Is it ok for wires to touch the copper heatsink on my CPU cooler?

[Alishe]

Yes or no? I just put my new machine together, except the video card which I haven't bought yet do to money being held by paypal from ebay. and my wires coming from the front of the case are touching the copper heatsink on top of my fan, I got that big ass Zalman one, just curious if they will melt or not.I am going to ziptie the cords once I have my new video card, but atm I am using my badass PCI slot GeForce FX 5200.

[Cephius]

Use electrical tape or zip ties to clear them out of the way. The copper fins on the Zalman coolers are used for dissipating heat, so yeah, you don't want anything touching them. Not that it'll melt as soon as it touches one, but over time it could cause problems. Just move the wires away.

[mootsfox]

That plastic isn't going to melt until around 175-300C, temperatures WAY higher than you'll ever have inside your case.

It's not a good idea for the wires to be there for another reason though, as they can fall into the edge of the fan which would not be good.

[Alishe]

That's pretty much what I figured thanks.

[Nara]

The Plastic around the wires act as insulation for the Dispersing Heat. With Law of Heat Dynamics and Convection/Conduction.. If there is no way for Heat to penetrate and properly conduct heat and propel it away from the source, then its only going to be detrimental to the ultimate purpose of the Heatsink. Heatsink is trying to expel heat, too many wires in direct contact with the Heatsink can cause crowding and increase insulation, which will ultimately increase core temperatures overtime. I would recommend always giving your Heatsink some "Breathing Space" by keeping wires wrapped up, away from any circuitry, and organized in the Case.

[mootsfox]

The Plastic around the wires act as insulation for the Dispersing Heat. With Law of Heat Dynamics and Convection/Conduction.. If there is no way for Heat to penetrate and properly conduct heat and propel it away from the source, then its only going to be detrimental to the ultimate purpose of the Heatsink. Heatsink is trying to expel heat, too many wires in direct contact with the Heatsink can cause crowding and increase insulation, which will ultimately increase core temperatures overtime. I would recommend always giving your Heatsink some "Breathing Space" by keeping wires wrapped up, away from any circuitry, and organized in the Case.

In theory sure, but you have to look at the size of the wire... even something huge for a computer case, like 16 gauge is only about 1/8" wide at it's widest point. You won't notice a temperature difference if one wire contacts the heatsink. A bundle, or wrapping the wires around on purpose, then maybe.