Using a copper penny as heatsink medium?

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ShimizuToshie

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I have a MSI Radeon 4670 with a fan that died and couldn't find a replacement fan that fits inside the stock heatsink. Looked at aftermarket alternatives and found Geeks.com had the Coolviva Z1 for cheap ($10 shipped) and it was also passively cooled, so I gave it a try.

Found out the MSI 4670 doesn't fit the Coolviva Z1 nicely. The 4pin fan header was right in the way of the heatpipes. I just desoldered it, figured it was passively going to be cooled anyways.

Next I discovered when I aligned the heatsink with the screw holes it wouldn't stay flat on the GPU chip because there is a resistor or something too close. I was about to give up until i thought of using a copper penny on top of the GPU raising it enough to mount the heatsink. Little thermal paste on the copper and it served as a stop gap medium sandwiched between the GPU & Heatsink which has a copper base.

So far the past few days its working fine. My idle is at 35C and load at 71C.

Found out later that not all pennies are made of copper. The newer pennies after 1982 are made of mostly zinc with copper coating. Was using a copper penny a bad idea? Is there a better material or solution to use? Will the penny cause any harm? Should I try a dime or quarter instead lol?

Update:
Tried it again 2nd time with a 1972 penny made of 97.5% copper this time and actually sanded it down for a smoother contact. I got 35C idle and 69C load. Well 2C difference, not bad. Would try again with 100% copper sheets for better fitting when I find some, but I got a feeling it won't improve much. The heatsink is mostly aluminum with a small copper core at the bottom. Only so much heat it could take.

Update 2:
Got a 100% copper shim 2mm thick. Idle temp at 32c and load at 57c. Big difference. Guess my sanding skills wasn't that great using the penny.

Update 3:
Posted a few pictures as request. http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1038976205&postcount=61
 
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ShimizuToshie said:
I have a MSI Radeon 4670 with a fan that died and couldn't find a replacement fan that fits inside the stock heatsink. Looked at aftermarket alternatives and found Geeks.com had the Coolviva Z1 for cheap ($10 shipped) and it was also passively cooled, so I gave it a try.

Found out the MSI 4670 doesn't fit the Coolviva Z1 nicely. The 4pin fan header was right in the way of the heatpipes. I just desoldered it, figured it was passively going to be cooled anyways.

Next I discovered when I aligned the heatsink with the screw holes it wouldn't stay flat on the GPU chip because there is a resistor or something too close. I was about to give up until i thought of using a copper penny on top of the GPU raising it enough to mount the heatsink. Little thermal paste on the copper and it served as a stop gap medium sandwiched between the GPU & Heatsink which has a copper base.

So far the past few days its working fine. My idle is at 35C and load at 71C.

Found out later that not all pennies are made of copper. The newer pennies after 1982 are made of mostly zinc with copper coating. Was using a copper penny a had idea? Is there a better material or solution to use? Will the penny cause any harm?
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I dont have any real input here. Subbed out of interest. I may try this with my GPU's shader chip (heat pad destroyed).
 
You could go to a hardware store, buy a copper pipe, cut it down, and fold it to the size you need to fit the gap. You might find better results with that?
 
you didn't sand down the penny? hopefully you used a pre-1982 penny as zinc has 1/3rd the thermal conductivity of (pure)copper. Those pennies aren't 100% copper though.
 
I didnt think to sand down the penny, that would have given a better contact surface. Then again, I don't have sand paper.

I don't even know what penny year I used. It was only afterwards when googling I noticed post 1982 pennies were only 2.5% copper. Probably used a Zinc penny since real copper ones are hard to come by.
 
HardOCP did a test with a slice of cheese as a thermal medium a few years back. Ironically it worked nearly as well as most of the thermal pastes in all but the overclocked load tests.

If it's an old shitty GPU that you don't care much about, I wouldn't worry about it. 71C load is perfectly acceptable.
 
Should I even bother trying to find a real copper penny? I'm getting 71C load temps which is tolerable for me. Wonder how much lower it will get had it been a real copper.
 
ShimizuToshie said:
Should I even bother trying to find a real copper penny? I'm getting 71C load temps which is tolerable for me. Wonder how much lower it will get had it been a real copper.
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Unless you want to try for curiosity reasons, I would just leave it.
 
ShimizuToshie said:
Should I even bother trying to find a real copper penny? I'm getting 71C load temps which is tolerable for me. Wonder how much lower it will get had it been a real copper.
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If you're going to start looking for something, you may as well go to a HW store and look for actual copper pipe.
 
Rizen said:
Unless you want to try for curiosity reasons, I would just leave it.
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I am a bit curious. I don't mind redoing it, just the part looking for a real copper penny is the hassle. If I can get 60-65C load temp I think its worth it.
 
BigJayDogg3 said:
If you're going to start looking for something, you may as well go to a HW store and look for actual copper pipe.
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If I go to a HW store, it will make me want to buy copper and build my own super passive heatsink out of curiosity and my desktop will look mysterious with pipes sticking everywhere =]
 
I wouldn't use a penny because it is uneven. I'd go to a metal shop, I bet they have some scrap copper plate that they will probably give you for free or dirt cheap.
 
