What is a Heatsink as Fast As Possible

I get asked all the time "what is a heatsink" and "what does it do?". This video is a little longer than usual but I felt like this topic needed some special TLC.
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[@BrownJedi87]

I love how every time I have a question, Linus shows up with an answer even if it’s from 7 years ago.

[@Twistingnether]

Or 9 years ago, as is the case here

[@Chisato12315]

Yes and im thankful

[@NonameStudios_YTB]

@@Twistingnether 10 now🤣

[@LightningSonic]

Linus, good job explaining what a heatsink is in an easy-to-understand way. I knew most of this already, but I was thinking wrong about what thermal paste does. I just thought it helps to conduct heat better, but didn't think about why it did this. I guess it makes sense that two metals almost never make 100% legit contact evenly.

[@anubratakhan9115]

That moment when Linus says "Speaking of......" and u know it's over... :P

[@aiman2191]

not at 1:25

[@uprise2229]

I yhought abt the sponsor

[@whitak3r]

God he looks so young.

[@explosivedude8295]

*Instructions weren't clear. Cooled CPU to 5 milliKelvin. CPU went quantum and I can't differentiate output 0s and 1s anymore.*

[@xjtxdonotpanic]

well u were lucky coz my dick got stuck in the toaster

[@explosivedude8295]

xJTxDOnot PaNiC I'm sorry for your loss...

[@nilsmeta641]

lucky, my dick is 2 big

[@sergio-by3xx]

lucky, I'm still a virgin.

[@RacinZilla003]

Lucky my dick is in extra virgin olive oil

[@trippplefive]

ah..the unibrow Linus, we meet again.

[@oXObsidianXo]

Noo, he fell asleep on a caterpillar.

[@RevolutionV12]

God damn it. A unibrow is when the space between the eyebrows has as much hair as the eyebrow area itself. I always see people calling a little bit hair a unibrow, but it is infact incorrect.

[@eeee69]

then what is the correct term?

[@RevolutionV12]

Ka Jacob nothing, just a bit of extra hair. Unless its as thick as the actual eyebrow it cant be called a unibrow.

[@eeee69]

ok

[@andrewweeks6407]

This just reminds me of a conversation I overheard between a customer and colleague when I was working in best buy many many years ago.... The customer was trying to haggle the price down with the agent, even going so far as to say that if the heatsink was removed, would they be able to lower the cost by a few bucks. It makes me glad that you post these sorts of vids Linus, because sadly there are folks out there that simply don't get it.

[@TheHerpieDerpies]

linus is like on every single techchannel on youtube

[@SargeRho]

TechQuickie, NCIX, LinusTechTips and LinusCatTips are the only ones I can think of.

[@pixhodo]

Sarge Rho Tech Of Tomorrow also =)

[@SargeRho]

I haven't seen him there yet, I kinda stopped following ToT tho.

[@Graytoke]

there are actually many many Linus's, the proper pluralisation being Linusi..that is how he is in so many places at one time NCIX has hangers full of backup Linus models to be deployed at a moments notice.

[@Jirinoshi]

Also MKBHD

[@EmmaCross94]

Could you do an AFAP about power, more specifically voltage and watts? You seem to know a bit about that.

[@LukePTBA]

EmmaCross94 voltage(volts) = current(amps/ampere) X resistance(ohms) wattage(watts/power) = voltage X current current = voltage divided by resistance resistance = voltage divided by current. Current is known as electrical potential, whilst voltage and can be loosely termed as 'electrical pressure.' ie: the voltage 'pushes' the current from the source (battery/outlet/distribution grid) to the appliance. If you need more explaining just google "ohm's law." Source: I'm a sparky :D

[@LapXGaming]

You are supposed to learn that in high school...

[@LukePTBA]

LapXGaming Depends on what subjects you do. I didn't do physics

[@EmmaCross94]

LapXGaming Welcome to Australia! :P

[@frollard]

***** One thing I'd like to see is power factor explained in simple terms (I understand it but I bet a lot of people don't) - the weird crap that happens when you pull current constantly from an AC source, but AC has zero voltage during parts of the cycle and that voltage makes it really hard to constantly draw current.

