PCTech Forums

which works best for a heatsink, copper or aluminium, or do they both work the same

Copper does absorb heat better, and aluminum does dissipate it better, but there is a lot of argument about what that actually means for heatsinks. I was looking at a website I while back, I can't remember what it was, but it was by a guy who makes his own heatsinks, and he was showing step-by-steps and tested temps on all of his projects. In a couple of his projects, he was experimenting with copper and he decided that he would try to use each of the metals for what it was good at. That led to a heatsink with a copper base and aluminum fins. It sounds like a really good idea, but when he tested it, it performed only marginally better than a pure copper heatsink. He said the heat didn't seem to be transferring between metals very well. As for pure copper, it was almost a toss up. It seemed a bit better, but he didn't know if it was worth the cost of the metal, or the trouble to work with it for the couple of degrees it gives you.

Personally i use a pure copper heatsink, Thermalright SLK-948U. If you really want great cooling and have extra money, then invest in water cooling. Resertor 1 is meant to by a nice investment