What is the difference between Nickel and Copper?

Key properties of Copper and Nickel

Let’s talk about some of the options for your next liquid cooling custom build. If you are finding it hard to decide between copper and nickel, this article is for you! We will talk about some of the key differences and similarities between these two.

Copper is a metal. It has a red-orange metallic luster. It is one of few metals which has a natural color other than grey or silver. Copper is known for its softness, malleability, ductility, and high thermal and electrical conductivity. On the other hand, nickel is a silvery-white lustrous metal, and it can have a slight golden or blueish tinge. These are the key differences between copper and nickel. The main uses of copper in the electronic industry are in heat sinks, wiring cables, cell phones, and printed circuit boards. Meanwhile, nickel is a vital part of several rechargeable battery systems used in electronics, power tools, transport and emergency power supplies

Almost all of EK’s water block cold plates start off as blocks of pure electrolytic copper. These blocks are milled using a precision-guided CNC machines to make a bare copper water block base.

Then the copper is covered with thin layer of nickel in a submersion bath. This process is called electroplating: а copper cold plate is lowered into a solution containing nickel. And then an electric current is passed through the solution, under the action of which nickel particles cover the copper part. The nickel layer is decorative, but also provides important corrosion and wear resistance.

All that information is cool, but how does that help your build? Well, the difference between a copper and nickel block is not big, but not insignificant either. Nickel coating is there to prevent oxidation as its properties make it better at fighting oxidation than copper. Nickel-plated blocks, when used with purpose made coolants, like EK-CryoFuel which contain necessary additives, require maintenance much less frequently than copper versions. Copper on the other hand oxidizes and needs cleaning maintenance every 6-12 months. Otherwise, the copper will have a darkened and tarnished look.

What to choose?

The main point is that the difference between copper and nickel is mostly aesthetic. Both options offer virtually the same value in terms of performance, so don’t worry about that. As previously mentioned, there is a difference in maintenance since cleaning copper is easier with the option of using more aggressive chemicals while nickel requires more care. However, nickel is a better choice for those who value components that need more rare maintenance and would rather spend more time enjoying a beautiful and quiet machine.

In general, nickel-plated water blocks are far more popular because of their neutral color, which that allows the user to play around with their own choice of colors. Nowadays, pure copper is so rare that some companies don’t even offer bare copper water blocks. We also rejected this option in the EK-Quantum Velocity² and EK-Quantum Vector² water blocks for new NVIDIA and AMD video cards.

As said above, nickel-plated water blocks with a clear acrylic top are the most demanding water blocks, and the best looking. But by “most demanding” we mean: “use purpose-made coolants, and be gentle on your fittings”. When you put it that way, it’s not even that demanding right? Nickel + Plexi water blocks are by far the most popular choice of users and it really doesn’t take a lot to treat them right.

If you want to learn more about cleaning water blocks, then detailed information can be found here or here.