Modding Insulation

This may sound a bit silly but why doesn't any insulate watercooling tubes. Insulation can work both ways keeping items warm but also can keep everything cool, so why does no one ever do this?

 

Because they're warmer than their surroundings, so insulation would keep them warm.

 

I guess they would be more cold than the ambient temperature, when going from radiator to CPU/GPU, but plastic is insulating by itself.
I do not know what kind of plastic the hoses are made of, but my guess would be that the change in temperature would be insignificant.

 

No, the water in a closed loop will never be cooler than ambient.

 

Unless they're using a chiller in which case they often are insulated to prevent condensation.

Moriquendi

 

But ofcourse

 

What about using reflective material ie. some sort tin foil, to refect away the heat.

 

This is simple thermodynamics, people! To put it simply, the heat would be "reflected" back into the tube.

Use metal, finned, pipes instead - huge heatsink. Hard idea to implement, though.

 

I've always wondered why they don't incorporate a heatsink to a waterblock so you get a bit of passive cooling off the heatsink and the water carries excess heat away.

 

For two reasons as far as I can see; 1, Designing a water clock that incorporated fins for passive cooling would compromise its performance as a waterblock. 2, Putting fins on the block would make it more expensive and the difference it would make is so small that it's not economical to do.

Moriquendi