Originally Posted by
[XC] Kayin
Aluminum can be said to suck from a performance basis, but that's not even totally true. Koolance had to eat a lot of crow, but they did have a fundamental truth right. Al dissipates heat faster, Cu gathers it faster. It actually has more of an initial resistance vs aluminum. However, as the specific heat capacity of Al is lower, we tend to shy away from it, as well as the metal nobility issues. However, properly plated Al is just fine in many circumstances (I don't want an Al radiator, I like my brass ones just fine) where the specific heat output is not in excess of the transfer rate of the material. RAM blocks, MOSFET blocks, the memory channels of VGA fullcovers-all of them do not cool the most critical parts of the computer, which I agree require copper to do correctly.
The Zalman blocks plate all copper in gold to eliminate corrosion. So do Koolance. Swiftech mil-spec coats its Al. Aqua-computer often silverplates the copper cores of its coolers, and offers a few silver cored ones. It is in fact possible to create an all silver/aluminum loop from AC (if that's not a reason for the expense I dunno what is) Innovatek is plating its latest blocks. Almost everyone that offers aluminum anodizes the holy hell out of it. Occasionally there is a slipup, and there are horror pics like this and the well water pics floating around, and just like plane crashes, they're blown out of proportion because they're more publicized. More peple lose their rigs to crushing cores, spraying water and twisting tubes combined than to metal nobility concerns, but it's always Al's fault.
Keep repeating it, I'm sure some of you will believe it, but there are uses for Al even in the watercooling world. If you don't want it, don't use it, but don't assume that it's going to destroy your system in days.
