High Performance Gold/Silver Heatsink

[JohnnyMash]

"What a waste of money!"

You all thought it when you clicked the post. Sure, going to liquid/refrigeration is going to be cheaper than buying a solid gold heatsink, and new HDT heatpipe sinks that touch the pipes to the IHS directly are proving their strengths, but would you pay that extra $40 to have perhaps gold or silver plating? Even silver soldering on crucial contact areas and joints, gold plated fins or silver base core, a funky 24k deformable gold thermal pad on its base that would not require a thermal grease, although we do have silver TIM, making this largely a huge waste that wouldn't be as efficient as a good compound.

For bling factor, a fully plated design. Gold, silver, even bronze and brass. Those who want to add pimp factor can then opt for a chromed fan that looks like a spinner rim.

The nearest I could find on the forums was this: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/121613-29-copper-heatsink-silver-core-diys : where some dude filled copper plumbing end caps with silver to put on his GeForce4 (tee hee .. its from 2002)

It might be a bit much for the humble heatsink, but you'd have the biggest e-peen on the block. Copper is all well and good, but at the rates it goes for today, why not lash out and step up to a precious metal? Screw your "$497.75c Budget Gaming Rig Help", this is for us with the bucks! You may be able to find a local electroplating/dipping factory who will plate your HS for mere pennies, depending on if they have leftover from the end of a big job. T.R.U.E. owners are gonna have to pay for that surface area, though! For those of us who live on air ......... ... ... they could be the swankiest geek at the LAN party.

Any links to custom jobs or aforementioned heatsinks would be great. Tell me about yours if it's custom!

 

[zodiacfml]

i just have to say in a performance perspective not bling.
for cooling, the surface area is most important for air, water, and compressed gas. in all types, all they do is dump heat in the environment,
that's why heatpipes beat solid copper solutions even if copper is a better material.
water cooling wouldn't be better if its radiator is the size of an air cooling heatsink.

 

[outlw6669]

I give you the Zalman CNPS3100G gold plated Hs.
As far as I know, it was the only consumer grade gold Hs made.

The CNPS3100 and CNPS3100G are virtually the identical. Except for the gold plating on the latter. Of the two it would seem that there is a slight performance increase using the unplated heatsink, but the results are so close together there really isn't much of a difference.

Google also found me one silver Hs called the Akasa Silver.
According to the review, it was a decent Hs but not spectacular.

 

[JohnnyMash]

I give you the Zalman CNPS3100G gold plated Hs.
As far as I know, it was the only consumer grade gold Hs made.

The CNPS3100 and CNPS3100G are virtually the identical. Except for the gold plating on the latter. Of the two it would seem that there is a slight performance increase using the unplated heatsink, but the results are so close together there really isn't much of a difference.

Google also found me one silver Hs called the Akasa Silver.
According to the review, it was a decent Hs but not spectacular.

Thanks outlw6669, interesting to see that the unplated version may have the edge there. I wonder if the change of medium does have an effect. I initially posed this after thinking about my Zalman CNPS9700 NT, which is a nickel plated copper cooler. The difference between this and the unplated CNPS9700 (no NT) is minor in favour of the unplated one too. The medium mitigates the area needed for dissipation, and there is also the other barrier of the two metals interfacing, so I wonder if a more conductive outer coating other than nickel or copper would be helpful. From the article, it says that silver is better than gold, which I assumed. It can conduct heat further with more efficiency, helping take heat to outer fin edges, or even to assist 'leech' the heat from copper fins, cooling quickly near the source. Silver heatpipes? Provided an adequate heatsink is attached, surely they would perform better than copper ones too.

I'm just waiting for a metalurgist to come and give me harsh words on why this is not done :lol:

i just have to say in a performance perspective not bling.
for cooling, the surface area is most important for air, water, and compressed gas. in all types, all they do is dump heat in the environment,
that's why heatpipes beat solid copper solutions even if copper is a better material.
water cooling wouldn't be better if its radiator is the size of an air cooling heatsink.

Yes. I'm talking about changing the water out for a more conductive liquid and a 'blacker' radiator. If you have ever wondered why your kitchen sink feels cooler than the benchtop, that's because really there is no huge temperature difference between the two. The sink carries the heat away from your fingers much quicker than wood, thus appearing to be at a lower temperature, while really, it is just a better conducting medium. This is what I'm getting at.