Quote:
Originally Posted by StirCrazy
a heat sink actually works on surface area not mass, the more surface area the more heat transfer.
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Yes !
But notice I said THERMAL mass. Think of it like thermal capacitance or heat capacity. In the end though, you are correct -it's about the transfer from one medium to the other. You can actually have a very small and light heat sink but at some point, as the thermal mass decreases, you'll need a fan. Whereas with a more thermally (and to an extent, physically) massive heat sink, you may get away without the fan.