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Heat sinks - Copper or Aluminum?


amenditman

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I have purchased a Raspberry Pi B+ to play with my 6 year old. Basic programming, hardware hacking, etc.

 

Don't want to use a fan, there are heat sink sets available for next to nothing.

Which would be more effective for heat transfer, copper or aluminum?

 

They have different forms for the "fins".

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and

$_26.JPG?set_id=880000500F.

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I have purchased a Raspberry Pi B+ to play with my 6 year old. Basic programming, hardware hacking, etc.

 

Don't want to use a fan, there are heat sink sets available for next to nothing.

Which would be more effective for heat transfer, copper or aluminum?

 

They have different forms for the "fins".

$_26.JPG?set_id=880000500F

and

$_26.JPG?set_id=880000500F.

The proponents of copper will point to its higher "heat coefficient". But that only refers to how fast the heat spreads within the metal. Copper doesn't transfer it any faster to the air. That is strictly dependent on the surface area. So, you can get more surface area per cost via the cheaper metal.

 

BTW, the Foundation has stated many times that, unless you are running your Pi in a very hot environment, heatsinks are not needed. In an air-conditioned house or apt, they are completely redundant.

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This one might get to hit the road in an RV and for camping, so $1.95 for aluminum heat sinks seems like nothing.

 

Have you no old kit around that you can salvage some heatsinks from ? I prefer copper as it looks prettier. :fish:

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Guest LilBambi

Pretty is as pretty does. If copper doesn't move the heat away quickly without having a huge one to spread the heat around, Wouldn't it be better to have a case with lots of air flow, or use a lesser metal one that would actually move the heat away ftom the chip?

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Seems like spending any more effort/money than $2 on this would be a waste.

 

ARM CPU designed to run with no additional cooler.

RAM stacked on top of the CPU with no thermal transfer in the design.

 

Not much point in doing anything more than providing good airflow and keeping things clean.

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V.T. Eric Layton

What do you need for that thing, Bob? I have heat sinks out in the shop. I'm sure some hunk of metal out there would serve.

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What do you need for that thing, Bob? I have heat sinks out in the shop. I'm sure some hunk of metal out there would serve.

I thought about hacking something together out of the aluminum/copper heatsink scrap pile, I really did.

Thought I would like the small ones better.

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V.T. Eric Layton

Well, I have some sinks and raw material out there you can play with. Maybe you can stop by sometime and we'll have a looksee.

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