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Heat Sinks vs. Liquid Cooling

Liquid cooling uses water circulation through a pump, radiator, and tubing to dissipate heat from PC components. Water has better thermal conductivity and heat capacity than air, allowing it to more effectively cool high-powered chips that produce excess heat air cooling cannot handle. Liquid cooling also enables quieter system operation by reducing the need for loud, high-powered fans to provide sufficient air circulation. Key parts of a liquid cooling system include a pump to circulate water, a radiator to transfer heat to air, and reservoirs and tubing to contain and transport the cooling liquid.

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64 views2 pages

Heat Sinks vs. Liquid Cooling

Liquid cooling uses water circulation through a pump, radiator, and tubing to dissipate heat from PC components. Water has better thermal conductivity and heat capacity than air, allowing it to more effectively cool high-powered chips that produce excess heat air cooling cannot handle. Liquid cooling also enables quieter system operation by reducing the need for loud, high-powered fans to provide sufficient air circulation. Key parts of a liquid cooling system include a pump to circulate water, a radiator to transfer heat to air, and reservoirs and tubing to contain and transport the cooling liquid.

Uploaded by

renate_ella
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

1. Heat Sinks vs.

Liquid Cooling
2. Cooling with Liquid: System Parts
3. Liquid Cooling Pump and Radiator
4. Liquid Cooling System Reservoirs and Tubing
5. PC Liquid Cooling Liquid

Heat Sinks vs. Liquid Cooling

A heat sink (in gold above) uses lots of surface area to transfer heat from electronic components to the
air.
IMAGE COURTESY HOWSTUFFWORKS SHOPPER

Most computers dispel heat with heat sinks and fans. Heat sinks are basically pieces of
metal that provide lots of surface area for the air to touch. The chip warms the heat sink,
the heat sink warms the air, and the fan moves the warm air out of the PC case.
This system works most of the time, but sometimes, electronic components produce more
heat than simple air circulation can dispel. High-end chips with lots of transistors can
overwhelm an air-cooling system. So can chips that have been overclocked, or manually
set to work at faster than their default speed.

That's where water cooling comes in. Water has a higher thermal conductivity than air -
it can move heat faster than air can. Water also has a higher specific heat capacity. It can
absorb more heat before it starts to feel hot.

There are two reasons why a computer might need the increased thermal conductivity and
heat capacity of water:

 Its electronic components produce more heat than the air around them can absorb
 The fans required to move enough air to cool all the components make too much
noise or use too much electricity
In other words, there are two reasons why you might need to cool a computer with a
liquid instead of air:

 The components inside your computer need more cooling than air alone can
provide
 You want your system to be quieter
Next, we'll look at the components of a liquid-cooled system and how they work
together.

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