Quote Originally Posted by Baron_Davis View Post
An aluminum heatsink doesn't conduct as much, so its fans can remove the heat from the case without becoming overburdened. So this gradual temperature increase would take a lot longer. On a copper heatsink like the TRUE, which is designed extremely well, this gradual increase in temperature would take a lot less time, and while for the first hour or so, it would cool rather well, the ambient temp would start to "choke", and things would go down hill from there.

You CANNOT expect a copper heatsink to cool well if you aren't removing that excess heat from the case. That's all I'm saying.

And for ^^^ to happen, you need better cooling. If you already have good cooling, this is obviously not an issue. Just don't waste money on a $100 heatsink only to slap on some weak ass 800rpm "silent" fans on it.
Theres no "EXCESS HEAT"! it's the same heat source...Copper doesn't generate heat you know...it just conducts it faster, REMOVING heat faster under the same conditions. A copper heastink with an 800rpm fan will perform better than an aluminum heatsink with the same fan. It might be a marginal improvement, but it will conduct heat faster. If an aluminum heatsink doesn't conduct as much heat, its fins would be cooler than a copper version, and in that sense, you're going to have a hotter CPU.

Why will the ambient temp "Choke"? any decent fans are basically removing the entire case volume of air every minute, so the ambient air is going to be close to ambient room temp, and on top of that, you'll reach a steady state. Things aren't going to generate more heat because you change your material of conduction.