Aluminium Foil under the Heatsink

i wish to discuss about the use of Aluminium foils under the heatsink

i've came across some manufacturers like Dell, and XBox which uses aluminium foil in between the heatsink and CPU

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/03/12/mi...eatsink-video/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-wyBafJpSI
http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles...91&cid=14&pg=2

also .. some Intel CPU stock heatsinks are equiped with it as well

any ideas why they're placed that way? could it improve the temps?
i could not find any relevant articles regarding to this alu foils under the heatsink

I always take that off and use real TIM. Almost always get better temps after doing that.

It is probably just what the stock thermal paste is put on. So to make it easier to manufacture, instead of applying paste to every cpu, they just stamp on this little peice of alu foil, which is just el cheapo thermal pad + alu foil + more el cheapo thermal pad. Get it?

Cheap + easy more than likely. I really doubt it would out perform decently applied TIM. They aim for cool enough rather than efficiently cooled imho.

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Originally Posted by SparkyJJO

I always take that off and use real TIM.

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me too .. but i cant get off my mind about the possibilities of using aluminium foil .. especially when intel uses it on their stock heatsinks

especially when we use alu foil to bake, roast, grill etc

the thing is .. the reflective part of aluminium foil tends to cool better??

i do sand and polish the heatsinks till reflectivity .. but i wonder if the contents of the aluminium foil or its alloy could benefit cooling.

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Originally Posted by Serpentarius

me too .. but i cant get off my mind about the possibilities of using aluminium foil .. especially when intel uses it on their stock heatsinks

especially when we use alu foil to bake, roast, grill etc

the thing is .. the reflective part of aluminium foil tends to cool better??

i do sand and polish the heatsinks till reflectivity .. but i wonder if the contents of the aluminium foil or its alloy could benefit cooling.

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intel hasnt used that for a long time they use a paraffin silicon/aluminum oxide compound (that ruins the parts that it touches from the wax)

the only reason for that fail is that its a few cents per application (if that) and its mass production friendly. using that on the xbox is one of the reasons why then die

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Serpentarius

me too .. but i cant get off my mind about the possibilities of using aluminium foil .. especially when intel uses it on their stock heatsinks

especially when we use alu foil to bake, roast, grill etc

the thing is .. the reflective part of aluminium foil tends to cool better??

i do sand and polish the heatsinks till reflectivity .. but i wonder if the contents of the aluminium foil or its alloy could benefit cooling.

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no, get some i7 Diamond TM.. Best I have found..

Anything placed between the core itself and the heatsink can only slow down the thermal transfer. You MAY want to consider placing something in-between the heatsink and the core if it conducts heat significantly better than the heatsink, and you are trying to remove heat from a very small core, and dissipate it into a large aluminum heatsink. Or something to that effect.

Foil would in no way improve the contact, or transfer of heat. Lap the heatsink and use good thermal paste. You can try additional pressure on the heatsink as well.

:rofl::ROTF: Try it and report back with results!

Hmm, I thought that was a soft lead plate...