View Full Version : use of silver for a water block
Athanatos
03-04-2008, 07:26 PM
since silver has a higher thermal conductivity than copper, how much better would it be for use as a water block? would tarnishing affect its thermal conductivity?
Boogerlad
03-04-2008, 07:29 PM
i'm not sure about the tarnishing part, but it would probably perform better than copper by 1-2 degrees celcius because of it's slightly higher thermal conductivity. it isn't worth the cost. however, it serves as a great biocide.
Athanatos
03-04-2008, 07:31 PM
hmm pretty negligalble difference
ahhh well
3lfk1ng
03-04-2008, 07:37 PM
You know, you may think it "negligible" but that 1-2degree is a big difference.
There is a reason why many enthusiasts spend hours lapping and buffing a HSF for that extra 1-2 degrees.
In the end that 1-2 degrees could make that overclock.
It's not a bad idea...
Pedalmonkey
03-04-2008, 07:47 PM
and it eliminates the need for a biocide, therefore keeping the thermal properties of the dist. H2O the same. :p but now were just splitting hairs. from a cost standpoint its not really worth it, but if u want it, go for it. This is XS afterall.
NaeKuh
03-04-2008, 07:51 PM
lol...
if your thinkn of getting a silver bullon and making a block out of it, i already estimated it.
You need most likely a fairly big piece. About 150-200 dollars worth to make a block.
And if you mean you want to buy a silver block, the only one i can think of is the TDX and a Storm G4, G5 which arent the best blocks as of this moment.
Kayin
03-04-2008, 07:58 PM
You can always melt down sterling jewelry...
I'm seriously thinking of doing it.
Pedalmonkey
03-04-2008, 08:00 PM
or silverware. you can find that stuff at garage sales all over the place.
Yeknom
03-04-2008, 08:01 PM
lol...
if your thinkn of getting a silver bullon and making a block out of it, i already estimated it.
You need most likely a fairly big piece. About 150-200 dollars worth to make a block.
And if you mean you want to buy a silver block, the only one i can think of is the TDX and a Storm G4, G5 which arent the best blocks as of this moment.
Are you saying that if you have a TDX, you don't need biocide?
Nate P.
03-04-2008, 08:03 PM
Are you saying that if you have a TDX, you don't need biocide?
A silver TDX.
joecop120
03-04-2008, 08:06 PM
think about it this way, if you make a mistake....thats a lot of dough to just toss into making silver VGA heatsinks, lol
lol...
if your thinkn of getting a silver bullon and making a block out of it, i already estimated it.
You need most likely a fairly big piece. About 150-200 dollars worth to make a block.
And if you mean you want to buy a silver block, the only one i can think of is the TDX and a Storm G4, G5 which arent the best blocks as of this moment.
You better check your sources. The closing spot price today was about $20 per ounce. 16 oz. to a miserable pound. And you are talking about bullion. I would not bet on $200 a block of silver today. Think double.
Pedalmonkey
03-04-2008, 08:19 PM
you might be better of casting a block. use a Fuzion base as a template.
NaeKuh
03-04-2008, 09:41 PM
You better check your sources. The closing spot price today was about $20 per ounce. 16 oz. to a miserable pound. And you are talking about bullion. I would not bet on $200 a block of silver today. Think double.
very true iany..
But i was quotting ebay prices. LOL...
Big_Daddy
03-04-2008, 10:10 PM
You know, google has everything. :)
"Silver's tendency to tarnish does not affect its electrical performance," says a report of a 20-year exposure test of thousands of electrical contacts at 4,000 locations in different environments ranging from business offices to severe industrial locations such as petroleum refineries. The tests conducted by the Battelle-Columbus Laboratories, Columbus, OH, show that silver tarnish films are soft and readily wiped off with use; therefore in the field they perform well on tarnish because they are tough and offer high resistance. Films on other metals like copper, even when the corrosion is barely visible, cannot be tolerated. c/o (http://www.silverinstitute.org/uses.php)
I know it's not talking water contact, but think of it, the TIM will keep the CPU side free of tarnish, The water side should be as well. And a little coat of protectant around the outside to keep it looking shiney.
Lekko
03-04-2008, 10:40 PM
Would silver have any issue "playing nice" with copper in a loop?
Would silver have any issue "playing nice" with copper in a loop?
No.
IMO, it will be a negligible difference. It won't hit even 1 degree.
The thermal conductivity of copper is 401 W/m*C and pure silver's is 429 W/m*C (from wikipedia). This is just 7% difference. So, if your copper WB's thermal resistance is about 0.08 W/C, than the silver one will have ~0.075 C/W, so the difference is only 0.005C/W. With 200W CPU the thermal difference will be 200W * 0.005C/W = 1C in the best case... It is in case of absolutely equal sizes and construction of water block.
If someone is ready to spend 200 bucks for 1C on a highly overclocked CPU, than go for it, it's not for nothing this site is called XtremeSystems :yepp:.
But I think it is better to use better thermal compound or buy a better waterblock or upgrade a pump...
creidiki
03-05-2008, 12:51 AM
The real issue is one of convenience, and one that silver G5 owners know quite well:
Silver is /SOFT/. You have to re-lap the base every few mounts because it soon starts to look like a plasticine cast of what you're trying to cool - well, i exaggerate, but the base does get noticeable marking, especially on naked-die applications, and the whole block will happily bend over time.
Boogerlad
03-05-2008, 07:48 AM
what are the dimensions of a 10 oz bullion silver bar? i've been looking for dimensions everywhere, and i think 10 oz is the right mass for the right size. I looked at swiftech's website, and i could see that a 6.7 oz piece of copper is about 5*5*1 cm, and since silver is a bit denser than copper, a 5*5*1 piece of silver would be around 10 oz right? it's about 15 bucks per ounce in canada, so 150 + milling machine to get silver wb.
coolmiester
03-05-2008, 10:53 AM
You got to remember that Danger Den and Cather used 99.9% pure silver for their blocks not just sterling silver which has a much lower silver content so if you're thinking about making one you need to source pure silver.
There have been many including RBX (http://www.coolercases.co.uk/images/Cascade/silver_rbx.jpg), TDX (http://www.coolercases.co.uk/images/Cascade/silver_tdx.jpg), Cascade (http://www.coolercases.co.uk/images/Cascade/silver_cascade.jpg) and Storm (http://www.coolercases.co.uk/images/Cascade/storm_4.jpg) which i can recall and used and still have the latter two.
STEvil
03-05-2008, 03:14 PM
Collect old silver coins
Melt and cast them.
Mill.
Percentage of silver will have little impact on performance as some impurities will be lost during casting process and most silver percentages in coins/etc are 75-98% anyways.
Zaskar
03-05-2008, 04:10 PM
The real issue is one of convenience, and one that silver G5 owners know quite well:
Silver is /SOFT/. You have to re-lap the base every few mounts because it soon starts to look like a plasticine cast of what you're trying to cool - well, i exaggerate, but the base does get noticeable marking, especially on naked-die applications, and the whole block will happily bend over time.
lol make one out of cut connected cloudy diamonds, that problem is solved, also much better thermal conductivity, and also only like 80 times the price.