Heatsinks, are they really that effective?

[Guest]

I mean think about it
its a piece of flat metal which gets hot from the cpu,
and then a fan on top blowing or sucking hot air away

this isn't that really good means of cooling
Why not take the heatsink off and have direct air blowing on the core?

Wouldn't that be more effective?

Or what about some suction thing like a vacuum that always sucks away the heat

Im sure someone other then the water cooling can think of something better.

--I too come from a distinguished line, "his cousin's an electric shaver"-- Tbirdinside

 

[Guest]

The heat from the core is transfered into the material that is the heat sink. The heat dissipates up the fins where the greater surface area allows for a greater heat transfer rate to the air.

In other words, a chip with just air on it would burn to a crisp because the heat can't leave the chip fast enough due to surface area constraints, whereas the heatsink spreads the heat out, allowing all of it to dissipate to the air.

To achieve greater cooling, you can change the fluid that carries the heat away from the heatsink. This is why water coolers work so well, as water has a far greater heat capacity than air.

--------
I have not yet begun to procrastinate.

 

[ejsmith2]

Why not have a small cup of water on the cpu, and trickle water in as it evaporates. Or you could do like the good-ole-navy does it's airplanes and have it leak water at a constant rate, refilling it when necessary.
There's somethings that just haven't been explored......


You can always test it yourself, by removing the heatsink and turning the computer on.
Don't expect to play Unreal though.

 

[mousepotato]

Good idea. Water boils at 100°C. Your cpu temp will probably be a consistent 130°C or so. You are a genius.

 

[mousepotato]

What you mean it won't work? I can tell you it does work, because I just made this mod to my combÈGåÂÐÖÚxÀáàF. wª^ter is starting to boil noè/\/. EvÅÔ¹thing looks gooWt?´ÏÄ¡@#yL

 

[Crashman]

Heatsinks work excellent-Porche used them for years, you can still get motorcycles cooled that way also-even water cooled things use the radiator as a.....HEATSINK!

Suicide is painless...........

 

[Rop]

Well a no heatsink CPU will last about 18 Seconds untill it is fried for good. A friend actually tried it once.. heh

Rop

Why do I use LINUX ? Cause its the BEST OS
Why do I use Windows? Cause its the BEST Nintendo..

 

[HolyGrenade]

>>I can be SURE than in under <b>18secs</b>, you CPU will fry <b>INSTANTLY!</b>

Wow! A new timewarp theory?

>> But I think a CPU can only last for about 10secs when @ 98C!

Depending on the cpu, they can run for minutes. and they'll start to have huge amounts off errors crashing windows giveing enough time switch off before frying.


<i><b><font color=red>"2 is not equal to 3, not even for large values of 2"</font color=red></b></i>

 

[dhlucke]

Tbird, that's not a cool thread to start. What if some fool actually tries it? Common sense and a general class in physics/chemistry teaches you about the conductivity of metals and thier proper use as a heatsink.

PEOPLE, DON'T RUN THE COMPUTER WITHOUT A HEATSINK!!

<font color=red>Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.</font color=red>
Pablo Picasso

 

[HolyGrenade]

There are 3 methods of heat transfer.

1. Conduction.
2. Convection.
3. Radiation.

The most effective is conduction. This is when heat is transferred through solid or liquid. The transfer is quite fast through high thermal conductors such as copper. Water, as a liquid, also performs quite well. In this case the heat is xferred from the CPU to the HSF (maybe through the Thermal compound, if there is any). And then through the water if you are using a water cooler.

Convection is when the heat is transferred to air around the hot object and vice versa. The higher the surface area, the better the result. Also, more air means a better transfer rate. In this case, The air blowing into the heatsink.

Radiation is when heat is transferred in and around the infra red spectrum. here the darker and more matte surfaces absorbe and release heat and the light shiny surfaces reflect heat. This method isn't very effective in small areas and isn't likely to be taken in consideration when building Heat sinks.

So, the small surface area of the CPU core alone is not sufficient to convect the air away, hence the Huge heatsink.


<i><b><font color=red>"2 is not equal to 3, not even for large values of 2"</font color=red></b></i>

 

[Grizely1]

Ok wise guy, go ahead and try it. see what happens (ROFL)

if you don't understand how a heatsink works I am too lazy to explain it (hehe).

-----------------
"648kb is all the space anyone will ever need!"

Bill Gates, 1980s

 

[Guest]

I've run a computer with no heat sink for about 10 mins. i just had a lot of fans pointed at that chip (it was one of thoes amd k6-2's that evergreen used on their spectras) it shut itself down after that. i still use it and it isn't half bad. i was sure i fried it after the first time... but by the 10th time i tried it i was pretty confident that it wouldn't explode on me.

 

[silverpig]

"if you don't understand how a heatsink works I am too lazy to explain it (hehe)"

Ahhh, the good old "if you don't know I'm not gonna tell you" routine... I hated it when my ex g/f used that one on me... lol

Really love your peaches wanna shake your tree.

 

[Guest]

I never meant people to run their pc's without a heatsink

the point was to find a better coolind method

Im talking about me, i want to try some better cooling method myself.
<b>Of course use a heatsink and a fan on ur cpu</b> but me im taking my own risk to try something better

I just was curious about the heatsink and wusy explained what it exactly does but i honestly didn't know i swear

I knew it had some specific heat purpose of course but i thought a fan on top would be like direct cooling..

but i asked and found out

<b> always use a heatsink and fan </b>






--I too come from a distinguished line, "his cousin's an electric shaver"-- Tbirdinside

 

[yoda271828]

HolyGrenade,
Overall that was a very good explaination, however you have a few details wrong. Conduction only applies to solids, and convection applies to all fluids (air, water, magma, etc...). Also there is no best heat transfer mode. All three can be equally effective given the proper conditions, and a combination of all three almost always yields the best results.

 

[ejsmith2]

There's a fourth method of energy transfer, but I'm still evaluating it.

4. Beer

 

[HolyGrenade]

Well I refrained from going into any details before, you aren't entirely correct.

Conduction is any transfer of heat and thus energy through particle to particle contact. And that includes high density fluids such as water etc. When the water heats up it creates a current and the fluid movement also transfers heat via convection.

There is a best method of transfer given any situation. In the situation of a CPU heat sink, it is a combination of Convection and Conduction.

Air:
CPU -> Heatsink = conduction.
Heatsink -> Air = also conduction to an extent. But the hot air is quickly removed an replaced by cold air. Which is convection.

Water:
CPU -> Waterblock = again it is conduction.
Waterblock -> Water = conduction.
The Circulation of water through the waterblock and the tank is convection.


<i><b><font color=red>"2 is not equal to 3, not even for large values of 2"</font color=red></b></i>