Whats up with the Aquaduct?

[ranker]

Good luck. What I said was that you wouldn't see much, if any, difference in the way the computer operates.

TN runs around dissing high flow setups, tries to imply in all of her posts that all AC setups can match the performance of an all star loop.

Now the AC fans backtrack and say it's not meant to perform as well. Their next argument is going to be "well my computer runs don't it?!".

I think the whole mixed metals issue is best summarized by posts made by Marci and Cathar.

My stance on the use of aluminium is well-documented both here and on all other sites I frequent... that being, just avoid using it and thus avoid the complications that come alongside it. (ie: Is the anodizing good enough...? Has the enduser done sufficient research to know he HAS to use an additive...? Already there are now two factors out of anyone's control to account for - remove the use of aluminium, remove two uncontrollable factors, and thus remove the need for this entire topic which crops up with monotonous regularity every 6 weeks and has doneso for eons)

If we could have the faith that folks would use additive, then this wouldn't be a problem, but this whole thread highlights a lack of research, plain and simple. For nearing 10 years it's been common knowledge that you need to run anticorrosive additives alongside aluminium blocks in watercooling systems... to miss this fact simply demonstrates that adequate research prior to the purchase of the parts is lacking. This is what happens when watercooling becomes more mainstream. Parts availability becomes easy, and folks don't bother doing their research first.

This info is WIDELY spread across ALL forums that I frequent... it is covered in every watercooling guide I've ever read, and in more or less every watercooling sections' sticky by default... it's almost the first rule of watercooling it's that old.

Ignore the terminology I use in this next sentence, it isn't meant to be insulting... it's just a suitable way of phrasing it and I can't be assed to think of a more P/C way of saying it...

Manufacturers cannot account for the idiot factor (aka net-clue-factor to coin Cathar's way of saying it). If you can't account for the idiot factor, don't build items that an idiot cannot use correctly.

To release alu blocks is milking the market. Manufacturers know there is a HIGH risk of that aluminium block getting destroyed by what I'd say would be a good 50% of the watercooling market (the chunk that don't do their research and just dive in head first). This destruction isn't covered by warranty, so another sale is milked from the equation when that customer requires a replacement. A responsible manufacturer would include a note in with every block clearly stating that an anticorrosive additive MUST be used.

Telling people it's just fine is just endorsing Koolance/Aqua Computer's desire to milk the market.

...

I wholly agree with Marci's statements. Using aluminium is just a recipe for disaster. Yes, an informed customer will take the steps to ensure that it's not a problem.

Being a bit of a perfectionist though, there is actually a problem with the approach of demanding additives to protect the system. All additives decrease the thermal properties of water, and by the time we're talking about enough additives to protect aluminium in a copper system, we're actually talking about a significant performance reduction.

Aluminium doesn't belong in a copper system for the reasons that Marci listed, and it doesn't belong in any performance system either.

Stew.