[@pangeltveit]

So thats why youtubers want us to type comments! They want their videos to be higher up on the searching ranks! Sneaky sneaky! :P

[@imjonathan6745]

You really didn't know that? Are you proud that you discovered that common fact about this site?

[@WolvenSpectre]

Three things you might want to add 1)You mention speed of airflow without mentioning volume of airflow and how faster active cooling doesn't always equal faster cooling airflow 2)The blocking of cooling surface from dust et al lowers cooling and if it gets bad enough actually acts as an insulator to heat up what is being cooled. 3)I think you should touch on Water Cooling/Remote Heatsinks since they are becoming so common with the sealed units.

[@Johhnyp10]

Why even bother buying heatsinks, just place ice cubes on the cpu and your good to go.

[@xyzqsrbo]

Mayamar directions not clear got dick stuck in blender

[@xyzqsrbo]

Marcus DeFilippis k

[@HeyJerry55]

jacob spanjers k

[@commentator3513]

+Marcus DeFilippis k

[@HeyJerry55]

SquidPlays k

[@joeking5835]

I love your "as fast as possible" segments.I cant tell you how helpful they have been!Keep up the excellent work!

[@SupahCebrailShow9540]

About those materials. I'm not a genius, just got this info from my friends, so please take this with a grain of salt. Copper is great at conducting heat, but not great at removing heat from itself. (i.e: cooling down) Aluminium is more or less the opposite, being worse at conducting heat, but very good at removing heat from itself. This is the reason why heatpipes are copper, they are there to remove heat from the nearby component, but after the heat is removed from said component, there's not a big rush to move the heat to the attached heatsink, which is aluminium because it can move heat to the surrounding air much faster.

[@nuddin99]

+Sypadizre This comment needs more upvotes!

[@lokegustafsson247]

Actually is copper better then aluminum when it comes to transfering heat. Dissapating is about the same and we have aluminum heatsink because it is cheaper

[@SupahCebrailShow9540]

+Loke Gustafsson I'm quite sure aluminium is better at sweating off heat than copper.

[@lokegustafsson247]

www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/187162-Does-aluminum-dissipate-heat-better-than-copper - Just read what the experts are saying, I am just some random guy with a keyboard.

[@BrickTamlandOfficial]

a heatsink is a piece of metal. the end

[@farouq1983]

I've heard you love lamp!

[@farouq1983]

Brick Tamland I believe carpet is in the game now? :D

[@BrickTamlandOfficial]

Farouq Obaidi only if she matches the drapes

[@rehanchougle18]

Linus u have made understanding tech so simple :)

[@commentator3513]

;D

[@HeyJerry55]

+SquidPlays k

[@commentator3513]

Marcus DeFilippis Jesus this again k

[@HeyJerry55]

SquidPlays k

[@commentator3513]

Marcus DeFilippis k

[@thejinchoi]

I just learned about heat sinks in my engineering class a few weeks ago! Thanks for this educational video Linus!

[@shoe_gaze]

no problem bro

[@truelazerlight]

You forgot a very important way of improving a heat sink's performance: keeping it dust-free.

[@TimBrandtCorstius]

Yah how long does it take for the fans to really lose performance on dust? Because in my house there is a 2.5 year old laptop without ever cleaning the fans ever (btw the pc is still running decent speed)

[@truelazerlight]

Tim Brandt Corstius Your point being? Are you really going to argue that a heat sink's cooling fins being clogged with dust and grime isn't going to have an impact on the heat sink's performance?

[@TimBrandtCorstius]

truelazerlight No I only want to know how many times a year you need to clean it

[@truelazerlight]

Tim Brandt Corstius Depends on where you live. Some areas have way more problems with dust. A heat sink works because the air that flows through the fins picks up heat and takes it away from the heat sink. If the fins are clogged, air can't flow through the heat sink as well resulting in lower heat sink performance. Ergo: hour heat sink can never be too clean.

[@TimBrandtCorstius]

truelazerlight Holland (wet country most of the time)

[@zackpinkman4240]

Question: Should fan suck hot air from the heatsink or blow cold air into a heat sink?

