Why do cpus get upgraded every year? And the water-cooled radiator stays the same, right?

Why do cpus get upgraded every year? And the water-cooled radiator stays the same, right?

Those who pay attention to computer hardware must have noticed a phenomenon that CPU manufacturers upgrade every year to release more powerful processors. With each generation of processors, the power consumption is higher than that of the previous generation, and the flagship chip scenario will prompt you with what type of heat sink to use. But you will also find that the matching water-cooled radiator is always a fixed model, and there is no upgrading. What is the reason for this? Of course, some radiator manufacturers will launch some new or two generation, three generation of water cooling, in fact, there is no substantial improvement, just in the accessories.

First, let's talk about why you need to upgrade your CPU. 

In terms of the interests of manufacturers, if they do not update, they will soon fall behind in the market competition, and they will be beaten. The decline in market share will lead to the decline in earnings, and the interests should not be lost in any case. Secondly, with the progress of science and technology, the process and architecture of CPU are constantly optimized. In addition, new materials and market demand are promoting the progress of processor. So the CPU performance increase is real, and the power consumption increase is certain.

What's going on? Is it the radiator manufacturer's problem?

In terms of CPU itself, the optimization of CPU process and architecture is actually to optimize the power consumption problem. While the CPU performance is greatly improved, the power consumption increase is small. For the same type of processor, the power consumption of the first and second generations does not change greatly, so there will be no explosive heat dissipation demand, which is a relatively slow process. In addition, the performance of the computer CPU also appears the trend of excess, in most cases will not be high load work, power consumption naturally is not so large. The current flagship level CPU power consumption is 300 + watts, if this heat can be fully dissipated, a 240 water-cooled radiator is more than sufficient. A 360 water-cooled radiator can handle 500 to 700 watts of heat at most, which means that these water-cooled radiators have excess heat dissipation requirements for the CPU. 

In addition, the key point is that the heat in the CPU core cannot be completely absorbed by the heat sink. The CPU core is then hidden under a metal cap that protects the chip from damage. Chip heat dissipation should be carried out through the top cover. The CPU core is brazed or silicone grease connected to the top cover to conduct heat conduction. At this time, there will be heat loss, and a considerable part of heat can not completely reach the water-cooled radiator. Brazing and silicone grease affect the thermal conductivity. In the past few years, Intel processors were criticized by users for the heat dissipation of silicone grease, which also led to a boom of CPU cover opening. Interested users can refer to the information of CPU cover opening by themselves.

At this point, we also understand that if the cold head of the water-cooled radiator is directly attached to the chip, the temperature will be much lower, is more than enough. Therefore, there is no need to upgrade the water-cooled radiator. Generally, CPU manufacturers adjust the hole distance of the radiator every few years. At this time, the installation buckle needs to be replaced to match. And many users will replace the water-cooled radiator together, in fact, it is also a means to stimulate re-consumption.