heatsinks?

[jenkins24]

what is a heatsink?

[bailey]

a heat sink is a device that removes heat from another dvice that it is fastened to.
usally made of a alloy that has a very high heat conductiviaty

it is used on cpus to transfer the heat from it to the air

[Pancake]

Any relation to a heatsinking missile

[bailey]

Originally posted by Pancake Any relation to a heatsinking missile

that would be spelled differantly

heatseeking, means, to go towards the heat source, useing infrared sensors to detect the heat

[lil Jimmie]

From webopedia.com:

Heatsink-
A component designed to lower the temperature of an electronic device by dissipating heat into the surrounding air. All modern CPUs require a heat sink. Some also require a fan. A heat sink without a fan is called a passive heat sink; a heat sink with a fan is called an active heat sink. Heat sinks are generally made of an aluminum alloy and often have fins.

[jenkins24]

do the cpus usually come with the heatsink or do you need to purchase seperatly? If you do does the cpu tell you to buy it and what kind?

[njskatchmo]

Retail cpus will come with a stock heatsink + fan. If you buy an oem processor you have to get your own heatsink. Each heatsink says what cpu's it is compatible with.

[shrimps]

heat transfer from hot surface to cold surface. when ur CPU heat up, it will dissipate heat to surrounding and with out heatsink, it will be air. but air is a poor heat conductor, more to a insulator. a metal object can be placed on top of the CPU surface to make heat dissipate better thro conduction. but a rectangle metal piece will not provide enough surface for ur CPU.

hence a heatsink is designed such that it has many fins which greatly increases the surface area to dissipate heat more.

there are more to it. but who cares. you know better if you study heat transfer.