silver heatsink

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filthysanchez

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how come i've never seen one?

silver is the most thermally conductive metal, but i have yet to seen a heatsink with any in it.
 
Silver is many times more expensive than copper, and isn't economically viable to use. I believe the only somewhat large company that makes silver coolers is Danger Den, and those are waterblocks(I believe only the TDX is available in silver, I'm not sure though).
 
I don't think DangerDen even makes their silver waterblocks any more. I can't find them on the website, anyway.
 
silver is as said more expensive, and tarnishes over time. Hence gold is used for many electrical contacts and leads not silver.
 
silverphoenix said:
Hence gold is used for many electrical contacts and leads not silver.
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That's because gold is a better conductor of electricity than silver. Silver conducts heat better, but gold conducts electricity better.
 
Going from copper to silver is only a small increase in thermal conductivity. And gold is more thermally conductive than copper. Using water there are some questionable benefits of going from copper to silver. Using air you would see no difference at all, air heatsinks just aren't efficient enough for the slight difference in thermal conductivity to matter.
 
From a little googling I get silver is about $11 per ounce right now and copper is about 12cents per ounce.


Kingwin All Copper Heat sink AMD
Part No. SW-5622
Mfg. Part No. KCU-7025
Weight: 350 g
price: $19.95


350 grams = 12.3458867 ounce

12ounces @ $11 = atleast $132 so thats roughly $132 just for the silver. Where as it would be around $1.50 for just the copper.

Now im no expert at math so it maybe wrong because thats probaly the wieght with a fan but I would say its close enough. :p

I doubt it would be worth it to make silver heatsinks and sell them. It would be a small market for little benefit.
 
Zero82z said:
That's because gold is a better conductor of electricity than silver. Silver conducts heat better, but gold conducts electricity better.
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wrong, silver is a better conductor, but when it tarnishes it ruins the contact surface

From wikipedia note bold red words

Conductor materials

Of the metals commonly used for conductors, copper, has a high conductivity. Silver is more conductive, but due to cost it is not practical in most cases. However, it is used in specialized equipment, such as satellites, and as a thin plating to mitigate skin effect losses at high frequencies. Because of its ease of connection by soldering or clamping, copper is still the most common choice for most light-gauge wires.

Compared to copper, aluminium has worse conductivity per unit volume, but better conductivity per unit weight. In many cases, weight is more important than volume making aluminium the 'best' conductor material for certain applications. For example, it is commonly used for large-scale power distribution conductors such as overhead power lines. In many such cases, aluminium is used over a steel core that provides much greater tensile strength than would the aluminium alone.

Gold is occasionally used for very fine wires such as those used to wire bond integrated circuits to their lead frames. The contacts in electrical connectors are also commonly gold plated or gold flashed (over nickel). Contrary to popular belief, this is not done because gold is a better conductor; it is not. Instead, it is done because gold is very resistant to the surface corrosion that is commonly suffered by copper, silver, or tin/lead alloys. This corrosion would have a very detrimental effect on connection quality over time; gold plating avoids that.
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S0m30n3 said:
From a little googling I get silver is about $11 per ounce right now and copper is about 12cents per ounce.


Kingwin All Copper Heat sink AMD
Part No. SW-5622
Mfg. Part No. KCU-7025
Weight: 350 g
price: $19.95


350 grams = 12.3458867 ounce

12ounces @ $11 = atleast $132 so thats roughly $132 just for the silver. Where as it would be around $1.50 for just the copper.

Now im no expert at math so it maybe wrong because thats probaly the wieght with a fan but I would say its close enough. :p

I doubt it would be worth it to make silver heatsinks and sell them. It would be a small market for little benefit.
Click to expand...

copper is not that expensive, and its usually not pure copper but an alloy.Copper is closer to 15 cents per POUND
 
silverphoenix said:
wrong, silver is a better conductor, but when it tarnishes it ruins the contact surface

From wikipedia not bold red words
Click to expand...
I stand corrected.
 
Arcygenical said:
I do believe that Cathar has a silver Storm G7 :p
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I dont think he has actually gotten around to producing the G7's yet, so still only G5's and a couple prototype G7's
 
i remember seeing an aluminum heatsink with a copper core, and just had the thought, why not build a copper heatsink, but pur a silver core on there, where the processor has the most heat coming off.
 
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