Water block

It is a type of plate heat exchanger and can be used on many different computer components,[1]: 186  including the central processing unit (CPU), GPU, PPU, and northbridge chipset on the motherboard.

It consists of at least two main parts; the "base", which is the area that makes contact with the device being cooled and is usually manufactured from metals with high thermal conductivity such as aluminum or copper.

Most newer high-end water blocks also contain mid-plates which serve to add jet tubes, nozzles, and other flow altering devices.

Early designs included spiral, zig-zag pattern or heatsink like fins to allow the largest possible surface area for heat to transfer from the device being cooled to the water.

Trial and error and the evolution of water block design has shown that trading flow for turbulence can often improve performance.