Quote Originally Posted by Martinm210 View Post
I was surprised how close the results are thermally, obviously we are coming to a barrier in thermal efficiency. More importantly these results only apply to this one processor, it would be different for dual core, or larger cores. Generally I think blocks that have very small center nozzles would do better from smaller processors and those with long spread-out type nozzles or distributed flow paths would do better with larger cores. Most people will likely see more gain by doubling up on their radiator capacity than changing out of CPU blocks. If the average radiator water/ambient delta is 10C, doubling the rads would be worth 5C which is greater than the difference between any block here. The differences are just pretty small...and frankly hard to even measure.

Also note the mounting mechanism differences. The old spring/open nut styles are not going to be as easy to use and ensure even mounting pressure as those that have some sort of bottoming nut or other design item that prevents the user from tightening one side or corner more than the others. Furthermore, some come with back-plates while others do not, you better plan on buying one for those that do not, it's essential in protecting your motherboard and a hidden cost.

Finally bowing and stepping do help with the last few bits of efficiency, although they also have some negatives. They work by increasing mounting pressure per unit area for the critical surface directly above the die. However they work against mounting consistency and are more difficult to mount because of this. Finally some may or may not be optimized or designed to cover larger or smaller cores. I like a small amount of bowing myself, it seems to work like camber in a bridge if nothing else and counter the flex of the block in high pressure applications.

Cheers!
Martin
I've known this very well since I stepped into this hobby, in fact I mention it quite often.

As for the rest I quoted, I absolutely agree and it should be required reading.

Thanks for the hard work...