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munkle said:
I wouldn't use a penny because it is uneven. I'd go to a metal shop, I bet they have some copper scrap copper plate that they will probably give you for free or dirt cheap.
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Yea its uneven, but you can sand it or polish it a bit.

Hmm, the heatsink it self is made of aluminum. I could just cut a small notch to fit better. But how shall I cut it, don't suppose a pocket knife will work.
 
Well, I found a 1972 penny, sanded it down and tried it out again. One i used originally was 1987 which was zinc.
Not much of an improvement. Went from 71C to 69C
 
That's 2C!!! For a penny. Think of what you could've done if you'd spent a dollar. ;)

If you were serious, you'd melt down several pennies and use the pure copper, poured into a custom made casting, then sanded/polished to a mirror finish. But, you get what you pay for.

:)
 
This sounds like a very expensive project. Have you considered the cost?
 
ShimizuToshie said:
Well, I found a 1972 penny, sanded it down and tried it out again. One i used originally was 1987 which was zinc.
Not much of an improvement. Went from 71C to 69C
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2c isnt bad just by changing the type of penny. I wonder how a solid silver coin would do...
 
c3k said:
That's 2C!!! For a penny. Think of what you could've done if you'd spent a dollar. ;)

If you were serious, you'd melt down several pennies and use the pure copper, poured into a custom made casting, then sanded/polished to a mirror finish. But, you get what you pay for.

:)
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I would do this I recall it being relatively easy. This all brings back memories.I remember de-coppering pennies in science class like 2nd grade so you just had the zinc shell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRiBYMv6Tz4
 
Thanks a lot for posting your experiences, it's an interesting read. You never know when knowledge like this will come in handy.
 
We used small copper shims and/or pennies on some of those crappy HP laptops where the crappy thermal pad barely touched the GPU and the thing was overheating. Worked surprisingly well.
 
I lol'd when I read this thread. To be honest, I find pre-1982 pennies all the time. Maybe I should save some for thermal mediums in emergency situations :p.
 
If it's working, then it's working! Use a dollar coin, and be a baller.
 
As long as it adequately channels the heat and temps are reasonable, it's fine, but probably not optimal. As others have mentioned, the mostly zinc newer pennies aren't a good heat transfer medium, nevermind the uneven surface. I use sheet or plate copper when I need to bridge a gap that's too thick for just TIM and a thermal pad won't cut it. Here's how I set up a MCW82 on my 7970 to show my process: http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=32870688&postcount=155
 
HardOCP did a test with a slice of cheese as a thermal medium a few years back. Ironically it worked nearly as well as most of the thermal pastes in all but the overclocked load tests.

If it's an old shitty GPU that you don't care much about, I wouldn't worry about it. 71C load is perfectly acceptable.
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LOL, you know what works really well? mayonnaise, I shit you not, it works. Done it a few times in a pitch.

your temps are fine, i definitely would lap the penny though.
 
Wouldn't organic materials like mayo and cheese rot and break down over time? How long did you guys use foodstuff to cool your processors?
 
Wouldn't organic materials like mayo and cheese rot and break down over time? How long did you guys use foodstuff to cool your processors?
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no idea to be honest. Like i said it was used in a pitch, until the proper compound could be used. Never did any long term testing.
 
why use a penny? contact area is not smooth and you can use real copper sheet cut to fit for that and it will be smooth and you can yse fine steel wool to make it better..
 
ShimizuToshie said:
I have a MSI Radeon 4670 with a fan that died and couldn't find a replacement fan that fits inside the stock heatsink. Looked at aftermarket alternatives and found Geeks.com had the Coolviva Z1 for cheap ($10 shipped) and it was also passively cooled, so I gave it a try.

Found out the MSI 4670 doesn't fit the Coolviva Z1 nicely. The 4pin fan header was right in the way of the heatpipes. I just desoldered it, figured it was passively going to be cooled anyways.

Next I discovered when I aligned the heatsink with the screw holes it wouldn't stay flat on the GPU chip because there is a resistor or something too close. I was about to give up until i thought of using a copper penny on top of the GPU raising it enough to mount the heatsink. Little thermal paste on the copper and it served as a stop gap medium sandwiched between the GPU & Heatsink which has a copper base.

So far the past few days its working fine. My idle is at 35C and load at 71C.

Found out later that not all pennies are made of copper. The newer pennies after 1982 are made of mostly zinc with copper coating. Was using a copper penny a bad idea? Is there a better material or solution to use? Will the penny cause any harm? Should I try a dime or quarter instead lol?
Click to expand...

Umm get a pre 1982 or whatever penny and try that. I would grind the penny down so it is perfectly flat and then polish it smooth so it is like a mirror and I bet it will produce superior heat transfer or you can go and buy some raw copper ingots from a metal shop and use those. Copper is one of the softest and easiest metals to work with.
 
I am in the process of lapping a penny as we speak to bridge a gap on my 5850. Will post more information and pics later!
 
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