[@thomasshepherd3413]

+Zvone_ Blow cold air into it. The hot air isn't the issue, the temperature of the heat sink is. So blowing cold air onto in helps more than taking the slightly-higher-in-temperature-air around it out.

[@zackpinkman4240]

Thomas Shepherd thank you

[@polpottopg]

+Thomas Shepherd Th&$@$nk you buddy

[@VeselinMarkovic]

It's completely the same.

[@faudanke4459]

+Thomas Shepherd The XBOX 360 and One has heatsinks and fans... But the heatsinks fans on the CPU is sucking air not blowing air into it... Does it help colling or not than a PC????

[@PedroCancel]

I like the fact that you went thru each type of heatsink and what to be aware of very informative thank you

[@dacasman]

Surprised he didn't talk about liquid cooling. but I guess that's not a "heatsink"

[@cybermonk-i]

in one way or another they are not. but i guess they already talked a bit about water cooling in the h110 but they still deserve a more in depth look. maybe a custom water cooling tech quickie

[@LukePTBA]

That's exactly what a radiator is... Water cooling still is technically air cooled.

[@boywhogames]

Heatsinks don't have to be air cooled. They just have to dissipate heat.

[@domantasl]

boywhogames Heatsinks don't have to be [actively] air cooled. There, I fixed it for ya :) The heatsink is surrounded by and dissipate heat into the air and thus are air cooled.

[@skifree0]

Bla Blurybla By definition, a heat sink doesn't have to be air cooled. The definition of a heat sink, is a heat exchange device to cool by dissipating heat into a medium. its just so happens, that 99.9% of all people use air as the medium. but water can still be used (just stick open end of the sink into a large body of water like a lake. On a slightly more practical note, you heat sinks don't use air if they are oil immersion pcs :)

[@ShiroKage009]

The problem with Arctic Silver is that it takes eons until it cures. For the first many hours of operation the temps are not pretty, but they get much, much better over time. Designated curing time is something like 200 hours with multiple cycles ...

[@DLTX1007]

Yeah many people still think AS5 is good. It was good BACK THEN. Not anymore. The cheap top performer these days is Prolimatech PK1

[@Unconditionaldanger]

Konoe Eita +1 for prolimatech! Nice stuff

[@Turskaify]

also hardening the smallest heatspreaders on my GPU cooler took ages (I mean ages, instead of a regular 30mins to an hour, they took 6 hours to harden) on arctic silver

[@pspvita99]

Thanks for putting the adds at the end of the video so we dont have to watch them even though you can skip through them regardless. Puting them at the end makes everyone happy. You get paid and we dont have to watch them as soon as we see the add pop up we know the videos over. Good video as usual.

[@calvingivner9470]

Bringing you back 6 years

[@NOTHREATTECH]

Thank you for your wonderful content! It is clearer and you are more engaging than any other presenter I have researched. My instructor at San Diego City College has a ton of your content as part of our instruction resources, gratefully.

[@SirDizel]

good video, even tho i know all that stuff you talk about i still enjoy watching the videos ;]

[@dylanwebber763]

Linus! Bring back the unibrow bro!

[@goxcpre]

Long time Linus subscriber, new Techquickie sub. Even though most of your other audience is more advanced than this stuff, these simple videos are appreciated! Keep up the good work!

[@youspic]

ive actually watched a dozen or more of your videos, great job man, thanks!!

[@seireiart]

Linus : "Speaking of..." Me : Ok, I'm done, see ya...

[@Loundre3]

So true.

[@Sinkatze]

Ok this will improve your search rankings

[@dylanbenz7724]

this channel teaches me something new every time I watch

[@xtinmancamx]

love the honesty at the end about search rankings. comment just for that.

[@jacoblong4086]

How in the hell am I supposed to tell you what I didn't learn???? Think about that for a moment.

[@thedeenz]

Linus has an unibrow?

[@terrykennedy7422]

I CANT UN-SEE IT NOW.

[@jonathanhardee6675]

Terry Kennedy same looks like a worm 🐛 going across his face

[@salm6331]

We all do nigga. Real men tweeze that shit

[@2013daxdaniel]

Right I noticed !!! Lol

[@MrKylePopovich]

Thanks Linus!

