coolers and trying to decide on which heat pipe layout would be better.

As said above, you can't look at that in isolation.

Cooler A with 8mm pipes may perform worse than Cooler B with 6mm pipes.

If everything else is identical, larger is usually better.
But 'identical' can't happen.

 

[USAFRet]

Further....6mm pipes may give the opportunity to include 6 pipes, vs 4x if they were 8mm.

Is 6 pipes better than 4?

 

[4745454b]

If you already knew the answer I'm not sure why you asked? Yes, assuming everything else the same, 8mm pipes can move more fluid, and hence heat, than 6mm pipes. More pipes also move more. But because all things aren't equal I honestly don't care if my next cooler has 2 pipes. If it cools great I don't care how many pipes it has.

 

[tek3195]

If you already knew the answer I'm not sure why you asked? Yes, assuming everything else the same, 8mm pipes can move more fluid, and hence heat, than 6mm pipes. More pipes also move more. But because all things aren't equal I honestly don't care if my next cooler has 2 pipes. If it cools great I don't care how many pipes it has.

I didn't know the answer when I asked the question, hence the question. Found what I needed here https://celsiainc.com/technology/heat-pipe/ . I tried to convey the message that my interest had changed after posting the question and the cooler no longer mattered. I was looking for info on heat pipes whether they were in a cpu cooler or anything else. I guess knowing something works is not enough for me, never has been. I want to know how it works, why it works and the benefits or disadvantages of it working, whatever it may be.

 

[USAFRet]

I want to know how it works, why it works and the benefits or disadvantages of it working, whatever it may be.

Alloy composition, whatever gas/liquid is inside, wall thickness, method of merging of heatpipe and the fin block, etc, etc etc.