
Originally Posted by
Baron_Davis
That is purely theoretical. You forget that the heat transfer that occurs between the CPU and the copper heatsink is greater than that of the heatsink and the air. Although copper's heat capacity is a lot bigger than aluminum's, eventually, if the fans aren't getting rid of the heat at a greater rate than the heatsink is absorbing it, then the copper will start getting hotter and hotter and become useless.
Think of it like this:
1st hour: a lot of heat transferred to heatsink, not so much going out of the case
2nd hour: ambient case temps start increasing, copper heatsink starts struggling trying to stay cool
3rd hour: high ambient case temp has overpowered the heatsink, heatsink is now useless
That's why just looking at thermal conductivity doesn't tell the whole story. In a lab, yeah it does, but in real life it does not.
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