What's the difference between copper and aluminium radiators!

[GordonFreemanInTheFlesh]

Besides the difference in metal and other unimportant things such as corrosion etc.

If you had two excatly the same 360mm radiators, one made of copper the other out of aluminium.
Which one would outperform the other?

The reason for asking is because I've looked online and I am surprised to see aluminium radiators for ⅓ the price of their copper equivalents and was lately thinking of building an affordable custom loop!
The system is nothing special:

•Ryzen 5 5600x
•32gb corsair vengence
•Rx6800xt amd
•Asrock b550 phantom
•Antec 650w psu 80+Bronze
•An old coolermaster case (which seems to support a 360mm rad in the front and a 240 on top)
•The cpu came in with a wraith spire cooler.
•2TB barracuda HDD 7200rpm
•250gb kingston sata ssd

I am aware there are special coolants made by various AIO manufacturers that are designed to work with copper+aluminium components!

 

[Kapone33]

Combining Copper and Aluminum and including fluid can be dangerous unless desgined by the AIO but EK did not appreciate that rule and paid with their first AIO. I always try to get copper on both the rad and plate. Not that the 5600X needs that,

 

[AusWolf]

Copper is a better heat (and electricity) conductor, so it's better for wiring and cooling. It's also rarer and more expensive to manufacture. AIO makers (mostly) know what they're doing, so you needn't worry about those. If you're planning on building a custom loop, then like it's been said, rule of thumb is not to mix copper and aluminium components, regardless of the fluid used. Doing so can lead to corrosion and muck buildup which can lead to the early death of components, including your CPU/GPU.

 

[cvaldes]

Copper is both heavier and far more expensive than aluminum as a material.

Cost is certainly a concern for all consumer usage cases.

Weight can be a consideration depending on usage. For example, a typical desktop PC tower cooler hangs off the motherboard. A heavier component does create some stress due to gravity.

If I recall correctly, Apple is using two different thermal solutions for their Apple Studio Mac: aluminum heatsink in the Max, copper in the Ultra.

 

[N/A]

copper plate is usually nickel plated, not red. So you can't have them covered by the same material, and what about the fittings.

 

[damric]

Seriously just go with the aluminum if price is concern. I've built enough variety of loops to tell you it's going to take forever for any problem with mixed copper/aluminum. Aluminum rads aren't quite as good as copper for dissipation, but they get the job done. The weakest link for cooling modern processors is always going to be from the processor die through the IHS to the water block. Delidding and running naked die under the block will give much greater difference in cooling than changing the radiator to copper. Just make sure you have enough radiator to compensate. For just a CPU, a 240 aluminum is fine. Add another 240 for a mid range GPU. The high end GPUs over 300w really need more than that or they heat up the loop while gaming.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Why not ask rad manufactures why they don't bother making aluminum rads from of the same existing designs they offer for copper/ brass rads.
"Make what the market wants" would likely be the response

And your unimportant factors are why that's what the market wants copper/ brass rads verity

 

[Panther_Seraphin]

Besides the difference in metal and other unimportant things such as corrosion etc.

If you had two excatly the same 360mm radiators, one made of copper the other out of aluminium.
Which one would outperform the other?

To simply answer this question? Copper 100% of the time

Now you have to realise there are drawbacks to copper that arent there in Aluminium.

Performance: Aluminium in theory is ~60% as effective as copper in transfering heat
Weight: Aluminium weighs ~30% of the weight of the equivalment mass of copper
Cost: Aluminium is ~33% of the cost of copper
Metal Corrorsion: Aluminium "corrodes" and forms aluminium oxide but this is just a slightly duller outer layer. Copper will naturally react in air to form copper oxide (very nasty green looking color)

So something that costs 3x as much minimum plus needs nickel/zinc/other plating to prevent oxidisation that also now weights a ton in your light weight case to bring around 30% performance benefit at the extreme end of the scale?

Now you take all these things into consideration an aluminium/brass radiator is seen as superior in most cases.

Hi,
Why not ask rad manufactures why they don't bother making aluminum rads from of the same existing designs they offer for copper/ brass rads.
"Make what the market wants" would likely be the response

And your unimportant factors are why that's what the market wants copper/ brass rads verity

Also the fact that your standard 360mm rad would probaly start at the 250 dollar mark isnt much of a concern either

 

[eidairaman1]

Copper is a better heat (and electricity) conductor, so it's better for wiring and cooling. It's also rarer and more expensive to manufacture. AIO makers (mostly) know what they're doing, so you needn't worry about those. If you're planning on building a custom loop, then like it's been said, rule of thumb is not to mix copper and aluminium components, regardless of the fluid used. Doing so can lead to corrosion and muck buildup which can lead to the early death of components, including your CPU/GPU.

Only way it works is the copper are the pipes and fins are aluminum, just dont use copper block/rad with aluminum or cres fittings (ALL METAL CORRODES)

 

[mechtech]

Besides the difference in metal and other unimportant things such as corrosion etc.

If you had two excatly the same 360mm radiators, one made of copper the other out of aluminium.
Which one would outperform the other?

To answer they would more than likely be very close. Pure copper conducts better than pure aluminum. However when metals are alloyed their conductivity typically decreases. Usually rads are not 100% pure. The copper should in theory outperform the aluminum one. But there are other considerations such as fins, fin material, fin spacing, surface area, resistance to air flow, how many passes the fluid does, pump pressure, flowrate, etc. etc.

copper stands up better than aluminum to galvanic corrosion because it’s less anodic. But if you keep the fluid clean and change it regularly aluminum will last a long time.

I guess it comes down to buy what you can afford. For me I usually use a good noctua cooler and call it a day.

 

[GordonFreemanInTheFlesh]

Only way it works is the copper are the pipes and fins are aluminum, just dont use copper block/rad with aluminum or cres fittings (ALL METAL CORRODES)

I'm with you on this one!

 

[GordonFreemanInTheFlesh]

Only way it works is the copper are the pipes and fins are aluminum, just dont use copper block/rad with aluminum or cres fittings (ALL METAL CORRODES)

Any manufacturers that make radiators with copper/brass tubes and aluminium fins!?
From what I recall they either make them all copper,all aluminium, copper/brass!

 

[TumbleGeorge]

In the forum has useful topics.
One of many.

 

[EddyAlphacool]

Only way it works is the copper are the pipes and fins are aluminum

Ähm... no. Our radiators have brass tanks, copper pipes and copper fins.

 

[eidairaman1]

Ähm... no. Our radiators have brass tanks, copper pipes and copper fins.

No im saying from a physics standpoint and a pricing standpoint, many Heatsinks are made in this way. Copper/brass heatpipes/tubes with aluminum fins. Copper is in contact with the gas/water to prevent galvanic corrosion. And only heat is transferred to the AL fins.

 

[EddyAlphacool]

@eidairaman1
Ahhh.... ok, than i have missundestand your comment, sorry.