[@osamaajarmeh7313]

good work linus this video is a great idea

[@TheAngelBacon]

I didn't learn why the sun is so angry at me. I just wanna admire it's beauty but it just burns me at every chance.

[@GamingTaylor]

You may want to apply heatsinks all over your body.

[@TheAngelBacon]

***** are you coming onto me?

[@TheAngelBacon]

***** I fucking love you right now xD

[@letsgoiowa]

Stock coolers will be just fine for most people, but I run an aftermarket cooler on my i3 2120 because it gets hot during the summer (70C+).

[@Brownboy42069]

Yikes! Where do you live that your ambients affect the CPU that much??

[@letsgoiowa]

See username, but it's because of where I had to stuff the tower (in the corner so airflow sucks). It's not a problem during the winter with temps like 20C right now.

[@Brownboy42069]

Derp! Surprised I missed that... I live just over the river in Omaha! It does get pretty toasty in these parts but I've never had an issue with overheating on the i3-4130 HTPC build I have tucked away into a TV stand.

[@JaconSamsta]

Wouldn't go with an FX chip with the stock cooler. Just got a 8150 in my brothers build and I had to clock it down to 2.5 Ghz to get resonable sound levels. As for Intel, you can usualy get away with the stock cooler on anything 4770 and below (see brix pro) and I think that alone is woth spending the small premium.

[@letsgoiowa]

TheBernhard100 I believe that. I've only seen Intel stock fans, because the AMD build I did for a friend was using an aftermarket cooler because he wanted to OC heavily.

[@MartinPlanner2]

fans are not just good for blowing air INTO heatsinks, but also a bit more effective when blowing outward from the sink thus the "cool" air dont have to travel across the fan itself which heats it a bit caused by friction. also heatpipes mostly consist distilled water, so dont think of a space-grade material there. another way to cool a computer case more is to investigate the flow of air from the entry point till the exit point of the case, because many fans are set to blow inside the box and in many constructions the hot air is just have to find it's way and not pulled out of the case, more so the fact that higher temperature air is lighter than cold air thus it travels upwards whenever possible. and to not only speak about PC's in laptops a key reason of many overheating is the fact that plugging you laptop into the charge creates heat in the battery too, and the small fans are not really designed to take away that heat-so either buy a cooling pad under(or even build one because it's way cheaper) or use your laptop from battery and recharge it when it's off. a couple more minutes filled with such effective support is better than that advertisement at the end...remember-quality is profitable.

[@DavidRynda]

Great video! A video on the ins and outs of water cooling would be interesting. Including home made set ups.

[@RBASB10]

I can’t believe I’ve only just watched this video. Thank you. Extremely direct and informative.

[@roge0]

What about waterblocks?

[@NizzyTV]

not a "heatsink" but it uses one.

[@roge0]

NizzyTV Technically heatsinks are just something used to exchange heat, which a waterblock does.

[@OneStepForwardOneStepForward]

RogueCoder Technically Technically... i'm sick of that word

[@MegaBoooooooooooooob]

OneStepForward Technically is sick of you too

[@ShiroKage009]

RogueCoder The heat sink in a water cooling system is the radiator, not the block. The block and water act as the copper mount and heat pipe whereas the rad is the heat sink.

[@Wolfstanus]

Ask Garus Vakarien about his heatsink

[@Wolfstanus]

MrTingBash He's just calibrating it for the right time to pop the heatsink.

[@jrno93]

Linus is the only one who can get away with spamming ads in his videos after or before and ad.

[@cedarsapling]

As a user of ad-block, I am totally in support of ads that are in videos because I know all of the profit is going right to the maker.

[@y2j1490yahoo]

A comma in the title would have been helpful.

[@MinecraftEpicPlayer]

Another complaint would be much needed.

[@y2j1490yahoo]

MinecraftEpicPlayer ok your comment is pointless.

[@MinecraftEpicPlayer]

Green Knight so is yours, and this one

[@y2j1490yahoo]

MinecraftEpicPlayer k?

[@PJemus]

rankings

[@ragestuffin]

rankings

[@dr4aces]

Wow - a lot of detail! Very interesting.

