[nagisa]

Air has no thermal connection to the chassis for the purpose of making it safe to have in contact with skin.

People have been modding theirs to make this contact, though. And been getting a significant performance boost out of it.

[zarzavat]

I believe we are talking about slightly different things. Yes if they thermally coupled the body to the processor, then a small patch of the body would get very hot, burning the user.

However, the fact that the aluminum gets hot during prolonged use means that it is acting as a heat sink and cooling the CPU compared to a body made of plastic. Thermodynamics, it's the law!

[delfinom]

>However, the fact that the aluminum gets hot during prolonged use means that it is acting as a heat sink and cooling the CPU compared to a body made of plastic. Thermodynamics, it's the law!

Not really. It's picking up "stray heat" that is radiated from the copper heatsink inside and conduction from the air in the fan system. It does not improve cooling the processor in any kind of manner. If it were plastic, the plastic would get warm too. Maybe it'll be a 2 degree difference.

Direct contact or bust.

[everforward]

It should improve ambient temperatures inside the body, allowing for more heat transfer.

It might be marginal, though.

[dontlaugh]

It does actually help. All heat radiated into the aluminium isn’t in the copper, so makes it to the environment. The copper remains cooler overall.