Heatsink Discussion
Heatsink Discussion
He and I debated whether heat pipes should be positioned inside the fins or on top. He argued that placing them on top allows better airflow, while I believed they were equally effective. Your perspective aligns with my view.
Consider a heat pipe like a water cooling tube. It moves thermal energy from one spot to another. As long as fins are present, most heat leaves there. What really counts is finding the setup that delivers the highest CFM through the fins for optimal cooling.
From the images, neither option is fully accurate. Both coolers will release the same amount of BTU, unless one heat sink features a more extensive fin pattern. Since they’re the same in dimensions, it doesn’t matter whether the fins are positioned on top or not. The key factor is the fin array size—only the difference there affects performance. One will have a much bigger array than the other, or one fan might have a higher CFM rating.
My perspective is that thorough testing provides actual data beyond what we can observe. The coolers appear alike, but the fin placement—either top or bottom—can matter in practice. In theory, this difference has minimal impact, but often design tweaks exist for reasons like improving airflow across the main board to cool VRMs. Therefore, conducting rigorous testing is essential to obtain reliable scientific results.