[@Amnevriste]

This is a very good presentation, clear and simple. Good job Linus.

[@Max-mh9nk]

pause at 2:15

[@mikehenderson9550]

get a life There on sale at walmart right now btw

[@eminsarabsky6368]

+Mike Henderson Make me

[@mikehenderson9550]

ok ;)

[@manuel2296ableify1]

Throwin gang signs :v lol

[@PJemus]

increasing

[@ady7006]

Yeeee

[@mitchbossart4352]

Very helpful and clearly stated. Thank you!

[@grmancool]

I love this series...

[@james64468]

All I been using is stock cooler. That might have to change.

[@XPsilocybinDream]

unless your over clocking a stock is just fine

[@XPsilocybinDream]

wont make hardly any difference running stock speeds, slightly cooler, now if your going to overclock alot yeah of course buy one.I use the coolermaster hyper n520 cause my cores are overclocked by 700 mhz.Buying a aftermarket cooler like mine but running stock clocks your just wasting money.Also you need a good sized ATX case to fit after market heat piped coolers.They guy says their easy to install but its not just a open the case and quickly replace. you have to completely take out the motherboard, flip it upside down undo every bracket that was holding the other heat sink holder in, then if your by yourself you have to find the correct bracket included in the package carefully screw it in with the motherboard flipped up with pretty much 1 hand while holding the heatsink with the other hand. and hopefully it clears your ram and your video card.Its not like unclip one and clip the other one in like stock coolers are.Its a full installation

[@XPsilocybinDream]

***** kinda missed my point if your talking to me. I build computers and do this all the time and liquid systems.I use the phenom ii x6 1100t and my temps are close to yours except my max temps are 39C but idle is identical. thats at 4.0ghz any higher and its not stable even with higher voltages. stock mine is 3.3ghz

[@ZaeBae22]

Eh I'm fine with water cooling + 5 fans

[@BoredErica]

...Ok?

[@ZaeBae22]

Yigi Liu yeah haha but i dont really notice it much because im beside a fridge and a furnace (basement)

[@puppetmassster]

Yigi Liu Good PC fans are not loud at all. Especially larger fans that can move more air at lower RPMs.

[@solarisfire]

Ummm, seeing at the water in the loop is basically the sink, and the fins on your radiator serve the same purpose as the fins on a heatsink... You're basically using a more complex heatsink...

[@pelleg59]

Very good explanation for those who do not know how it works, grateful that you think of us sorry if my english is not so good hope you understand anyway / Pelle

[@says_suhel]

THANKS A LOT Linus, ur videos have cleared a lot of doubts about a lot of things. You ROCK!!!!

[@malmalbaby2]

The ps5 heat sink is big asf

[@PJemus]

just

[@ragestuffin]

just

[@TheGarrison89]

This was a really good overview of what a heatsink is!

[@burdettboy213]

You should do more of these videos. You teach very well and you will make it very easy for people to learn about pc components. Ty for the awesome video

[@LarsJ1977]

+search rankings

[@Pinkskull69420]

++search rankings

[@PJemus]

dont

[@ragestuffin]

dont

[@ady7006]

Yeee

[@CrazyFunnyWeirdScaryStories]

soo ehh go to town!! lol love your videos dude! Such clear concise information, you make the topics fun and easy to listen to!

[@Forflies]

4:41 just bought me I'm in the UK and the fact that shows that aren't availible here but in the US really pisses me off

[@PJemus]

me

[@ragestuffin]

me

[@ady7006]

Yeeee

[@RaaynML]

*guys* *_wrong channel_*

[@jonahw1759]

personally what i think helps is taking out a front cover panel and getting a cross breeze in there, ps have a back fan as the item pushing in to stop dust from going in

[@HKS-Digital]

Omg I have been wondering what a heatsink for years now. Thank you so much for this video.

[@PJemus]

mind

[@ragestuffin]

mind

[@ady7006]

Yeee

[@justinmosher2966]

I was wondering if you could do a As Fast As Possible on water cooling on graphics cards and what kinds there are and what are the ups and downs of all the differences. Thanks Linus and Slick for all the help :)

[@mscir]

Nice job summarizing a lot of material in a short amount of time.

[@ErnestJay88]

The best way to remove heat : 1. Exotic Cooler (Sub Zero cooler) 2. Water Cooler 3. Active Heatsink / Heatpipe 4. Passive Cooler

[@rebornlol]

Love these videos Linus. Thanks

[@TheFishingHutt]

Great Video Linus! I didn't Learn Much, But it was very well put together

[@lloydchambers5913]

Linus I LEARN EVERYTIME WATCH 1 OF YOUR VIDEOS ALWAYS CLEAR AND HELPFUL BUT THE EXTRA INFO YOU TOSS IN HELPS SO MUCH SUCKS BEING A NEWBIE BUT DAM GLAD I FOUND YOU.ROCK ON BROTHER shoot sorry 4 yelling

[@pointynives]

Cleaning a friends laptop recently showed me a piece of genius that was a heatsink that doubled as the fan filter.

[@daserfomalhaut9809]

When he said "and as always..." I was seriously expecting him to say "thanks for watching". Too much VSauce. Fuck am I talking about? No such thing as too much VSauce. Linus should go on a future episode. He's awesome enough.

[@pdowner1]

Excellent explanation and I;m sure it couldnt have been done faster. lol. Good job. I had to rewind a couple of times but fantastic.

[@westsnest2273]

These are the best videos :D

[@HeyitsWaltair]

Being in public speaking, I can really appreciate your speaking skills. Excellent job.

[@tooley6969]

thank you for this it really helped me to understand the working principal of the component

[@gogginz]

How can someone dislike this,you have told us everything we need to know (really fast) :D

[@maxter900]

Loving this in 2020!

[@SohilShah_Melodyman]

Well explained......thanks a lot!

[@bhatiaalloyforgings4208]

Insightful. Thanks for Sharing

[@EvilCronos13]

You baited us, now I want to see a video explaining how search rankings work "As Fast As Possible". I'm serious. I think it would be a great idea for a video. :)

[@noscope1244]

This is the only youtuber that says "dislike it if you dislike it"

[@paddaarshdeep]

Yay! I am helping Linus's research ranking

[@JJtoob]

Here's what a heatsink is as fast as possible: Object that dissipates heat from another object.

[@AMindGame]

very complete guide thanks linus!

[@luclatinette]

I'd love an AFAP about Cuda cores!

[@jonatannoda1492]

Hey I got the message, all what you said was very important keep going, I found all you were teaching very usefull and it help me remember what I learned. Thanks

[@lazygizmo]

Techquickie i have a question. you seem very knowledgeable about computer components. what schooling or degree have you had in computers? im currently studying to take the A+ certification. despite my efforts when i watch your videos, you put computer electronics into perspective with analogies better than i ever could. hence im really getting a grip on understanding how computer parts really work.

[@asesaleen7883]

lazy gizmo Read, Read, Read my friend. Watching videos do help, so include it in your study, but reading is more impactful and beneficial to the memory. What is key however, is to understand what your reading and most importantly, documentation. Learn how to learn. Best of luck in CS!

[@JustOneGuy]

lazy gizmo He's not alone doing these videos and besides you can Google anything today, so being educated is easier than ever.

[@gillss]

Maybe you guys can make a video for New Computer Build Check List as Fast as Possible. Listing things like fan converters/extensions/splitters for cases without fan controllers/short cords/not enough motherboard controllers. Or where and how to check compatibility for all your parts, and whatever else needs to be crammed in to know what to do. Maybe even have links to your other videos when appropriate.

[@zekeski]

nice info.. very useful!!!

[@masterevan686]

Great - very helpful!

[@saviorsimon2729]

So, when will there be a water block video? Will there be a comparison between water vs air cooling? These are things that seem to be look over many times but are VERY important. I just don't know enough. Please do videos on them.

[@woofwoofhenlo]

i can't stop starring at his eyebrows

[@jamesfischer8667]

Linus used to have a unibrow? I'm glad he now plucks it. I have to pluck my "would be" unibrow twice a month.

[@mathewmho]

Great video.